by Rex Winterton
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| Image by Rex Winterton |
In the mid 90's I had been a professional photographer for fifteen years. Doing sports, weddings, magazine assignments, and some photo shoots for the LDS church. Over that fifteen years I had asked myself many times, "why is it that 180,000 people go to the NASCAR races on any given weekend to watch cars go around an oval track measuring 1.5 miles? This has got to be as interesting as watching golf on any given tournament"!
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| Image by Todd Ellis |
So, I called my magazine back in North Carolina. Little did I know that Raleigh, North Carolina is the headquarters of all race car drivers, pit crews, and all other chiefs and Indians. I decided to tell my superiors that I needed a credential to go do photos of the Las Vegas 400. At that time Sam's Town was a sponsor for the Nationwide Race, and Kobalt Tools was the main sponsor of the Sprint Cup on the Sunday races. After I applied (three months in advance) through SMI Credentials, I was finally accepted. I wasn't sure how long it would take "the powers that be" to make a decision. I applied in late December, was given the go ahead in February, with the upcoming weekend during March 9-10th.
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| Image by Rex Winterton |
It takes literally hundreds and hundreds of people to pull off an event like NASCAR. Not just drivers and pit crew members, but everyone from beer sales to wreckers, from entertainment, to cafeteria cooks, servers, and (of course) photographers.
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| Image by Todd Ellis |
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| Image by Rex Winterton |
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| Image by Todd Ellis |
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| Image by Rex Winterton |
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| Image by Todd Ellis |
The day starts early for the pit crew and garage workers. They stand at the gates until they unchain the gates at 7am. Up to that point all the crew members are gathered at Gate 3 inside the infield telling jokes and how they all won money the night before but not a one of them mention that they lost. They don't dare say they lost just in case one of their wives hear about it through the grapevine. Losing hundreds of dollars on a crap table doesn't set well back home.
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| Image by Rex Winteron |
The pit crew members have just a couple hours before it's check-in time with the scales and measurement departments. The cars have a certain limit of weight they have to be. They all have to be the same height and width. All cars must all have the same air pressure in the same tires. Right front tire must have 64 lbs. of pressure, while the right rear only 58 lbs. of pressure. Switching to the left side of car the tires must have only 34 lbs. of tire pressure. I often wondered each time the cars pull into the pits how the air machine guns are able to go "zip, zip, zip, zip, zip", and all five nuts are off and the other five nuts are on.
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| Image by Rex Winteron |
Prior to the race, Dave, one of the pit crew members for the Danica Patrick team has a time consuming job. He has approximately thirty tires to sit on in his crew's area. His job is to take those little yellow nuts, hold the nuts between his fingers, and take silicone glue and spread the glue around the bottom of each nut so the nut will adhere to the rim of the tire. He then puts on a heavy-weighted metal to push the nuts more firm into place. When the tires are needed the crew throws the tires up and over the cement wall onto Pit Row. The nuts never come off until they're hit on a fast spin by the automatic air gun machine.
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| Image by Todd Ellis |
For those nuts that came off, there's another pit crew member that has a broom handy. Their job is to go onto Pit Row without getting hit or run over by the other 52 maniacs coming out of their shoots on Pit Row. They will then take their broom and sweep up all the nuts that came off the tires on the previous change of tires and put them into a small paper bag. After the race is over someone is designated to take the bag of nuts and go out amongst the fans and sell those nuts for whatever they can get for them. Most of them average $5. per nut. Some more some less.
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| Image by Todd Ellis |
All the NASCAR "Officials" and "Pit Fire Crew" members are dressed in very hot clothing, but it's very protective for them. In the heat of the Las Vegas Sun in March it's not over bearing. In other parts of the South in the middle of the summer it very well could be a different story. In Las Vegas they sweat and lose up to 10-15 lbs. a race in those 70 degree temperatures. In Georgia, Dover, Bristol, Daytona, with the humidity high as the sky and the temperatures over one hundred degrees I have to wonder how dehydrated those boys actually get. Perhaps twenty pounds per race is all in the possibilities too.
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| Image by Todd Ellis |
The stars of the day have all been introduced. The drives all receive a free ride around the mile and a half somewhat oval track in black, shinny new 2012 Dodge Ram trucks. Two drivers in the rear of each truck waving to the crowd getting the fans all juiced and excited.
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| Image by Rex Winterton |
Upon completion of their ride around the track the Ram trucks come slowly down pit row to deliver the drivers right to their car who's waiting for them on Pit Row. As all the drivers make their rounds you can tell by the cheer of the crowd which drivers are their favorites. This year as well as others, Dale Junior is always the top noise maker amongst the crowd. Least favorites are the Busch brothers, Kyle and Kurt.
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| Image by Rex Winterton |
In this time of America's history it's very rare to have any sporting event with more than one thing to makes us proud to be an American. Usually just the National Anthem. Every year NASCAR has the National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, Prayer, and the fly-over of the most decorated group in American flight history, The Thunderbirds. As the National Anthem concludes the Thunderbirds fly over fast, loud, and low. Makes chills run up and down your spine. If I only knew how to fly and had the guts to go with them, I'd go in a heart beat. My only problem is that I wouldn't fit in any of their seats. I'd have to quit drinking lots of Dr. Pepper and cut back on the Wendy burgers to even have a chance.
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| Image by Rex Winterton |
The race goes for 267 laps or 400 miles. That's a grinding and grueling way to hold onto a steering wheel that is trying to pull you off the track for that many laps and turns. It's not a smooth ride. It may be fast, but it's not smooth and your life is at risk every moment. From hitting other drivers or tires blowing out from under you this is definately a man size sport. Yes, Danica you qualify. Danica is proving herself each week. She's a beauty in a bikini as well as a fully covered race car driver.
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| Image by Todd Ellis |
Coming down for the last couple laps of the race was very close. Close between five time Cup champ, Jimmy Johnson, and solid, tough competitor Tony Stewart. Tony had the edge breaking away from the pack on starts. Jimmy closed the gap several times but couldn't close it to finish ahead of Tony.
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| Image by Rex Winteron |
Tony won the race in great fashion for his first race win of 2012. In Victory Lane he was happy and jubilant as he climbed from his car, with his right fist clinched and a fresh, cold Coke in his left hand. Victory Lane takes time for all the photo opps. Fifty sponosors, fifty different hats to wear for photos for the sponsors with their business name on the hat. It's all about trying to keep those sponsors paying millions or sometimes just thousands, and thousands of dollars to keep advertising their names on those winning cars.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE IT AS A NASCAR PHOTOGRAPHER?
As a professional photographer for many years I've discovered over the years what works great for NASCAR and what doesn't. I usually carry three lenses around my neck and in my pack. All three lenses are on a different camera. The camera and the lens that I simply cannot do without is my Nikon D3 with my Nikon 70-200mm, 2.8 lens. You have to know that with some Nikon cameras you have a 1.5 magnifacation factor. That means that the minute I put my 70-200mm lens onto my camera it immediately becomes a 105-300mm. This camera lens has a 2.8 opening in case of low light and faster moving objects. I love this camera and lens. I used it many, many times during the 267 laps of the race. I also carried two other cameras. A Nikon 300s camera with a 70-105mm, and a Nikon 300 model with a 14-27mm lens for garage coverage and tight close-ups inside the pits of the drivers. I love all of my Nikon equipment and my Nikon lenses.
I especially love the Nikon D3 with my 70-200mm 2.8. The 2.8 allows me to photograph the fastest moving cars coming around the track at 190 mph. You just don't stand your monopod on the ground and hope to catch some action as it comes by. You've definately have to "pan" the cars going past and preferrable up against the wall. As long as you "pan" the cars you'll usually get something sharp when you're shooting 10 bursts per second.
On any given day at NASCAR it's not that hard with digital and a fast camera to take anywhere from one thousand to fifteen hundred photos per day. Can you imagine what the cost would be if I was still shooting film? Yes, 1000 photos, that's approximately thirty rolls of thirty-six exposure film. Not knowing which photos may not be good or which will be bad you'll be on edge for a few days until you get the photos back from the camera store. Out of those one thousand photos you may luck out and have twenty photos that will not be blurry or ruined. Digital is so much better, cheaper, and accomodating for the everyday photographer.
Following the NASCAR drivers now you start to know who are your favorite after a few weeks. You find out who'll talk to you, who has the nicest personality, who is not to the qualify stages of earning lots of money or who's having an exceptional year. NASCAR has changed over the years. It's now racking up points for each race. Winning the race is not only the important thing to acquiring points. You now are given points on how many laps you lead, who leads the most laps, who finishes in the top 5, and points given to the drivers who finishes in the top ten. If you're lucky enough to lead lots of laps you can rack up lots of points. Yes, it does help to win but it's not the only thing. During the 2012 NASCAR campaign thus far the top leaders in the Cup Sprint race is during the first four races of 2012 is Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, and seveth place is Las Vegas winner of the race, Tony Stewart. First place leader Biffle leads the pack in points but trails in total money earned with $1,310,410. Not bad earnings for just a month and never winning a race, but, he's finished in the top five finishers three times, and in the top ten the other time. For Las Vegas 400 winner Tony Stewart, he won this year's race and he's earned a total of $1,429,080. The biggest money earner thus far after four races is Matt Kenseth who's in third place of total points with $2,053,260. Kenseth won in an earlier race this year but also is in third place in total points. He's been in the top five and ten, four times each.
Racing is a grueling sport. Driving and practicing on the track, getting used to the next weekend race. Immeditaly after the race they pack up and head for the race starting next week sometimes clear across the nation. Lots of miles to fly, lots of miles to haul their cars back to North Carolina then onto the next track. Sometimes there's no place and no time to sleep. I better have another Coke with another two No-Dozes. Another sun brings a new dawn on a new horizon. Will it be this week that the car performs better? This week just might be our lucky day.
When I first started out as a NASCAR photographer it all depended on how many photos the magazine purchased and how many they thought they'd run in their magazine during the year's time. That year they covered my expenses as far as gas, meals, and hotel, plus an extra few hundred dollars for my photos. Each year it's just a little bit more. This year, having done this for seven years, once again they covered my meals, fuel, hotel and I'm not sure what I'll be paid yet. I haven't got their article and photos sent to them yet. I'm guessing it'll be around the thousand dollar mark. Other photographers I'm sure make more than me. Perhaps your Getty, UPI, AP, or other stock images.
For me, I love what I do. Some people have offered me a thousand dollars for me to sell them my photo credentials. I just look at them and say, "are you really that dishonest?" They walk away. They know they don't stand a chance of getting them, besides, I think they're sorry they ever asked. Like I say, "I'm the luckiest man in the world."
After my first NASCAR races back in the 90's I haven't missed another race in Las Vegas since. What a thrill.
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