Winchester Dominated by Kyle Benjamin

Kyle Benjamin dominated at Winchester

The ARCA racing series paid its annual visit to the "World's Fastest Half Mile" last weekend and despite 200 laps of close door to door action, former series regular Kyle Benjamin took a dominant win. This year's race was moved to the first weekend in August after being the last weekend in June the last few years. As an ARCA series photographer, I like the two day format as it gives me more time to experiment and edit. Plus I get to sleep in my own bed since the track is only 70 miles from home! Getting to see all the historic race cars is an added bonus, although I still wish we would race under the lights on Saturday night. I guess I will have to wait for Salem in September for that. 

Zane Smith (55) fought Benjamin hard to keep the lead

The MDM team that Kyle Benjamin drive for has turned into quite a force this year in the select few races they have run. Kyle put that 28 car (which reminded me a lot of the old Havoline paint scheme run by the late Dave Allison in NASCAR) on the pole and was the fastest car all weekend. Even after dropping back to 7th following a late pit stop, there was never any real doubt that he would get back to the front. He was passing people high and low, with an occasional nudge from the chrome horn, but never enough to spin anyone out or get them too out of shape. He absolutely stalked Zane Smith who did everything he could to keep Kyle behind him but his efforts were to no avail. I imagine Zane's 55 car used up his tires trying to use all the track while he was mirror driving to hold off Kyle's 28. And the fateful final restart was just too much for the 55 as the transmission broke under Zane to solidify his heartbreak over running so well once again with little to show for it.

Christian Eckes ended up second after Zane Smith broke

Behind those two was a battle royale for the rest of the top 5 spots as Christian Eckes wound up second, points leader Austin Theriault stayed clean to take third ahead of the WVU Mountaineer Travis Braden at the wheel of A. J. Fike's 27 car. Gus Dean fought everyone off for fifth after several close calls while running the high line. For anyone who's been to an ARCA short track race, none of this should surprise you as the racing is always close and positions are hotly contested among the first ten finishers. What I find different now compared to a few years ago is how clean the races have become on the short tracks. It used to be a battle to see who could win with the most bear bond tape but the level of talent and equipment has risen so much that those days appear to be long gone. I'm sure the teams are glad to see that since it costs them less!

One of my experimental photos made Winchester look like a road course

There's no ARCA race this weekend but the next six weeks will be crazy busy, starting at the mile dirt in Springfield, Illinois next weekend which is a one day show. Then in succession are Road America (three days), DuQuoin mile dirt (Labor Day), Salem Speedway (a Saturday night race), Chicagoland Speedway (the Thursday after Salem) and then Kentucky Speedway 9 days later. This means six races over 33 days spread across the Midwest. After Kentucky there's a four week break before the season finale at Kansas Speedway in October, so the time for teams to make a push for points is now. I am blessed to be able to work all these races and it means I will be on the road a lot with hardly a day off from shooting or teaching between now and September 22nd. So I plan on enjoying this weekend at home, riding my bicycle, writing a grant application, and trying to get my house in order, both figuratively and literally. You can bet I will have much more to share before it's all said and done, so stay tuned. Or come on out to the races. It's a lot more fun being there than watching on television. Until then, here's a few of my photos from Winchester to tide you over.

Green, green, green!

That's some close racing between Zane Smith (55) and Kyle Benjamin

Veteran Bobby Gerhart lost in thought before the start of the race

Series points leader Austin Theriault is all business during practice

ARCA Season Diversity on Display

Dalton Sargeant got a calculated win at Lucas Oil Raceway

The ARCA racing series just finished a superspeedway race at Pocono Raceway last weekend, the 12th race of its 20 race 2017 schedule, and now enters the most diverse phase of its schedule over the next few weeks. This weekend the tour goes back to the high banked bull ring at Winchester Speedway which bills itself as the world's fastest half mile. Two weeks later the series races a 100 lapper at the historic mile dirt track at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois.  The USAC Silver Crown series also races on the mile the same weekend. The weekend after that, ARCA returns to Road America in scenic Wisconsin for a 100 mile road course race alongside the NASCAR Xfinity series. After three days on the Elkhart Lake natural terrain road course, ARCA celebrates Labor Day at the other mile dirt track on its schedule at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in southern Illinois. At that point the series will be down to four races remaining to settle the 2017 season championship. The diversity of the series is one of its hallmarks as a battleground for proving driver talent and no other national series contests a schedule anything like it. I know it is something the series is very proud of, and rightfully so in my opinion. It allows the stock car crowd a way to stay connected to its roots on the dirt tracks while preparing the up and coming future stars of stock car racing for every circumstance from flat short tracks like Lucas Oil Raceway, to superspeedways like Pocono, to the high banked bullrings like Salem and Winchester and even to the mile-and-a-half tracks that wrap up the season in September and October.

Austin Theriault is the overall points leader with 12 Top 10s and 3 wins

If you haven't been to an ARCA race, you really need to go. It's excellent racing and you can get close to the drivers and teams - much more so than any other major racing series that I know of. And you can see the stars of tomorrow today. Not only is ARCA's diversity reflected in its schedule, but its driver lineup is constantly changing. So far this season, a total of 101 different drivers have scored points, so you are guaranteed to see someone new at every race. It might even be a local short track driver you've followed! The roster of winners keeps changing too as only two drivers have won as many as three races:  Austin Theriault and Dalton Sargeant and they are at the top of the season points chart not surprisingly. Justin Haley has won twice in his only two starts this season while four other drivers have each won once. As it stands now, that means 7 different winners in the 12 races so far and with 8 more races to go, that number will certainly grow. No doubt someone will get their first win in their first ARCA start as well since that seems to happen at least once per season.

Austin Cindric put his composite bodied Ford on pole at Lucas Oil Raceway

I know this may sound like musical chairs among drivers or that anyone can come into the series and win, but that is a reflection of the quality of the available equipment with the newer Five Star composite bodies and Ilmor 396 engines becoming more and more prominent. At Lucas Oil Raceway two weeks ago, it was obvious the field was divided into two camps - the drivers wheeling composite bodied cars broke away from the pack of steel bodied cars early. Next season everyone will have to race the composites, so this is another good benefit provided by the series to ensure close competitive racing regardless of who's racing or where.

The prettiest car at Lucas Oil Raceway was the Sinclair sponsored machine of Michael Self

I've been working ARCA races as a photographer for more than 10 years on a regular basis and I have personally witnessed the rising caliber of teams, equipment, drivers and sponsors. There are lots of other stock car series around for teams to choose but I think ARCA is the one most well suited for advancing a young driver's career. Why else would so many young drivers we see week in and week out have driver development contracts with the big NASCAR teams like Roush Fenway? Now we've even got a team with a direct link to Joe Gibbs Racing in the series and that 18 car has a win this year with young Riley Herbst. There's an old joke that asks "Do you know how to become a millionaire in racing?" with the punchline "Start with 10 million." Thankfully you don't have to do that in ARCA as there is also still a place for the weekend racer in the series and for teams run by people who just love to travel and race. I hope the series doesn't lose that quality when the steel bodied cars go away as I really admire how hard the lower budget teams at the back of the field work every race weekend even though they must know their chances of winning are slim. They are racers and that's all that matters.

This weekend I will be back at work at Winchester. The stretch run of the season begins now and I will be working all the rest of the races this season so come out and say hello. Or let me take your picture and help you create some memories at the racetrack. See you down the road! Until then, here's a few photos I shot at Lucas Oil Raceway where Dalton Sargeant got his third season win.

Dalton Sargeant has been hot lately in his Cunningham Motorsports machine

The "King" of stock car racing Richard Petty was at Lucas Oil Raceway to watch his grandson Thad Moffitt race

The composite bodied cars always put on a good show of close racing

Seasoned veterans like Booby Gerhart show up about every week to challenge the youngbloods

From Le Mans to Iowa Speedway

It was a gorgeous night for a race at Iowa Speedway

Needless to say, Le Mans, France and Newton, Iowa are worlds apart in so many ways. While they are a study in contrast, they also host races so they have that in common. Driving to Iowa from Indy took me about 7 hours and oddly enough, I was struck by some similarities about the Midwestern and French countrysides. We had traveled to Le Mans from Tours, France by car and by train, so we saw a lot of the area. The Le Sarthe and central Iowa regions both contained lots of farmland and numerous small communities, plus I saw corn and beans growing in both. Even the weather was similar: hot and humid. Both circuits also had exciting races with interesting finishes. But that's about where the similarities ended as ARCA's "Fans With Benefits 150" was over in less than 2 hours compared to 24 hours to run Le Mans.

Youngster Dalton Sargeant  won Iowa

An obvious contrast between Iowa Speedway and the Circuit de la Sarthe is size. Iowa is a purpose built 7/8ths mile banked oval which takes a stock car about 24 seconds to lap. On the Le Mans road course, which is comprised mostly of public roads, a lap is more than 8 miles long and takes a prototype sports car over 3 minutes to complete. The sounds you hear are completely different as well, but racing is still racing so I love them both. In case you were wondering, I am already thinking about how I can get back to Le Mans and if ARCA keeps going to Iowa, then I expect I will be back there next year too. I have to say I went through a bit of culture shock last weekend as I arrived at Iowa Speedway to shoot the ARCA race for the series. It was great to be back on the ARCA trail since I hadn't seen my friends and colleagues in the series since Talladega at the beginning of May. It was very cool to have so many people ask about my experience at Le Mans and I had a blast telling stories about our 17 day trip to France and Italy. It was nice to be back at a racetrack, especially since the Iowa race marked the end of my summer break from teaching and I had to go back to my school life on Monday following the weekend.

Helio Castroneves finally got a win after 54 races

Last year my brother met me at Iowa and we stayed through Sunday so we could work the Indycar race also. As much as I wanted to stay again this year, I just couldn't justify it. Last year I got home at 3:15 Monday morning because the Indycar race started so late Sunday afternoon and I remember being exhausted that first day back at school so I headed back to Indy Sunday morning this time. I was safely ensconced on my couch for this year's Indycar Iowa Corn 300 but it sure seemed weird watching the telecast from a track where I had just been less than a day earlier. I did manage to grab a few Indycar photos Saturday in between my ARCA duties, but I probably spent less than 20 minutes trackside to get those since ARCA was my first priority.

Every ARCA weekend starts with an early morning officials meeting

And Saturday had been a very long day at the racetrack as I got there a little after 6:00 a.m. for our 6:30 officials meeting and didn't leave the track until close to midnight. In between, I shot about 1600 photos for ARCA, got over 18,000 steps on my pedometer app, shot a sunset and the full moon rising over the track. This ARCA season has seen its share of wins by young drivers and the series has become known for that. It was fun standing in Victory Lane after the race talking with winner Dalton Sargeant, second place finisher Austin Theriault and third place Sheldon Creed in between photos as I really feel like I get to know these guys n ARCA. I have nine more races to do for ARCA this season and I'm sure that familiarity will come in handy. At one point Saturday, Austin had come into the ARCA marketing trailer where we work up our photos to look at what we had on the 52 car to see how the splitter looked relative to the track surface entering Turn 1. That was interesting and I know lots of drivers do that but it was the first time I had been there when it was happening. That's one of the advantages of familiarity in this series I think, and another reason why I enjoy working for ARCA so much.

My next race is another "home" race as ARCA comes to Indy to run on the short track at Lucas Oil Raceway on the westside Friday July 21st. That will be another very long day but the series always puts on a fantastic show at the relatively flat 5/8th mile oval and the 9:00 p.m. start guarantees we will be shooting under the lights, so it will be another opportunity to hone my night shooting skills. In the meantime, here are links to my photo galleries from Iowa Speedway and a few more photos from the event. Enjoy! Come on out to Lucas Oil Raceway next Friday and say hi!

Iowa Speedway ARCA Racing Series "Fans With Benefits 150"

Iowa Speedway Indycar Iowa Corn 300 Practice

Shane Lee put the 22 car on pole giving Cunningham two top contenders

JR Hildebrand hit the wall during practice but took a front row spot in qualifying later

Dalton Sargeant organized the obligatory team selfie after winning for the second time this season

The late afternoon sunlight Saturday made for some interesting shooting;  here's Graham Rahal in Turn 4

My First Le Mans: But Not My Last

The #1 Porsche had the field covered until it broke

I hardly know where to begin writing about my experiences at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. It was my first Le Mans and my first time in Europe, so this may be my longest blog post ever. There were multiple times during the trip where I would say to myself "I can't believe I am here" but I have the photos to document it! I have been working on and thinking about this trip (some of my friends and family might say I have been obsessing over it, which I can understand) since the end of May last year after meeting and working with two gentlemen from France at the 2016 Indianapolis 500. I bought the plane tickets last November and was all in from that point forward. I told my French friends during Le Mans week that they probably thought I was full of shit and would never actually make it over for the event. But I did, and I dragged my fiance along, and it turned out to be the most epic trip possible with perfect weather every single day and nary a misstep on any of the travel arrangements I had made.

Seeing scrutineering in the heart of Le Mans made it all real

The 24 Hours was the centerpiece of our trip and the race did not disappoint, and although the LMP1 field was slim, the fight for the overall win more than made up for the reduced numbers of the top prototype hybrids. The Toyotas were quickest in practice and started up front, but the Porsches were steady and when the #1 broke, the #2 Porsche was there to take the win even after enduring lengthy repairs of its own. What made it really exciting was the LMP2 Rebellion team taking the overall lead in the #38 car and nearly holding on for the overall win. Not only that, the Aston Martin team made a late charge and a last lap pass to take the LM GTE Pro win over the American Corvette Racing team. I have always loved shooting sports car racing and Le Mans was my second 24 hour race this year, following Daytona in January, so I had a little idea about what I was in for. But reality blew away what I had imagined and it was all done on a wing and prayer since having credentials was not assured until about three weeks before we left Indy for Paris.

The driver's parade was s study in contrasts

I sure hope I get the opportunity to work Le Mans again and I will be working on that. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the trip, from the planning and booking to the side trips and all the planes, trains and automobiles we used to get around. When the idea was first broached last May, I started doing research into plane fares and calculating a budget. One of my French friends suggested sing Booking.com for hotels and that worked out perfectly. I also used Air BnB for lodging during the race weekend and we ended up in a great home about a kilometer from the main entrance to the circuit. I wanted to be there for the whole week of Le Mans and had to be sure my fiance had time to enjoy Europe and not just get trapped at the racetrack so we decided to go for 17 days, beginning in Paris and ending in Rome. So we flew to Paris Wednesday June 7th, then took a high speed train to Tours, France on Sunday June 11th where we got a rental car for a few days. That allowed us to take a side trip to the Chenonceaux Chateau and I could drive to Le Mans. Ironically, I left my fiance in Tours for two days as I stayed near the racetrack in another French home since the turnaround from Wednesday night qualifying to Thursday morning track activity was so tight. Friday morning June 16th I drove back to Tours, picked up my fiance, returned the rental car and then we hopped a train back to Le Mans so we could go to the driver's parade. We landed in our Air BnB home that night excited to be in the city with the race less than a day away. After the race, we ate dinner in Arnage on Sunday and collapsed into bed since we were set to fly to Venice the next day. so Monday June 19th we took the high speed train back to Paris, then rode a shuttle bus to ORLY Airport and flew EasyJet to Venice. Our stay in Venice was brief but memorable and we took another high speed train Wednesday June 21st to Rome. The next two days we spent in Rome sightseeing at the Vatican, St. Peter's basillica, the Colosseum and the ancient city before we took our return flight to Indy on Saturday June 24th. And just like that the trip was over, but I had about 10,000 images on my cameras and cell phones to memorialize it.

We had to stop at the Le Mans museum and gift shop first!

Our first day in Le Mans was Monday June 12th and we went to the credential office and racetrack first. It was an easy drive from Tours and we found ourselves driving into the City on the Mulsanne straight but going the opposite direction of what would be the normal race traffic. I drove inside the track and found the parking area for my pass and then wound our way downtown to the Place de Republique where the Pesage was underway. This public tech inspection (or scrutineering) was in the heart of Le Mans and hugely popular with race fans who could see the cars up close and get photos of the teams, cars and drivers. I tracked down my French friends who I had not seen since Indianapolis in May of 2016 and we arranged to meet for dinner later that evening. On the way, the GPS in the car I had took us the wrong direction so one of the guys had to come get us at the credential facility and lead us to the restaurant. Afterwards we went out in my rental car and I got to drive on the public roads of the racetrack from Tetra Rouge down the Mulsanne, and through Indianapolis and Arnage corners. I shot video and was absolutely thrilled to have that opportunity.

Great light Wednesday between Mulsanne and Indianapolis corners

My fiance and I took our road trip to Chenonceaux the next day and then on Wednesday I headed to Le Mans to get down to business. I had to hit a photo meeting before I could go shoot in order to get updated on the safety rules which were quite a bit different than what I normally see in the USA. My French friends are the Le Mans experts through their company Vision Sport Agency, and while I had been studying the track map for months, I had no idea how to get from Point A to Point B. They had me tag along with another experienced Frenchman who took me to all the right locations for the first four hour practice session and the lighting was just perfect everyplace we went. He couldn't speak much English and I couldn't speak much French but we managed to communicate through the common language of racing photography. They let me borrow a 500 mm lens and I was in another world for that practice session. There are places photographers may go at Le Mans where it is just you, a three-tiered guardrail, the woods and the track so you really must pay attention and it was eerie at times to think how close the danger was with no catch fencing between me and the cars. But I loved it.

Night qualifying was spectacular from the center island

That first track day also included a night qualifying session between 10 pm and midnight and I got another thrill: the guys let me borrow a firesuit and helmet and work the pit lane during that session. The Le Mans pits are unlike anything else I have ever experienced so I was a little overwhelmed at first, but then I remembered lessons I learned long ago: keep them in front of you and don't turn your back on the cars. That was especially important since the LMP1 prototypes were hybrids and they would whistle silently into their pit stalls and you wouldn't even hear them coming. The Le Mans pit lane has a center island area where the engineers sit with their computer monitors adjacent to the racetrack where it is also possible to shoot. And because we have to have helmets and firesuits, you can walk back and forth across the pit lane and around the cars while they are pitting. So I walked the island all the way to the other end of the pits and crossed back to the pit stalls and walked the other direction so the traffic came toward me. I did that routine twice during the session and got the chance to experiment with available light and second curtain flash in ways I never had before. It was an amazing experience but my adventure for that day didn't stop there as I had trouble finding my host home in the dark that night, but the hostess waited up for me and offered me bread and cheese while we tried to communicate.

There's something special about night racing that I have come to love

Thursday June 15 was a very long day at the track with early sessions, the Road to Le Mans series and WEC Le Mans qualifying that ran until midnight again. I went to several new shooting locations and added to my steps total with more big numbers, and then was left to my own devices for the night qualifying session. I experimented with some longer exposures and went to the esses that lead onto the main straightaway. At that location I was also able to see the cars under heavy braking and get some nice shots of cars trailing each other through that series of corners. At the end of that day, I went back to my host home and got a few hours of sleep before heading back to Tours the next morning to get my fiance and bid our farewells to our BnB hostess there. I was so excited to get back to Tours and tell my fiance about my experiences and hear about her days on her won, and then we had a train to catch back to Le Mans.

After walking the grid, I went up towards the Dunlop Bridge for the start

Friday June 16th we were together in Le Mans at last and got picked up at the train station by one of our French friends so we grabbed a leisurely lunch downtown and then had fun with the driver's parade which started after 5:00 p.m. and ran until about 7:30. The contrast between old and new in downtown Le Mans was striking and then we were ready for race day. The funny thing was, I needed to do laundry! So our Air BnB hosts took us to a laundromat race morning and then we packed up our stuff and walked to the Circuit. I had purchased an ACO Club membership for my fiance so we found where she needed to go and then went into the Vision Sport Agency office to get ready to go to work. We agreed to meet at the ACO Club facility at midnight so I could walk her back to our Air BnB home and grab a couple hours of sleep. I was back at the circuit at 5:00 a.m. and headed immediately for the area of the Dunlop Bridge as I had an image in my mind I wanted to try and get.

Sunrise came around 6:00 a.m. 

Sunrise at Le Mans is an iconic image and although I am happy with what I got, it was not quite what I had envisioned so I want another crack at it. That will have to wait for my next trip to Le Mans and I know there will be one. That Sunday morning sky was still way better than what we had at Daytona this year at the Rolex 24 Hours where it was pouring rain at dawn. From Wednesday through Sunday, I was struck on more than one occasion just how awesome it was to even be there, trackside at Le Mans, after dreaming about going to that race for years and seeing the work of other photographers year after year.  The theme for the 85th Le Mans was "Mythique" and I certainly experienced that feeling as I watched the race unfold, and the Toyotas dropped out, then the #1 Porsche failed with a huge lead, and the GTE battle went to the last lap. There was no big controversy this year and I shot several thousand images over the course of the week so I had a lot of editing to do once the race was over. We had a plane to catch the next day to Venice so the editing would have to wait, but I was already thinking about the next time I could come to Le Mans as we ate our post race meal in Arnage. Our Air BnB host picked us up after dinner and took us back out on the racetrack as the public roads were re-opened just hours after the checkered flag flew, a perfect bookend to the way our Le Mans week began.

There's so much more I could write about my first Le Mans experience, but for now I will try to let my photos tell more of the story. Here are links to my galleries from the week:

Le Mans Race: Sunday 

Le Mans Race: Saturday

Le Mans Pesage, Qualifying and Parade

Road to Le Mans Series

Post race Victory Lane celebrations were absolutely joyous

Morning light at Le Mans was magical

Of course I had to go to Indianapolis Corner for photos

Shooting in the woods between Mulsanne and Indianapolis was unbelievable

Sato Takes Indy 500 Win - We Head to France

2017 Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato

What a month of May this has been. I turned 60 the last day of May and as my fiance likes to say, "The Month of Jay" concluded with another highly entertaining Indy 500 race which was won in the last few laps by hard charging Takuma Sato. Taku became the first Japanese driver to win Indy and he did it with a Honda engine behind him that was stronger (and lasted longer) than all the rest. The Chevy powered teams were just no match for Honda this year at IMS and it was a joy to watch Takuma get his first 500 win after a near miss in 2011 when he crashed trying to pass Dario Franchitti on the last lap. This year, there was no denying the man whose motto is stitched onto his caps: "No Attack, No Chance" and I'm sure his fans in the far east were partying in the streets after their hero took the checkered flag. And that after the buzz all month had been about Fernando Alonso skipping the Monaco Grand Prix to race at Indy! It was amazing to see how happy Sato and his Andretti Autosport team was in Victory Lane as he chugged the milk and then poured it on himself. He bore a smile that just wouldn't quit.

Fernando Alonso  clearly enjoyed Indy

As for me, I was happy too since I have provided Indy 500 photos for Autosport Japan magazine featuring Takuma the last several years and began thinking excitedly that this could generate a nice payday for me, or maybe even a cover shot! How crazy it seems to think that this Hoosier with a yen for Indycars and racing could get a cover photo in a magazine in the land of the rising sun! For now, we'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I provided a month's worth of coverage in photos for my friends in France who credentialed me at Vision Sport Agency (VSA). I also managed to get photos used through VSA in French and German publications after Sato's win. As if that international exposure wasn't enough, next week my fiance and I head to France where I will get the chance to shoot my first 24 Hours of LeMans race and I will have credentials to do it. One bucket list item after another seems to have been ticked off the last few weeks and I'm sure I will be feeling the immense distance between little Salem Speedway and the famed Circuit de la Sarthe once I am there.

Sato is a hard charger and calculating racer

I knew heading into May that my schedule would be packed with activity and the month seemed to fly by as I worked my teaching job and went to the Speedway every day I could, often doing both on the same day. Everything came together on race day as I got tremendous cooperation from the IMS staff on the access I wanted, including a Victory Lane pass for race day, all month long. I think that bodes well for the future for VSA at Indy and I hope they continue to use me as their Indianapolis representative. Trust me when I say I understand how fortunate I am to be doing these things but I also know that opportunities like this aren't just handed out. I know my work is good and it's an incredible feeling to have it get recognized in the form of a trusted assignment.

Which leads me to LeMans: ever since I met the guys from VSA at the 2016 Indy 500, I have hoped and planned to go and shoot the race. I only found out this past Saturday that credentials had been approved for me and that was after submitting about two dozen PDF's of publication proofs for the event organizers to review. Twice. Once we set plans in motion to go last summer, I never backed off, buying plane tickets last November and booking rooms and other travel connections "as if" I would be working. We decided long ago that we were going even if it was just as spectators so I just did the legwork and left the rest up to others. Getting that LeMans confirmation on the Saturday morning of Indy 500 weekend was a sure sign of good things to come.

Scott Dixon led from the start but his race ended spectacularly

And there were other signs of good fortune as well. I had asked a trusted photographer friend for advice on how to raise the profile of VSA with the IMS staff the previous week and had emailed information to the IMS photo director with no real hope of a reply. But lo and behold, come race morning I got the vest I needed to shoot outside by the wall and my name did not get crossed off the Victory Lane list. To top it off, I got to the winner's trophy shoot on Monday and found a chair reserved for "Alley" in the front row which was totally unexpected. Another race day sign involved a photo of my Mom at the track (who passed away in July 2015) I had decided to take with me in one of my lens pouches. Unbeknownst to me, it fell out on my way to the Penthouse roof. High on the Penthouse walkway, I hear a woman holler "Number 38! Hey!" which was the vest number I had been given, and she handed me the photo which she had seen me drop. I could hardly believe it but I knew I was going to have a great day shooting once that happened. And I did. Not only that, the predicted thunderstorms held off until well after the race was over which made for a nearly perfect day on the job.

I have a lot to be grateful for right now and it starts with my fiance Julie. When I decided to change careers in 2009, I told her I wouldn't be able to do it without her and now it's surreal to look back and see all that has happened since I decided to become a teacher and really concentrate on my motorsports photography. There's another list of people I'm grateful for in my life too but I'll save that for the next post. But if I've said "thank you" to you lately, you know who you are. I couldn't have done this without you either. Next stop, Paris, then Tours and LeMans. See you there!

To see a few of my photos from the 500, then click here to follow this link. If you want to see more, then please click here to visit the Vision Sport Agency website. And then tell all your friends!

Honda personnel at Indy had their hands full with blown engines but Taku's went the whole 500 miles

Michael's Andretti Autosport team fielded six (6) cars including the winner

Fernando Alonso proved to be quick and Indy fans loved him

ARCA, Alonso and Alabama

ARCA raced at Salem for the 101st time on April 30th

Since the last I had the chance to write, I've been kind of busy! You may wonder what the heck ARCA, Alonso and Alabama have in common and why I used these in my title. On the last weekend in April, I made two trips to Salem Speedway in southern Indiana for the 101st ARCA race at the old high banks. Then Wednesday May 3rd I went out to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to cover the first test session for two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso on the IMS oval since the news came out that he was skipping Monaco to run the 101st Indy 500 instead.

ARCA teams turned out in force for Talladega 

Then the first weekend in May I did a banzai trip to Talladega, Alabama, driving through torrential rain Thursday night, to shoot the ARCA, NASCAR Xfinity and Monster Energy Cup races, before returning home to Indy at 2:45 a.m. Monday morning so I wouldn't miss any work that day. The Alabama weather was miserable on Friday when we were supposed to have run the ARCA race as it was cold and rainy, although we did get on track for 30 minutes of practice. as a result, the race got postponed to Saturday afternoon once all of the NASCAR track activities were completed so I ended up shooting the Xfinity Series race for AP and the ARCA race for ARCA that afternoon. The night before we had gone to a Mexican restaurant on Cinco de Mayo, which probably wasn't the best decision, but we had fun and I was ready to just relax Saturday night.

Four wide at Talladega is the new normal

I was still dealing with a credential snafu that night for the Cup race and I wasn't sure it would get worked out at all, but I went to sleep trying to trust the process and hope for the best. The next morning I not only got into the track with the right credential to shoot for AP, I got assigned to the Turn 1 tower so I had a great view of the pack racing which made for some interesting photos. Even though I didn't sell any pictures to AP from the Cup race, I left via the "secret exit" as soon as I turned in my photo vest and was happy with the work I had done as I headed back to Indianapolis Sunday evening. The common thread is racing of course, and I nearly set a mileage record for the week!

Will Power won on the road course at Indy again

Fast forward a week and I've done another race - this time a little closer to home - at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where Indycar ran on the road course in its Indycar Grand Prix to kick off May track activities at IMS. Now that the Indycar GP is over, practice has started for the 101st Indy 500 and Alonso has gotten some real track time under his belt, and he has really seemed to enjoy it. He has adapted well to solo and pack running since his limited number of laps to pass his rookie test on May 3rd. Fernando has also seemed to enjoy the close contact with fans and I have been surprised that photographers and fans alike have allowed relatively easy access to him, even in the pits. He ran as high as 4th quick on Fast Friday so he may yet be a real threat to win the 500 next weekend, but there's a host of Indycar regulars who stand between Fernando and the Borg Warner trophy.

Will Power was unstoppable on Indy's road course

Although it is a bit disappointing that there are only 33 cars entered for this year's 500, the quality of the field is high and three crashes during practice (veteran Josef Newgarden, youngster Spencer Pigot and rookie Zach Veach) is about normal for the first week at Indy. I have had a blast shooting for Vision Sport Agency (VSA) and adapting to their more sophisticated techniques in Adobe Lightroom for processing daily images. It has also forced me to be more critical of my own work so I am trying to do hard edits each day as I cull through my photos looking for the 4- and 5-star images.  It's nice to see the results of my work immediately on the internet and I hope it generates more interest for the series and for VSA's involvement both now and in the future, especially here at Indy since this is my home race.

Penske, Ganassi and Andretti drivers made the Indycar GP podium

Will Power won the Indycar GP again this year leading 61 of 85 laps to get his second win at Indy, albeit not on the oval in the big race. Michael Andretti has six cars entered this year for the 500, including Alonso's so on sheer numbers alone, an Andretti driver has the best chance of winning this year at 18.18%. Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi both have four cars entered so they will certainly have much to say about who wins this year's race. In any event they will have to fend of the Andretti phalanx of cars which may get an additional technology boost with the involvement of the McLaren braintrusts from Formula One. Since I'm a numbers guy (I teach Algebra after all) the odds of an Andretti, Penske or Ganassi entry winning the 500 stand at 42.42%. That's a number I would bet on. So as the late Sid Collins used to say, "Stay tuned for the Greatest Spectacle in racing." I will do my part to bring it to you in photos so be sure to check the Vision Sport Agency website on a regular basis.

Fernando Alonso seemed quite comfortable on his first laps on Indy's oval 

Spencer Pigot found the wall in practice but is expected to be ready for qualifying