[Leica] race night

[pritchettr at charter.net (Rob Pritchett)]

Arche...

I enjoyed your "Race Night" photos... I found them engaging and I feel that 
you "captured" the spirit of what was going on!  Further, I admire your 
efforts to photograph what I now believe is a tough venue!

Here's why I believe that...  Like you, I am no stranger to quick cars and 
racing.  I was interested in "sports car racing" from my earliest teen years 
and would have given my eyeteeth to have actually attended one of the 
Sebring 12-hour events.  Later in life, I contracted the "Porsche bug" and 
actually tried my hand at club racing (PCA events) with a certain success. 
I thought that NASCAR was way too "bubba" for me.  Then my elder son arrived 
from Denver a couple of weekends ago, with tickets to the NASCAR Nextel Cup 
race at Texas Motor Speedway... second row, front straight!  OK, he spent 
the big bucks, so I'm going.  What a blast.  These folks are the real thing, 
right on the ragged edge for 500 miles and the sound (from the second row) 
must be experienced!  Like you, I found the people there (200,000 of them!) 
to be super nice, with ample grace and good humor (and many with ample 
girth, I might add!).

I took my trusty old Nikon N90 (too apprehensive to take the M2/Rapid 
Winder)... and took nearly zero photos.  I guess that I was too intimidated 
by the sights, sounds, and smells, or had too much of a talent deficit, but 
at the time, it sure seemed to be a tough event to photograph.  Anyway, now 
that I have been once and have a better idea of what to expect, maybe next 
time, I'll gather up the fortitude to dust off the Leica and try a bit 
harder.

Gee... what's that ringing in my ears?

All the best,

Rob
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Arche, Harvey" <Harvey.Arche@jp2hs.org>
To: <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 7:53 PM
Subject: [Leica] race night


> OK, so I was born very much to the South, and my parents made going to the 
> races at Sebring an annual get-away-from-the-kids event (a sign of coming 
> of age was when I got to go along) and I've always loved fast cars. Now 
> I'm sitting on an AARP card. You'd think that surely at some point in time 
> I'd been to a stock car race, but no, I've always snooted it. Until last 
> Friday night. Music City Motorplex. This is sub-Busch league, mom & pop, 
> inner city, 1/2 mile oval racing, and it was fantastic - I kid you 
> negative.
>
> Even to a first time visitor, there is an immediate impression of 
> community. Whole multi-generational families, and parents dropping of 
> groups of pre-teens with no worry that anything might happen to them. 
> People all seemed to know each other. And everyone was extremely 
> welcoming, accomodating to a newcomer with explanations, and open in 
> conversation without being condescending, even though I obviously didn't 
> fit the pattern. Hell, the track announcer came up and introduced myself 
> to me, but that might have been because of the German jewelry.
>
> I haven't tried narrative reportage before, so here are two brief stories. 
> The first is self-explanatory: a young man's first win;
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/first_win
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/hug
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/the_goods
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/interview
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/the_sponser
>
> The second could use some backstory. The fellow who won this race has been 
> doing it for longer, but not as long as his 65 year old Dad, who came in 
> second. Dad had kicked Jr.'s butt in the qualifying race.
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/congrats
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/luckycharm
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/runnerup
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/dad
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/the_moment
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/afterwards
>
> Picks, pans, and editing advice?
>
> I think I'll be going back.
> Arche
>
> Tech Blab: M2, 35 summicron w/bugeyes, neopan 1600
>
>
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