Winter Doldrums or Brief Hiatus?

Acura Leaves Team Penske Next Season

Now all the major North American racing series have wrapped up their seasons and the 12 Hours of Sebring just concluded the wackiest year in memory for major motorsports series in America. Sadly I couldn't shoot at Sebring this month but next March is a possibility since it fits into my teaching calendar better. I have photographer friends who were in Florida for Sebring so I just enjoyed their photos and the television coverage of this year's delayed IMSA sports car classic. Ironically, Sebring was the last major United States race of 2020 and was one of the first races postponed this year by the coronavirus. It was great to see long-time Penske Indycar driver Helio Castroneves finally win a season championship, even though it was in sports cars. He'll be back in Indycar next year with Meyer Shank Racing for six races including the Indy 500 to go after that elusive fourth 500 win which would elevate Helio to legendary status along with AJ Foyt, Al Unser, Sr. and Rick Mears.

Mazda finally won an endurance race 

I am working on scheduling race assignments for next year which might include the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona at the end of January. That would be an awesome start for 2021 and it would be my fourth Rolex since 2014. Given how virus cases are spiking across the country right now, I must say I'm a little skeptical that the Rolex will be held without restrictions on fans, media or both. Shooting at Daytona would mean a short hiatus for me from racing which I would dearly love, but like seemingly everything else these days, planning must remain flexible so I won't be booking any flights or hotel rooms anytime soon. Watching Mazda win at Sebring over the weekend was satisfying since the marque has consistently had beautiful machines since joining the prototype ranks in 2014, which was ironically the first year I shot the Rolex 24. Even though I'm personally a Honda/Acura guy, I've had several of my Mazda prototype photos used in Autosport Japan magazine so they hold a special place in my heart.

Will Tony Kanaan return to the 500  in 2021?

I have three main goals for my 2021 racing photography. First, shoot the Indy 500 again. To do so, I need a team or media assignment and I will be in hot pursuit of that the next few months. Second, I must get back to the 24 Hours of LeMans, preferably as a credentialed photographer, but that will take some work. Absent credentials, if travel to Europe is allowed, then I will go as a spectator anyway as I know plenty of places where I can still get photos of this epic event. On top of that, I have friends in France now that I'm dying to see again. Third, I'd like to continue my relationship with the ARCA Menards Series in support of their marketing efforts and hope to do more than the one race I got to shoot this year

LeMans is calling with echoes of 2017

I have other photography goals for next year, including doing more assignments for Speedway Illustrated magazine and promoter Track Enterprises that I hope will involve dirt track races in USAC or other open wheel series. Of the seven races I shot this year, four were on dirt tracks and I loved them. They took me back to when I first started shooting races but more importantly, they reminded me of how my love of racing was originally sparked by my Grandpa Jay Shue at the fairgrounds track in Warsaw, Indiana before I was even in kindergarten.

My other photography goals involve branching out into other ventures. I've already put some of those into place by contributing stock photos to Adobe Stock, setting up a retail store on my Alleygroup website, and creating artistic content for sale on the website Fine Art America. Along with my photo work, I have a non-fiction book that I've been working on especially hard during this pandemic that I should have more announcements about very soon. If you are a regular reader of this blog and would like to among the first to get those announcements, I am starting to build an email list so please let me know if you'd like to be added to the list. Until next time, please visit the store on my website and order some unique photo products - just in time for Christmas! Thanks!

All Eyes on 2021

 

Kody Swanson was quickest in Silver Crown at LOR

My last blog post was looking ahead to the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 and deferring to friends who got to shoot the race. Afterward, I saw lots of amazing photos from my photographer friends who were allowed to cover the race on August 23rd. Unfortunately, I was not at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that weekend but I was able to watch and listen to the race. Most importantly I got the opportunity to shoot two USAC Silver Crown races as bookends on the weekend. I was really happy to see Takuma Sato win his second Indy 500 and I know my friends at Autosport Japan magazine were too. When Taku won in 2017, they used a lot of my photos so this year I could have perhaps had another nice payday with his win. It was not meant to be, however, so we move on and that's what I've done.

Kody Swanson set quick time in Pro 2000 also

 As it turned out, I got to see lots of great racing over the weekend after all, on two very different kinds of race tracks. They got my creative juices flowing and with my family having the ability to finally have a memorial service honoring my late Father on Saturday, the whole weekend brought a sense of closure and peace about all the loss I've dealt with this year personally and professionally. Added to the two other recent races I shot at Terre Haute at The Action Track, the two around Indy 500 weekend brought my total for the year up to four races photographed. That's a far cry from what I worked in 2019, but it's still way better than nothing. The first event of the weekend was Friday night August 21st at the paved 5/8ths mile oval at Lucas Oil Raceway and featured the USAC Silver Crown cars and the Road to Indy F2000 and Pro 2000 series. Sunday the Silver Crown series moved to the venerable one-mile dirt track at the Indiana State Fairgrounds for the Hoosier 100, a legendary open wheel race which at one point had been canceled by the State. I've been shooting races at both these tracks since I started in motorsports photography in the 1980s. It's still a thrill to stand next to the guardrail as the Silver Crown beasts roar past me just inches away and fling dirt all over me and my camera gear. That never gets old.

Kyle Larson set fast time and took the win

I have to give a big shout-out to my friends at Track Enterprises, the promoter of both events, who I had gotten to know during the years I served as Chief Photographer for the ARCA Menards Series. They made it possible for me to shoot both these events. I was joined by my former ARCA colleague Rich Corbett at the Hoosier 100 who got some spectacular shots of two accidents on the backstretch. Both events gave me the chance to shoot night racing, to work more on my flash photography, and try some experimental photos that I might not normally get to do when I am concentrating on editorial and documentation style photos. Ironically, the Hoosier 100 was the first time that former NASCAR driver Kyle Larson had raced in Indianapolis since his now infamous utterance of a racial slur during a virtual race earlier this year. I am not condoning his use of racially derogatory language in any way. Seeing him sling that Silver Crown car around on the dirt was a sight to behold. I know Kyle has applied to be reinstated by NASCAR and I hope there is a thorough vetting of his application. As a motorsports photographer, having Kyle race on the Indy mile was newsworthy so I made sure I got photos.

Back to racing at the Fairgrounds again!

Being able to get back to racing of some sort was a real Godsend for me. This has frankly been a shitty year for me in many ways and it has affected my outlook on life and my relationships with people around me. Call it grieving or depression or whatever, it sucked and these races, along with my Dad's service, and some counseling help through my EAP at work, have helped me turn the corner on a year of emotional turmoil. Being in a high-risk group during the Covid-19 pandemic has added a layer of anxiety that just won't seem to go away but if you really know me then you know how important my photography work, especially in motorsports, is to me. If you think it's fun hobby that I dabble in then you really don't know me at all. I'm still in good shape physically, I have proven what I can do for more than 30 years, and I will travel. I just need an assignment and I will be there.

Pro 2000 at LOR reflections

This blog post title refers to what's next for me. I don't have any idea. I'm still going to be teaching full time as I have a few more things to accomplish in that field before I am ready to retire. Rest assured I will be taking photos, whether it's increasing my stock photo offerings, boosting my social media presence, ramping up my sites with Canon and Adobe, or contributing to Google Maps. I expect to be looking for new opportunities in motorsports and will be back shooting the Indy 500 next year for some media outlet. I also plan to return to LeMans but it is not clear what MPS Agency plans to do in 2021. The help and assistance of my friends in France at MPS will never be forgotten and I look forward to seeing all of them again next June. As crazy as this year has been, I am certain that next year will be exactly the opposite. When I said, I had turned the corner, that last statement says it all. See you at a racetrack somewhere soon. When you see me, be sure and say hi. I'll take your picture.

Racing COVID-19

Dawn at Indy in 2019

March 13, 2020 was a Friday when they shut down the school where I teach. At that point, the whole world changed as Indiana went into a lockdown quarantine for the coronavirus COVID-19. Now nearly four months later, my son has lost his maternal grandmother (my ex-wife's mother)  and paternal grandfather (my father) to the coronavirus and the world is still in the grips of the worst pandemic in my lifetime. Social unrest over unfair treatment of minorities and police brutality against African-Americans has only added to the anxiety that many people are feeling over the state of society. Even my hometown of Indianapolis experienced rioting and destruction of property, which is highly unusual for this sleepy Midwestern capitol city.

In the grand scheme of things, the erasure of my 2020 racing schedule is a small matter, but I had big plans for this year which all got scuttled with the global shutdown. The Indycar Grand Prix which normally kicks off the Month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) is being run this weekend with NASCAR's Xfinity Series on the IMS road course but fans will not be allowed and media restrictions are in place so I will be unable to photograph the race. The Indy 500 which is normally the centerpiece of May and spring in Indianapolis has been postponed to August 23rd and fans will be limited to 50% of capacity. Media status for the 500 is unknown but I hope the fact that I will represent a French media company and the defending 500 champion is French will mean something. At least I know I will have seats for the race if all else fails.

By this time last season, I had been to Daytona, had lung cancer surgery, then went to Salem, Talladega, Nashville, Charlotte, Toledo, Pocono, Michigan, Madison, Gateway and Chicagoland to shoot races for the ARCA Menards Series in addition to the Indycar Grand Prix and Indy 500. This year I haven't even taken a single race car photo or been to any tracks because of the coronavirus. I don't know if I will even get any ARCA assignments at all this season after working 19 of 20 races on the ARCA schedule last year. The only good things about that situation are I haven't hardly put any miles on my car this year and I've only put gas in her twice since the lockdown in March.

I should also have been to LeMans, Paris and Marseille in France and Athens, Greece this month if my original plans had held up. I made plane reservations the first weekend in March for that trip which was planned to take more than three weeks in June. Barely a week later the global shutdown hit so I had to cancel those flights. I still hope I can make it to LeMans this Septemeber on its rescheduled date but the remaining trip for my Lilly Endowment project will just have to wait until June 2021. The airlines have been helpful by giving credits for the flights I reserved that are good for up to two years. Even LeMans has announced it will reduce the number of fans allowed at the race and I still have no idea if I will get a photo credential for my second LeMans or not.

Life is full of uncertainty normally anyway, but it feels like it's all piling on now. With my school year set to resume next week, I don't know what to expect so perhaps the best advice I could give to myself  is to just live today. Another good thing about the coronavirus shutdown is I have finally been able to get my manuscript 90% complete of a story I have been working on for most of my adult life but never had time to really focus on before now. I will have much more to announce on that score soon, as I intend to pursue self-publishing of the book. When that will happen, I don't really know, but it will happen come hell or high water. Or Coronavirus pandemic.

Stay tuned race fans. And stay safe - wear a mask.

WTH? No Indy 500 Memorial Day Weekend?

Happier days lie ahead

My, my. How quickly things change. Two weeks ago when I last wrote, I was feeling pretty good about getting through this coronavirus pandemic and planning for Europe. In the last few days, the 24 Hours of LeMans has been postponed to September and today the Indy 500 was postponed to August. My plans just went kablooey and now I have plane flights, lodging and train reservations to change or cancel. I suppose I was like a lot of other people in the United States who treated this virus as no big deal, but recent events have turned out to be anything but that. It has turned into the biggest deal of my lifetime and I have paid attention to the warnings and the "shelter in place" editc here in Indiana.

Technically, this is my Spring Break week from teaching and our building is shut down until at least May 16th since my school is in a facility owned by Ivy Tech. When school does resume the week after next, we will be teaching remotely utilizing online curriculum. That will be a major shift for our Excel Center staff and students, but that's probably the easy part of this situation. My fiancee works in health care and I hear her every day working on procedures and discussing preparations for the expected onslaught of COVID-19 patients in Central Indiana. I am thankful that right now she does not have direct patient contact but everything in her world is in such a state of flux that it's hard to know what tomorrow holds, let alone next week or the week after.

I had said in my last post here that I was not that concerned about some flu-like bug but I have changed my tune as the numbers of infected and dead continue to mount. What does all of this have to do with racing? That is normally what I write about here and my plans for 2020 have been totally upended by this virus. I am in a high risk group so my plans have become the least of my concerns. Over the last 48 hours, I have only gone out of the house to take a walk, to work in the yard, and today to ride my bicycle. It is just so strange not being able to plan anything for the weeks and months ahead. None of that matters if I get sick. Not only did I have part of my right lung removed in March 2019 because of lung cancer, I was diagnosed with emphysema which puts me squarely in the high risk category. I wasn't concerned two weeks ago when I said the virus wasn't going to keep me from living my life, but that is not the case anymore.

Thanks Helio!

The good news in all of this involves the time I suddenly have had to organize at home among other things. I've been working on a book project for quite some time and I've been able to do more writing on it this week than in the previous six months put together, so that's a real blessing. I've also had time to use the Google Scan app on my phone and scan a huge number of photos that I shot on film which had never been digitized before. That makes me very happy and came with an unexpected side benefit of posting photos on social media: I got a digital autograph on one of my scanned photos from Helio Castroneves! I hadn't even requested it, but there it was in my Twitter notifications. So for now, I will leave you with a few more of those old photos that I've recently digitized. You're seeing them here before I can get them posted on my website but stay tuned for more. Here's hoping we can get back to racing soon.

Al Unser Jr.'s team celebrates winning the Indy 500 pit stop competition in 1989

Sports car racing on the streets of Columbus, Ohio 1985

The late Scott Brayton was always quick at Indy

Lewis Hamilton

Emerson Fittipaldi on the streets of the Motor City in 1989

Life in the Rear View Mirror

"Mr. Photographer" at the racetrack

What a year this has been! I couldn't be happier that 2019 is almost over, and if you've been reading my blog this year, then you already know why. As 2019 comes to a close, I think back to twenty years ago today, when I was managing a sewer utility and watching the news with trepidation all day, waiting for the lights to go out as "Y2K" hit (what a scam that was BTW). My life has changed in so many ways since then. Today I am excited for the New Year to come because of what I believe lies ahead for me as a teacher and photographer!

I made it to Daytona and had surgery 10 days later

So now it's my turn to do a recap of the last 12 months. I am also going to provide a glimpse at a few favorites from the more than 50,000 photos I shot at races this season. Last year at this time, I was concerned I had lung cancer following a CT scan, and that diagnosis was confirmed January 4th. Thankfully the only treatment that was being recommended was surgery to remove the cancerous spot and the upper lobe of my right lung. My concern instantly shifted from uncertainty about cancer to whether or not my plans to shoot the first ARCA race of the season at Daytona in early February would be effected by the surgery. Thankfully the surgery was scheduled for after I got back from Daytona and I only missed three weeks at my teaching job and one ARCA race in March.

My "hole in the wall" shot means it's Salem

Getting back to "normal" was a challenge and my goals shifted to improving my breathing and my stamina and my racing photography helped me do that, starting with the next ARCA race near the end of April. I also had a deadline coming up in June to complete my "Hoosier Cemeteries" photo project under the grant I had received from the Indiana Arts Commission. While I was getting back to work and finding my feet again, my fiance was hit with her own cancer diagnosis, and we found out her brother also had cancer, so we had to deal with a trifecta of bad news the first quarter of 2019. Just before the Salem race, my fiance had breast cancer surgery and I was running back and forth between southern Indiana and Methodist Hospital in Indy the whole weekend.

Tommy Vigh, Jr. spun right at me at Talladega

Two weeks after Salem, I drove to Talladega for the next ARCA race event which started a string of ten straight weeks with racing to shoot. The Nashville ARCA race followed Dega, then the Indycar Grand Prix was the next weekend, followed by Indy 500 practice during the next week. A weekend in Toledo was next for ARCA and then on Wednesday I headed to Charlotte  for ARCA, driving back to Indy on Friday to shoot the Indy 500 on Sunday. The Thursday following the 500, I drove to Pocono for ARCA, then went to Michigan the following Thursday, then to Madison, Wisconsin the following weekend, then to Gateway near St. Louis the next weekend and finally to Chicagoland Speedway the next week to wrap up the month of June. I was feeling stronger but I was also exhausted having really only taken one day to relax with no commitments that entire ten weeks, as I was still teaching through the first week of June.

After one of my longest drives (to Elko , Minnesota) fans were great 

The first weekend in July, my fiance and I flew to Dallas to see her brother over the 4th of July holiday. When we got back my teaching job was resuming the very next day and then I had three more race weekends in a row in July: Elko, Minnesota for ARCA, then Iowa Speedway for Indycar and ARCA and then back to Pocono for ARCA for the second time in less than two months. August was a piece of cake by comparison as I only had one ARCA race (on the mile dirt track at Springfield, Illinois). Labor Day weekend ARCA had its second dirt track race of the year at the DuQuoin State Fair and I was finally feeling like I was able to catch my breath a little. I only had three more ARCA races to work between Labor Day and the end of October (Salem again, Lucas Oil Raceway and Kansas), and only one of those involved a long drive  (Kansas). That stretch brought my 2019 season to a close with a final tally of 19 ARCA races (out of 20 on the schedule) and three Indycar events.

The Indy 500 is always on my calendar - thanks Simon!

I put over 13,000 miles on my 2015 Honda Civic Si and had six race trips of more than 1000 miles, three of which were over 1300 mile round trips. I had flown to Daytona in February or my mileage total would have been even higher! I did all but one drive solo and the only time I had company was on the DuQuoin weekend when my brother went with me to help cover the race and that trip was only 535 miles! All of that driving and 21 of the race events occurred over the 27 weeks between the first Salem race in April and the season finale in October at Kansas. It was a grind but I loved it all - except for that moment in Shelby, North Carolina in May where I met one of the City's finest while passing through.

See you in June

I had another CT scan in September so I continue to be cancer free and don't have any other follow up scheduled until the next CT scan this coming March. I do not know what 2020 will be like but it has to be better physically than this year. I know I am going back to LeMans in June 2020 but I do not have any ARCA race assignments yet, mainly because new people are involved in the decision making since it will be the first year under full NASCAR control of the series. I know there is a new website in the works for ARCA and I am comfortable with the contribution I made this year to photography for the series. I did everything in my power to be in a position to be considered for future work so I trust that will pay off at some point. When it does, you can bet I'll be writing about it here, so stay tuned.

That's my life in the rear view mirror so the only thing left to do is show you some of my favorite photos from this season. What drove me this year was just getting to the next race. My body was tested but my faith never wavered so I greet the new year with renewed energy and commitment to my goals. Godspeed everyone. Be safe and have a prosperous 2020!

Gotta start them young like this fan at Toledo Speedway!

Where else but Pocono?

The future of racing is here: Ty Gibbs (left), Michael Self and Carson Hocevar (right)

Weather was often an issue this season.

Charlotte with "Big Willie"

Ty Gibbs 

Travis Braden has his game face on.

Indycar under the lights at little Iowa Speedway is always spectacular.

Race fans come in all shapes, sizes and ages.

 

ARCA races on dirt tracks twice every season; this is Springfield from the groundhog's view.

Shooting from the flagstand is always a thrill and Daytona was one of the best!

Grabbing private moments like this with ARCA rookie driver Tim Richmond makes it even more fun.

Getting dirty again.

Future flagman gives the green to the ARCA field.

Ty Majeski was ARCA's hottest driver during the middle of the year.

You see all kinds of people at the races!

I always look forward to throwback weekend at Salem Speedway.

Hailie Deegan was popular with fans every time she raced this season.

Christian Eckes got the guitar trophy this year at Nashville.

ARCA Veteran Bobby Gerhart is still fast whenever he races.

Waiting is the hardest part, right Christian?

Rain brought out the checkers at Toledo for Chandler Smith.

Christian Eckes won at Kansas and clinched the season title in the final race.

Christian Eckes (left) and teammate Michael Self fought for the ARCA driver's championship all season.

Sunrise on a race weekend is something we catch a lot to start long days.

NASCAR executive Mike Helton (left) conferred with ARCA President Ron Drager often this year.

Will Power at Iowa Speedway

Kids making their mark at the racetrack is a common sight.

Travis Braden sparks on the front stretch at Gateway.

Short track racing is a staple of  the ARCA Menards Series.

Carson Hocevar's eyes tell the story .

The trophy at Gateway was almost bigger than winner Ty Gibbs.

Simon Pagenaud swept the month of May at Indianapolis.