This week it was more than just Spring and I out for adventure. My Dad came along, as well as my hubby who was celebrating his 44th birthday. Spring brought her Mom and Caleb too, so the Ol’ Blue was just about full.
We started off with a quick trip through the pits, where we met up with Brent Nausley, who had two cars that would be raced over the course of the evening. Lucky Caleb got the chance to sit in one of Brent’s cars, and it’s easy to see by the grin on his face that he enjoyed the opportunity. (Thanks, Brent!)
After a quick round of the pits, and several stops for photos of the Tony Stewart Mopar cars driven by Josh Wise and Levi Jones, (more on them later) we went on over to the infield so Spring could figure out where she wanted to shoot qualifying. This week, we headed over to turn two, which turned out to be a pretty good choice. Spring managed to catch the cars lifting through the turns, and was standing uncomfortably close by when Brady Short sent his ride slamming into the guardrail, causing it to go end-over-end. It was only the first of many times that I would warn Spring about watching out for flying cars!
We watched the Midget heats from the stands, then grabbed a quick bite to eat while the Minis did their thing, then it was back over to the inside for the Sprint heats, which were fun to watch from turns one and two. Spring makes me so nervous when she shoots that we had to develop a plan to hopefully keep her out of harm’s way. I grabbed a hold of her camera bag strap, and kept watch for any cars that appeared to stray from the clay, with the intention of a firm tug being the signal to haul butt out of the way. Fortunately, we never had to use the signal, and Spring only snuck off and got dangerous without me a couple of times.
It was a great night, and we enjoyed meeting a couple of other photographers, one from Sprint Car & Midget Magazine and another from an Aussie racing publication. Both are diehard Motorsports shooters, and each had something to contribute to the wealth of information that Spring has been acquiring about race photography since we started this venture. I think it’s awesome how other photographers are willing to give her tips, and share advice. I had kind of imagined it might be different, just because of competition, so it’s been a very pleasant surprise.
We got some great feedback on both the galleries and the blog last night, which was wonderful incentive to keep going (like we needed any!) and we are most appreciative. The whole idea in starting GGR was just to go out and observe this sport, and life in general, from a female point of view, see what role women play both as athletes and behind the scenes, and just have fun. So far, we have been able to do all of those things.
Spring got to have two fun and unique experiences last night which I know she enjoyed. The first was to ride in one of the push trucks as the Sprint Cars were pushed off, and the second was to ride in the back of the pace truck as the feature was readied. Both trips left her with big smiles, and I could tell she was having a great time. The pictures will back me up when we finally get them on the site. Not sure yet when that will be for this event, but hopefully it won’t take us too long. I have a couple of my own that I will post here if I can.
Speaking of pictures, and why there is a delay, this might be a good time to explain. Part of the reason is because Spring is very much a perfectionist when it comes to her work, and she refuses to just take what she’s done and throw it out there without first tweaking it to her satisfaction. That’s no slam on her by any means, because I think it’s great that she’s so picky about her work. It’s her art, and she has every right to make it the best it can be. Besides, our site isn’t about immediate results and next-day photos, it’s a much more casual deal that we hope folks will come to enjoy despite our little delays. Our priorities are God and family, and everything else has to fall in somewhere down the line, so I hope no one ever gets upset when we don’t have something up right away.
The rest of the reason is that Spring gets the photos to me either by zipping and emailing, or on a disk, which can be a challenge because we live about 30 minutes from each other. Once I get the photos, I watermark and re-size them, set up the new web pages and links, and finally upload the whole shebang. And I do all that after spending several hours a day posting news to WhoWon.com as my real job! Ever go home from work after a day on the computer only to have to spend the evening working on one too? I do that quite often, and since I work from home, sometimes the line between work and fun can get blurry. But hey, I’m really not complaining because I am so blessed to have a job I love and get to be home too. It’s the best deal in the world!
One last thing about why we do this, and that’s the whole discussion I’ve been hearing lately about “why do women love racing?” My Dad came up with his own theory last night after he overheard us discussing the good-looking Mopar duo, but honestly, it’s not all about hot guys! I can only speak for myself when I say that it is about a lot of things: Competition, speed, adrenaline rush and suspense. Beyond that, it’s about the spirit of community that I see among racers, fans, car owners and the people behind the scenes at tracks all across this great country. It’s seeing familiar faces, laughing about days gone by, or recalling the horror of the most frightening crash ever. It’s about tradition, friendships, celebrations and just hanging out at the track and having a good time. Finally, it’s about up close, dirt-in-your-face, ear splitting action.
You just can’t get any of that parked in front of the TV!
P.S. Don't miss Spring's review of Cars, a couple of posts back. It kind of got caught in the date trap because it was a draft that just got published. The pictures of Caleb are adorable!
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