Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/05/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I got so involved with that Sebring stuff (which isn't finished yet) that I put off dealing with the subject that got me started on it. I finally souped and scanned the film I took at the stock car races last Friday night, and have put together this over-long photo essay. Unfortunately, for me, stock cars have none of that exotic eye-pull quality that the old sports cars do. What draws me to these races is the face of teamwork and competition, and how it is presented as public entertainment. After several hours of practicing and tune-up laps, there is a break at dusk before the evening's races start. This is that hour during which, in the South, people set on their porches. http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_officials (If you're hoping this shot sets the level for the rest of them, you're SOL. Geez! I wish) http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_delivery http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_lull Prepping the cars, or, more often, making them legal, can be a frantic activity that goes on right up to the last minute, when cars have to be rolled to the pre-start grid. Everyone is involved. You can recognize the drivers in these shots by their fire-retardent coveralls, sometimes worn with the top undone and the arms tied around the waist. http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_prep http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_prep_2 Nashville Motorplex, according to Wikipedia, is one of the country's oldest race tracks. It began as a horse track in the 1800's, and Barney Oldfield drove there in 1904. It was a Nascar Winston Cup track until the mid '80's, and the modern superspeedways started being built. Originally in the sticks, the city has grown up around it, and it is now closely surrounded by residential neighborhoods. If you know Chicago, think old Comisky park. Management is greatly concerned with the possibility of noise ordinances eventually shutting the place down, so races proceed on a clock-like schedule in order to be finished by 11 pm. Cars have to be in their places in the infield grid 15-20 minutes before race time, and cars stage in the open infield for the event of rolling up to the grid lane. http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_rollup_1 http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_rollup_2 http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_rollup3 Once the cars have been pushed into position there is nothing to do for the next quarter hour but to wait, which the drivers do, usually with their crew/friends, in varying degrees of pre-race tension. http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_wait_1 http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_wait_2 http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_wait_3 http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_wait_4 http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_wait_5 Guess which two pictures are of the guys who won their respective races. During the race, focus shifts to the loop around the infield, and everyone stands in one spot, turning little circles, watching the cars go 'round the track. Its only a 1/2 mile so you can see the whole thing. Each car must have at least one spotter, whose job is to warn the driver of accidents out of his sight ahead. Crew chiefs run a constant patter of information about the compettition, the relative position of other cars, and obsess about the finer details of how the car is handling. http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_spotter Of course the punchline of the whole operation is to reach the winner's circle in victory lane. This is the closest the genral public comes to intersecting with the cars and drivers. Here's the son of one of the winning drivers. http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_Kin The official photographer, Miss Motorplex, and the winner, wait for the track announcer to arrive and make the trophy presentation. http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_presentation A young boy and the winning car. http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_touch Races are over by 11 pm, but all cars that finished in the top three must stand down for post-race inspection by the track officials. Owners must be willing to strip-down anything requested of them. Everyone still has the packup and trailer-drive home. http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/4_28_final_inspection Thanks for your persistence, Arche Tech blab: M3, bugeye Summicron 35, Ilford Delta 3200 at 1600, Xtol 1:3. The guys who won their races are in pictures 'wait 2' and 'wait 5'.