USAC Dirt Racing

USAC Dirt Racing
Originally uploaded by indyjay42.

Back in the 90's, I shot a lot of different kinds of racing and one of my goals for this blog is to scan and resurrect as many of those old film based images as possible to get them out for people to see. Many of my favorite drivers are guys from those days - at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, or Duquoin, or Indianapolis Raceway Park. The cars still look about the same, at least in the alternate series for older silver crown cars, and sprints and midgets haven't changed much either. This one is Jeff Swindell slideways at the Fairgrounds in Indy in 91 or 92 in a car whose sponsor has been on sprints for years with many famous drivers: Terre Haute 1st National Bank.



But there's something special about standing next to the guardrail with the cars close enough you could reach out and touch them, blasting your left eardrum, and using the camera to shield your face from dirt and rocks. Thankfully I was never injured but part of the thrill as a racing photographer is knowing something could happen at any time. The cardinal rule I learned early on was don't ever turn your back on the cars. Of course this limited view of a very small portion of a race track might not be interesting to some people since sitting in the stands and seeing the whole track is nice for that overview as a spectator. But the only way to get any closer to the action is to sit behind the wheel.



I'll take my spot on the guardrail, thank you very much. The best part now with digital photography is you don't have to wonder if you got the picture or not while waiting for the film to be souped. Thank goodness the technology is so advanced now. Anyone want some old Canon film cameras? They make good doorstops nowadays, and maybe someday they will be museum pieces.



Jay

Michael McDowell, Eddie Sharp Racing, ARCA Star

Michael McDowell, Eddie Sharp Racing, ARCA Star
Originally uploaded by indyjay42.

Here's a young driver to keep an eye on: Michael McDowell. He's running the full ARCA circuit in 2007 for Eddie Sharp Racing and has already had an impressive 10th place at the Daytona 200. My pix are from the Eddie Gilstrap Fall Classic at Salem (Indiana) Speedway in September 2006 where I first met him and had the pleasure of providing photos for his website, http://mmcdowell.com and other uses. He also ran the Rolex 24 Hours this year for Finlay Motorsports and helped the team to a 10th place finish in the top sports car prototype class. The team had all kinds of problems but had a strong driver lineup where Michael teamed up with Bobby Labonte, Michael Valiente and Rob Finlay. For a guy who came up through road racing to adapt to the ARCA stock cars on ovals as quickly as Michael has is very impressive and I would expect him to land a ride in Busch or Nextel Cup in the next year or so. He surely knows how to go fast, and he's proving he can turn left (as well as right).



Watch for him!

Dilbert - More on Taming the Wild Photographer

Dilbert - More on Taming the Wild Photographer
Originally uploaded by indyjay42.

Here's another panel from Scott Adams' sequence about photographers adapting to corporate life. It's probably my favorite, with the guy wearing a ubiquitous photographer's vest and the cattle roping analogy. Strapping the personnel manual on the poor guy's back is a touch of genius. As if the photog will absorb the info somehow by mere physical contact. There's another panel with a panda reference which is pretty funny too but I won't post it unless someone asks me too. It's all about cube life sapping one's will to live which, come to think of it, is a recurring theme in Dilbert.



It's not really that bad out there. Maybe you feel differently.

Dilbert

Dilbert
Originally uploaded by indyjay42.

One of my favorite newspaper comics has always been Dilbert. Who hasn't been in situations like those described in the strip at one time or another? If you've ever worked in a corporate environment, then I'll bet you can relate too. Then there's Blondie, but that's another story...



This panel was one of a sequence that I would send out to photog friends. Taming the wild photographer was such a goofy concept that I had to laugh and share it with others. Photography can be a lonely job with lots of pressure, since you either get the shot or you don't, and it's your hands and eyes at work. There's no one else to blame when things go wrong. And they inevitably do go wrong. The motor drive doesn't advance. Somehow the camera settings have been bumped off the optimal and you didn't notice. The camera batteries suddenly just crap out. You see the shot but spectate instead of shooting. You miss the start of the Brickyard. You don't get back to your spot in time and someone hits the wall right in front of you. Your flash charger fries itself. I could go on and on.



But you get the idea. The lessons come in waves and can be painful, just as Dilbert's new photographer colleague discovers in the cube farm world.



Jay