Don't Fall In Love With Your Monkey

OK......I'll go ahead and admit it up front. The title does not have anything to do with the content of my latest post.
It was one of those "You had to be there" moments that I had earlier this evening.
It's the weekend. I'm going to Jamaica next week, so I'm in a very good mood.
I've been attacked by about a half dozen LandSharks. I'm listening to my XM / Sirius satellite radio.
And then, as I'm driving over the mountain, some local, low frequency radio station bleeds over my satellite radio.
It only lasted for a few seconds. The only phrase I heard was "Don't fall in love with your Monkey!"
For some reason, it's still bouncing around inside my empty noggin'.


Last week, I had the opportunity to shoot the NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta.
I enjoy all types of motor sports, and each different series has it's own unique set of circumstances. It's such a pleasure to shoot at a laid back, easy going event that the NHRA puts on. Some of the other series have got too big for their britches.


All of the crews, drivers, and owners spend their time working on their cars and not hiding from the media. Drag racing legend and car owner Connie Kalitta sat on the track wall just a few feet away from me for about 10 minutes, and watched as his competion made their runs. He never turned away from me or never tried to hide.


I arrived on Friday evening, just before qualifying began. I wanted to get there in time for the 'Night of Fire".
I got a few decent frames during the night session.
I got a few more during the rest of the weekend.

Enjoy.



NHRA Champion Kenny Burnstein watches his son Brandon during an early qualifying run.













During Sunday's first elimination round, Steve Torrence scatters an engine against eventual winner Larry Dixon.




Funny Car driver Robert Hight wins the weekends event for John Force racing. His win left John Force Racing claiming the top three spots in the point standings.


Larry Dixon took the top spot for the Al-Anabi Top Fuel team.


You don't have to look too far at a drag strip to find something interesting. Bob Chandler and the original monster truck 'Big Foot' made an appearance.


As I was satching Ashley Force Hood getting ready for a qualifying run, I caught her looking in the mirror....errrr, or at least staring at the reflection in the glass on the crew car.


During some down time during Saturdays qualifying rounds, Tony Shumacher and Antron Brown shoot tee-shirts into the grandstands.


Al-Anabi Pro Stock Motorcycle driver Matt Smith watches his wife, Angie, during her qualifying run.


And finally, it's hard to believe some people would exchange money on the outcome of a drag race.
Maybe next time, they can exchange something like souviner tee shirts.
Just remember "Don't fall in love with your monkey".

I Keep Getting Rocks

It was one of the better races at Talladega in a very long time.
Unless you were where I was.
The race from my vantage point was pretty boring.
Packs of cars rode around me for 812 miles. Plus overtime.
Remember my last Talladega post from the 'Hallow Dega" weekend?
My Charlie Brown feeling was still hangin' around, like a big ol dark cloud hangin over my head.
Like our favorite blockhead, all I keep getting is rocks!


When nothing happens in your little corner of the world, you have to learn to entertain yourself.
This guy was havin about as much fun as I was.


Just a pack of cars.




How bored can you get to be takin pictures of couples on scooters?


And pictures of people sleeping in lawn chairs?



I got a little excited when the boys started bumping into each other down in turn 3.


I got a little more excited when Jimmie Johnson got crossed up. Even if it was from behind, I was hoping he would bump into a few more cars.



Two races. 812 miles. No wrecks in front of me.
Oh yeah....they had some big un's, but not in front of me.
So I have to look for something different and interesting.
Late afternoon sun and dark clouds. Almost that classic 'Old Testament' light that looks so good. Don't understand what 'Old Testament' light is? Look at the dramatic lighting in the pictures in the older version Bibles.


My only action came during the fly-over after the National Anthem.
I watched a great race from Talladega, but I was hired to shoot wrecks.
Didn't get the first one. Again.
I getting tired of it. In fact, I couldn't decide if I wanted to post anything from that event. As you can see, I got NOTHING!!!!!!
I hate it when that happens.

But........I will be posting images from next weeks Southern Nationals NHRA event from Atlanta.

Stay tuned.........

INDY Grand Prix of Alabama

I had the pleasure, once again, of shooting the most recent event at the incredible Barber MotorSports Park, just outside of Birmingham Alabama.
This time, it was the INDY Grand Prix of Alabama.
That's right. Deep in the heart of NASCAR country, and just 27 miles from the Talladega SuperSpeedway, Indy cars invade our little corner of the world.
And not only did the Indy cars run on Sunday, but the Grand Am ROLEX Sports Car Series ran the Porsche 250 on Saturday.
And both series brought their big name stars.
The Daytona Prototype series had Scott Pruitt, Memo Gidley, Max Angelelli, David Donohue, and Jon Fogarty. The GT series had John Edwards, Sylvain Tremblay, Joe Foster, and, oh yeah.....Patrick Dempsey.
The Indy Cars brought Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves, Will Power, Marco Andretti, and some girl by the name of Danica Patrick.
It was easy to tell where Mr. Dempsey and Ms. Patrick were.
Just look for the crowds. You kinda feel sorry for these stars. If they want any kind of peace and quite during the weekend, they have to hide out in their transporters. But, thats the life they chose. Right?


OK....lets get the Dr. McDreamy, I mean Patrick Dempsey picture, out of the way and get on to the good stuff.




Here's the number 40 Mazda of Patrick Dempsey making his way through turn 15. This is one badass little RX-8. Most of the Mazda's run good on this track.




The more I look at this image, the more I like it. I like the late afternoon sun, the out of focus trees and leaves, and the diffused cars in the background. I don't even have a problem with the catch fence at the bottom of the frame.
I think it's kinda cool.


I had to get an image of a car going airborne over the curb going downhill towards the museum. The Daytona prototypes and GT cars are too heavy don't hit the curb and get airborne, so I waited all day when the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge cars began their race to finally get one with the tires off the ground.


And the winners of the 2010 Porsche 250. Memo Rojas and Scott Pruitt in the Chip Ganassi 01 TEL-MEX Dinan BMW.


Indy cars had a practice session and qualified on Saturday.
It's a different experience for someone used to the good ol boys of NASCAR qualifying.


As I was walking down behind the war wagons on pit road, I saw Helio Castroneves talking to his crew chief. He looked relaxed and didn't try to avoid the cameras that gathered, as I stopped to capture a few images.



The great A.J. Foyt. What more can I say?



OK.......You're asking me "where are the pictures of Danica"?
Let's get this out of the way, too.


Personally, I like Milka Duno. Not only is she a race car driver, she is the highest finishing female ever in the 24 hour of Daytona race. She finished second in 2007. She is also a fashion model, featured in adds all around the world. And lastly, she holds four masters degrees, from business, to architecture, to engineering. Not only does she look good, she's smart, too.


During driver introductions, the NASCAR drivers stand around backstage and shoot the bull. Here, I caught Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan having a serious discussion about Grand Marshall Charles Barkley's weight.


Tony Kanaan finally had to ask Sir Charles if he could still dunk a basketball.


A very good crowd arrived early for Sundays INDY Grand Prix of Alabama. People would set up umbrella's or awnings for the event. Some even spread out blankets and just enjoyed the good ol Alabama sun.


And all of the aspiring young photographers were trying to get good action shots down close to the fence.



Danica smokes her tires as she get on the brakes hard entering turn two.




There was an international crowd represented in the spectators and the media.




I was looking for something interesting to shoot on pit road, when I came up on these two crew members.




And the winner of the first INDY Grand Prix of Alabama........Helio Castroneves.
Unlike some winners in another racing series, Helio seems to truly appreciate winning.


After the podium awards, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon waste some perfectly good champaigne by pouring it over the head of Helio during the celebration.

I hope to see this event stay at the Barber MotorSports Park for many years. With over 87,000 spectators attending the event this weekend, I seemed like the promoters and the INDY car people were well satisfied.
Most things seemed to run smooth, but you can't have a first time event of this scale and not have a few glitches. I did notice a few shortcomings, and maybe before next years Grand Prix of Alabama, the good folks at Barber will have those bugs worked out, too.