One of the first NASCAR races I went to was the 1994 Busch Clash at Daytona. I didn't know much about the sport and the group I was with said the first thing I needed to do is pick a driver. I looked the cars over, since that's all I had to go by, and in the pack of mostly white, a few red and two black cars sat a colorful one with rainbow colors. It stood out from the rest and I really appreciated the effort to make it different from the rest. I picked that car that had the #24 on it and it went on to win that race. The first win for Jeff Gordon, the driver of the Dupont Chevrolet and I was hooked ever since.
I once saw a picture in another photographers portfolio of Dale Earnhardt making his pit stop and the shot was taken from the pit wall. At the time it seemed out of my reach to duplicate the image and I could only dream about photographing NASCAR from the competitors side of the fence. Then fate stepped in and I got a call to come photograph a car that was sponsored by Germain in what was then the Goodys Dash Series.
Working with that team I had access to the other NASCAR series of Craftsman Trucks, Busch and Winston Cup. Since many of the Dash races were held before another race my credentials would allow me to be on pit road for ARCA, Trucks and my favorite the Bud Shootout. As I stood there in Jeff Gordon's pits and filmed him making his stop I found myself in a position that only a few short years before I considered unreachable. It was at that moment I re accessed my goals and my bucket list filled to the rim.
As usual one thing leads to another and I got a call from Dean Arnold who along with his Father was going Cup racing and they wanted me to come along and document their endeavor. I jumped at the chance and found myself working with a Winston Cup team and traveling to some of the best tracks on the schedule including Daytona, the Brickyard 400 and the night race at Bristol. I want to thank Dean, his Father and the rest of the Arnold family along with Arnold Motorsports for giving me the experience of a life time. This section is all about my lap through the greatest sport today NASCAR
