Alonso, Danica, Daytona, Le Mans and the Indy 500

F1 star Alonso wowed fans at Indy in 2017

So what does this blog post have to do with the biggest races in the world? And what does Fernando Alonso have to do with Danica Patrick? He's a two-time Formula One world champion seeking to win a prestigious triple crown while she's out of her NASCAR ride for 2018 and has announced her retirement as a full time driver. But Danica will try to wrap her career with a nice bow in 2018 at the place where she first gained fame: the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as she has said the Indy 500 will be her last race. Too bad they both couldn't be at Indy this year! Meanwhile, Alonso is taking on the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona this month to prepare for his attempt at winning Le Mans this coming June. I had hoped to be there to photograph all of these events in 2018. but it doesn't look like Le Mans is going to be possible after all. If I could arrange funding through sponsorship or a photo assignment for the trip to France, then it could still become a reality so if you are in need of someone to work races for you as your team or driver's personal photographer, then please keep me in mind.

Rolex 24 pre-race pageantry in 2017

With my ARCA Racing Series work and a return engagement with Vision Sport Agency at Indianapolis this May, I am anticipating a very busy 2018 as I will be flying to Daytona in a little more than two weeks to shoot the Rolex 24 Hours for Associated Press. It will be my third Rolex race and I am very excited to have the chance to work the event again this year. I do have the feeling that big things lie ahead this year so the Rolex race will be a great way to kick things off.

Danica Patrick  got a mixed reaction from fans at Texas in 2009

With Alonso in the headlines so often lately with his explorations in racing away from his full time ride with McLaren, it will be interesting to see how NASCAR starts its season off shortly after the Rolex weekend has concluded. Danica may or may not race the Daytona 500 - she said she would for the last time n 2018 but is not having much luck in putting a deal together. To say the bloom is off the rose is probably an understatement and I'll bet she faces the same issue for the Indy 500 this May. I know when she left Indycar, she did so with no hard feelings but many fans had grown tired of the surly temperament she often displayed around the garage area. The last straw for a lot of Indy fans was her comment on the public address system at Indy when she threw her team under the bus after a slow qualifying effort. Saying "It's not my fault" as she did is not going to win fans at Indianapolis and many people were happy to see her go to NASCAR.

When I took this photo, I wondered if Danica was waving goodbye

My perception has always been that Danica never really mastered how to drive a loose race car in the Cup series, having become accustomed to the high downforce Indycar package which more often than not produced tight racecars. The old saying is "loose is fast" so the learning curve in NASCAR must have been huge for her. Perhaps the new Indycar design for 2018 will present a level playing field for her return. I hope she gets back to Indyas it will offer another story line for the 500 and the chance for more publicity. Another old adage is that "any publicity is good publicity" and many would say that definitely applies to the Indycar series these days so her return might fall into that category. No matter what, she will probably sell some t-shirts and perhaps a few copies of her new book. If Danica can come back to Indy with an excited attitude and courts women and young girls who have always looked up to her, then I would say that her retirement from racing would be a success.

The 2017 Rolex 24 was hit by overnight rains which challenged everyone

The time for off-season speculation is just about at an end as the 2018 racing season got underway this past weekend at Daytona where all the IMSA teams gathered for their pre-season "Roar Before The 24" test. The 2018 rendition of the Rolex 24 Hours race promises to be one of the best in years with a star studded field of drivers and a highly varied equipment entry list with DPi and WEC LMP2 prototypes at the head of the pack and a plethora of production based GT cars filling out the class structure in GTD and GTLM. That variety is one of the great things about sports car endurance racing and why I am so excited to have the chance to go back again this year. While I shot the 2017 Rolex 24 for motorsport.com, this year I am working as a stringer for Associated Press - always a crapshoot economically - just as I did in 2014 in order to have another chance to prove what I can do and network with people who might be able to hire me in the future to shoot more racing.

I love working with ARCA  and its champions like Austin Theriault

This is, however, the beginning of a transitional year for me in racing photography as the financial returns have often not exceeded my investment of time, energy and funding. Over the last dozen years, I have really concentrated on making a name for myself in the business, a task which has proven to be much more difficult than I had imagined. Much as race teams need sponsorship, so do I need gainful assignments where I am not subsidizing my passion for racing as I have often done.  I am a teacher by trade, having decided to make a career change in 2009 in part so I could have time to pursue my photography interests more fully, and the change  has allowed me to do just that, so I have no regrets whatsoever. I just wish I could find more paying clients to make the pursuit of my passion truly self supporting.

At home at Indianapolis

Amidst the changing landscape of today's digital media world, I am grateful for every opportunity to be compensated for my racing photography such as my role as Chief Photographer for the ARCA Racing Series. After this year, I don't anticipate working "on spec" or in exchange for access or for photo credits in publications. That could change if there were some extraordinary circumstances involved, but I did that for a number of years trying to help a friend launch the defunct American Motor Journal publication and was aware even then that I was perhaps part of the problem in terms of the devaluation of photography services by the mainstream media. I have seen many news outlets cut back and eliminate staff photographer positions the last 10 years, so I hope I can be hired for the quality of work I produce and be paid fair compensation for that work product. As racers often have critical years in their careers, it feelss like 2018 will be a critical year for my career as a racing photographer as well.

I hope to shoot the Indy 500 as long as I am able

If you've read my blog before then you know that Indianapolis is my home track and I am a member of the Indy 500 Oldtimers so I will always have a photography role at the Speedway in May as long as I am physically able. This year will be my second year representing French media company Vision Sport Agency (VSA) and I will be seeing one of their owners at Daytona later this month to plan for that work. I am also hoping to do other sports car work for VSA if they run into scheduling conflicts with their other staff, and of course going to Le Mans in June is at the top of my 2018 list if funding comes through. So by the end of this month, I should know exactly what my 2018 schedule will include beyond the month of May as I have the Daytona 24 on tap, then ARCA races at Nashville, Salem and Talladega, before the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indy 500. The end of this month will also be two years since I quit smoking so I am grateful to still be alive and kicking at an age when I see the names of a lot of my friends in the obituaries.

Thank God for exercise, good friends, and fulfilling work. Gotta love it! See you at the Rolex 24!

The first Japanese driver to win the Indy 500: Takuma Sato

I am looking forward to another great year shooting the ARCA Racing Series

Our trip to Le Mans last year was a dream come true; I can't wait to go back!

One More Race to Go: Planning for 2018 Already Underway

Prototype racing at Daytona is incredible in person

What a year in racing this has been for me! My 2017 racing season as a photographer began in January and now I am only four days away from its conclusion. It all started at Daytona International Speedway where I was fortunate to get to shoot the Rolex 24 Hours race in the IMSA WeatherTech endurance series for motorsport.com. This coming Friday, I will complete my 13th ARCA race of the season for the series at Kansas Speedway and it is hard to believe that this season has gone by so quickly. It seems like it just began. I guess being busy at 19 race weekends since the end of January will do that to your time sense! Now I have just one race left to photograph and my season will be over. This weekend  the ARCA season finale will see the 2017 champion crowned, and various other awards such as Rookie of the Year will be decided.

Steve McQueen said "Racing is life."

This year was the second time I had shot the Rolex 24 race and I am planning to go back in 2018 to work it again, this time for Associated Press.  The 2017 edition turned into a sprint at the finish with an epic pass for the lead with only a few minutes left in a frantic 24 Hour event. It was a fitting way to start the year and I have seen a lot of great races throughout this season. The highlight of my season was getting the chance to shoot the 85th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. My fiance and I were able to turn it into an extended visit to France and Italy this past June. Neither of us had ever been to Europe before this trip so saying that it was an epic adventure would be the understatement of a lifetime. I am working on going back and I sure hope I get that chance.

Road racing at Indianapolis is still a bit hard to get used to

From the beginning of the year, my racing stops this season were as follows: Daytona Rolex 24 Hours, Nashville (ARCA), Salem (ARCA), Talladega (ARCA, NASCAR Xfinity and Monster Energy Cup), Grand Prix of Indianapolis (Indycar), Indianapolis 500 (Indycar), 24 Hours of Le Mans (World Endurance Championship), Iowa (ARCA), Lucas Oil Raceway (ARCA), Winchester (ARCA), Springfield (ARCA), Road America (ARCA), DuQuoin (ARCA), Salem (ARCA), Chicagoland (ARCA), Kentucky (ARCA) and soon Kansas (ARCA). From January to October, I logged plenty of miles behind the wheel of my Civic Si and logged some major miles flying to Daytona and Europe. In the process I shot races on paved ovals and dirt ovals, on road courses and at  historic venues. Next year is shaping up to include more of the same and I am excited to see what the new year will include.

It was great to get back to Road America again this summer

I have said for years that I would love to make a living as a motorsports photographer as very few people can say they do. I have been blessed with some great opportunities the last few years and there are times I wish I'd gotten more serious about it at a younger age. That may sound strange considering as how I've been shooting racing for media outlets since 1984, but the driving force in my life back then was making money to support a family and I didn't think photography would do the trick. What I have come to understand though, is that I have to do the things that I am passionate about no matter what, and there's no questions that I am passionate about photography in general and about motorsports in particular. The "joke" I like to tell on myself is that after my marriage broke up in 2005, I bought camera equipment and went racing again instead of buying furniture. Those of you who know me understand how true that is. So these last few years have brought a new determination and focus on what I love to do and I have had to figure out a way to go do it. I'm one of the fortunate ones who's figured that out and I am able to do what I love, even though it remains an avocation and not my full time gig.

Dirt miles at fairgrounds tracks are part of the lure of racing

There's so much more I have planned: creating multiple photo books, publishing an e-book or two, shooting more international races, finishing a novel I started many years ago, etc. Even this blog is a part of that desire to produce and publish creative works, as I decided long ago that if I was going to be a writer, then I needed to write. So you get this blog. If I'm going to be a racing photographer, then I need to shoot races, so I do that too and share the results with the world through traditional media outlets and through social media. Somehow I feel compelled to do these things and leave a legacy of my vision for others to hopefully enjoy. I see things differently and I know that. I hope you see that too when you read my posts or see my photos.

If you want to see more, then please hire me. You will not be disappointed. See you at a race somewhere soon.

From Formula One in 1984...

...to flying Indycars at Indy in 2010...

...to sports cars racing through city streets...

...to fire...

...and rain, I have shot them all.

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

Race Photography Adventure Begins

Salem Speedway will host the ARCA series for the 101st time this weekend

And so it begins: a race photographer's heaven full of events starts this weekend with a road trip to Salem Speedway to work the ARCA race for the series. The weather forecast isn't great for either Saturday or Sunday but ARCA knows how to get an event in so I am pretty sure the 200 lapper scheduled for Sunday afternoon will get run sometime before I have to be back on my teaching job Monday morning. Those old Salem highbanks drain fast and the track workers know how to get it dried off. There have been numerous times where it didn't look like racing was possible there but it happened despite my prediction, so I am going to stay out of the weatherman business and just go with the flow. I will have pictures to make regardless.

Dega is one monster of a racetrack: I love it

This Salem weekend begins a stretch of racing unlike anything I have ever experienced before. Next Wednesday May 3rd is Fernando Alonso's test on the big oval at Indianapolis Motors Speedway (IMS) so my plan is to get out there for a couple of hours in the morning to get some photos for Vision Sport Agency. Then Thursday night May 4th I hit the road for Talladega as soon as I get out of work, which usually means I get there about midnight Indy time. Friday is ARCA's day on track at Dega so I will be there shooting for the series as we practice, qualify and race all on Friday. Then Saturday and Sunday I will stay over and shoot the NASCAR races for Associated Press, which should be interesting since Dale Earnhardt, Jr. announced this week that he intends to retire from NASCAR at the end of this season. The Alabama fans absolutely love Junior so I will be trying to get some candid shots of him at one of his best racetracks. Then I drive home Sunday night to be back at the head of my class Monday morning.

Simon Pagenaud won the 2016 Grand Prix

The following Friday May 12th action picks up on the road course at IMS for the Indycar Grand Prix event which includes support races for the Indy Lights series. I will be there both days for VSA and hoping that Simon Pagenaud or Sebastian Bourdais can snag a win as those pictures would go over well in Europe for VSA. I will be a one man gang for VSA at Indy this May so I will probably end up setting some steps records by the time the month is over. After the Grand Prix May 13th, I get Sunday off but I will probably still be doing some editing as the track time far outweighs the editing time for the road course event. The rest of that week I will be teaching all day and trying to zip out to IMS for Happy Hour any day the weather permits for Indy 500 practice and more photos of Alonso and all the rest of the Indycar regulars who will be getting ready for the 101st running of the 500. I will also keep an eye on Takuma Sato for Autosport Japan magazine which has used quite a few of my Indy 500 photos of Taku in its publication the last few years. Keeping up with international and domestic relationships has become a major goal of my photography work in motorsports. I am grateful for every opportunity.

There's nothing like the start of the Indianapolis 500

Saturday and Sunday May 20 and 21st are qualifying days for the 500 so I will be working at IMS both days. Then it's race week and after teaching Monday through Thursday I will be at IMS for Carburetion Day Friday May 26th, covering the final practice session for the 33 qualified cars, plus the Freedom 100 Indy Lights race and the pit stop competition. I have always considered race weekend my birthday weekend since my birthday is May 31st, so we will be celebrating my 60th the day after Carb Day. Then 300,000 or so people will join the celebration the next day at IMS for the 500 on May 28th. So between now and the 500, I will have one day off where I am not teaching or working a race event. And I couldn't be happier about that.

Then life calms down for a few days as we wrap up our school year and make final preparations for my biggest travel adventure ever. We leave 10 days after the 500 for Paris, France and the 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans. My fiance and I are going together and while I am unsure what kind of access I will have for the 24 Hours race, you know I will bring back pictures. That's what I do.

So stay tuned race fans! Follow me on twitter @alleygroup to read all about it!

Salem Speedway is a historic track which used to test the best that Indy had to offer

Talladega is a high speed crapshoot to see who can miss "The Big One"

Running clockwise at Indy during the Grand Prix still seems a bit odd to me

Indy 500 pit stops are choreographed mayhem where the quick and precise prevail

Countdown to France: My First Le Mans

Pre-race pageantry at the Rolex 24

Now that the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, the Daytona 500 and Sebring have been run, it's really beginning to feel like spring and I am just two weeks away from my first ARCA race of 2017.  My calendar is full of countdowns for this racing season which began with my second Rolex 24 Hours race in January. I haven't started a countdown to next year's Rolex yet because I definitely want to go back, but you can bet I will start one! We are, however, less than 90 days away from leaving for an epic trip to Italy and France where I will get to shoot the 24 Hours of Le Mans. While that will be my second endurance race of this year, it will be my first Le Mans and first trip to Europe. I couldn't be more excited even though it is not clear yet who I will be shooting for, or even, for that matter, if I will get credentials as I have hoped. But it really doesn't make any difference if I get credentials or not, although I would love to have it on my photo resume. We're going anyway and I will make some freaking pictures one way or another.

There's no place like Indianapolis

We are also less than 70 days away from the 101st Indy 500 and this year marks a change of the guard for me after shooting 2013-2016 for motorsport.com. I will shoot this year's Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indy 500 for Vision Sport Agency (VSA), a French company run by one of the gentlemen I met and worked with last year at the 500. This is another exciting opportunity for me to make photography connections on the international motorsports scene. It is also a nice complement to the work I have done in the past for Autosport Japan as VSA is active worldwide on many endurance racing series where it serves as an official photo media outlet. I will get the chance to add to the VSA Indycar portfolio this year. With the 2016 Indycar champion, Simon Pagenaud, a Frenchman and another Frenchman, Sebastian Bourdais, already a winner in Indycar this season at St. Petersburg, I expect I will be taking their photos a lot this May. If that connection extends on to Le Mans, then all the better! 

The monumental countdown is to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I hope I can remember some of the French I have been trying to learn! My fiance and I are taking the trip of a lifetime with the encouragement of our friends from France at VSA, and with the spiritual guidance of my mother from beyond. I have been making arrangements since last fall and know generally what our itinerary involves. By the time all is said and done, it will sound like planes, trains and automobiles! We will fly through JFK in New York to Paris first for a few days, then take the train to Tours where I will commute to Le Mans during practice. The Loire Valley was always one of Mom's favorite parts of France so I hope we will get to see some of the historic estates while we are there. For the 24 Hours itself, we  have an Air BnB place reserved for race weekend which is within walking distance of the circuit. The day after the race, we will fly to Venice from the western Paris airport for a quick visit and then take the high speed train from Venice to Rome to wrap up our trip, finally flying back from Rome the next weekend. 

Josh Williams with the spoils of victory

My immediate countdown is for ARCA now since there are just two weeks before I head south to Nashville, Tennessee and the Fairgrounds Speedway for the second race of the season for myself as well as the ARCA series. These guys haven't raced since Daytona last month and there was a lot of torn up equipment at that race, so hopefully everyone has their repairs made and are ready for short track racing in the Music City 200. Several teams have been at Nashville testing this week to get ready so you know they are taking this seriously.  Josh Williams got his first ever ARCA series win last year at Nashville and his family's celebration was one for the ages. It will be fun to see if one of the crop of new drivers in the series this year can have a similar breakthrough on Nashville's weathered half mile of pavement. I am excited to get back to ARCA racing and meet all the new people as well as see my friends from the last few seasons. The ARCA series is a great series for up and coming talent and races on all kinds of tracks, including dirt miles! The new 5 Star composite bodies and Ilmor engines make the racing affordable and competitive for everyone. Two weeks after Nashville, I will be back at Salem Speedway with ARCA in southern Indiana before hitting the big track of Talladega Superspeedway the first weekend in May. After Talladega comes Indy and then Le Mans, so the calendar pages will start flipping past quickly here very soon. Hopefully you will follow along here on my blog, or find me on Twitter @alleygroup as my motorsports photography journey continues.

We are having some fun now! See you at a racetrack somewhere soon.