Lined Up At The Starting Line

Another from yesterday's photo theme. Today, the Legends are waiting for the green light to shine at the starting line at Elko Speedway.

Legends Mini Cars

Car racing season in the Twin Cities is just about to kick off for the season at Elko Speedway. A good friend of mine, also a co-worker, is one of the mechanics for the number 87 car you see in the photo. This smaller, Model T type car races in the "Legends" division of racing. I don't know if this car is modeled after the Model T, but it is similar to that type of car. Let me tell you, these cars barely fit one driver, but they pack quite the punch. I was amazed at the speed the Legends can have. To me, just your average fan, it's sort of like a really fast go-cart you would drive at an amusement park. The great big "X" on the front fender is a notice for the other drivers that this car is one of the leaders in points. The points leaders sort of have the right of way on the track. That doesn't always happen, but that's the plan.

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Over, Finished, Done, Gone, Out!

About a two weeks after I took yesterday's photo, this photo was taken. It was the end of the number 31 car as it took a serious crash into the wall on turn number 3. This car was never to race again as the damage it received was to great to overcome. They suspect it was a deliberate push into the wall by one of the point leaders, but it went over looked by the officials. That's just the way it is in racing. The absolute bummer about this situation was, they were in need of a new motor for car 31. The week before it's final race, they replaced the motor finally. After a very expensive engine change, it too was destroyed leaving Turn-Key Racing without an engine and a car frame.

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Go Speed Racer Go!

Our next theme day on January 1 will feature our "Photo of the year" from our 2007 postings. While I have not posted today's photo yet this year [until now], it is one of my personal favorites I've taken. Mainly because it was a very difficult shot to get, but it will not be my choice for photo of the year. There were many failed attempts to get this one shot. I had to try many different settings, learn how to pan and shot from where I was sitting without a tripod. I took about 20 shots on the night to get this one. It was also my second night at the races of shooting photos. I did learn, the shorter the exposure, the less chance of unwanted movement in the photo. My settings for this one ended up at f/2.8 and a shutter speed of 1/6 seconds.

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Clean Up In Isle Four

From the September 1 racing night I attended with my family, I was following our company sponsored car, the number 31 car. I was just about take a photo while it was coming out of turn number four at Elko Speedway, when all of a sudden, the tires squealed, a car spun out, a minor fender bender occurred shortly after this shot. It really was a lucky shot. I was planning on a different photo, but ended up capturing this in action pre-accident. The red and orange cars directly behind it would eventually crash into the car that is not headed in the proper direction in the photo.

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Mini Car Display

Every time I look at this photo, it looks like these are tiny model cars. In actuality, these cars are the real thing. I made it to Elko Speedway back in August, but the race was canceled due to rain. I was given race rain checks for two dates in September. I made it to the first one on September 2nd over Labor Day weekend. It was difficult to take photos of fast moving cars in the dark. So much blur, so much movement, but I was able to get one photo that I absolutely love, today's photo. I was panning with the cars as they moved around the track. I was focusing in on the car my work sponsors, the number 31 car, driven by Mike Hanson of Turn-Key Racing. During the nights race, Mike started in the 4th position, but ended up in 6th by races end. He is in the white car in front of the pack, he was able to hold back the majority of the cars behind him during the entire race.

I'm also posting a couple of the failed, terrible pan shots I attempted trying to get one decent shot. The next race I go to, I'm going to try a few more camera settings and experiment a bit more with night, action shots. I will say, the failed photos have a uniqueness about them and they do make for an interesting shot.
 

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For Your Protection

It is advised that you stay behind the yellow line. For the record, I was behind the yellow line when I snapped this photo, despite there being no cars on the track. I will be making a return visit in September, hopefully mother nature will cooperate and allow the race to go on.

I've changed my mind about yesterday being my favorite shot from Elko Speedway. After looking at this capture, this is the shot of the day in my opinion.

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Up Close On Car 31

We had a first hand look at the race car we sponsor. The car is a Chevy Caprice, 355 engine. I was amazed at home much fabrication goes into preparing the car to meet the specs for the type of race it's involved in. The outer shell is original [except for a few crash repairs], but virtually everything else must be removed down to the frame. The less weight, the better. Much of the car is self created to make everything that is left in the car working with each other. There is the obvious safety equipment needed to keep the driver safe, but beyond that, there are no luxuries.

This is my favorite shot of the day. The low angle, the soft focus, and I was under the safety of tarp to keep the rain off of my camera.

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Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

So this past weekend I made a visit to Elko, Minnesota. There they have the Elko Speedway racing track. Where I work, we sponsor one of the Thunder Cars, the #31 car in particular, driven by Mike Hanson. Saturday was a gathering of the employees to watch the car in action, see it up close. The rain put a halt to that very quickly. I did manage to get a few photos of the track during a light moment of rain. We all received rain checks for the race and will return at a later date when the weather is more cooperative.

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