How Close Do You Dare?

[Todd Benne]

Ok, this one is for the house photographers. To what lengths will you go to get that perfect shot? How close to the action will you stick your neck out?

Now, I am not a pro shooter. But i did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once or twice. Hell, I don't even have a digital SLR camera. So I point and shoot with my Sony digital thingie. But, I have been pretty damn close to the action.

There was one time at St. Pete that The Master and I were shooting in a photo hole at the exit of a left hand turn on the backside of the convention center. Turn 7 or 9 maybe? Head out the hole less than two feet from the cars.

Anyway, heres come Pruett throttle down on the exit...decibels just freaking screaming at us...he tracks out to drivers' right and pushes the jersey barrier into JT and I. We both just look at each and giggle, "dude!" It was neat.

Standing in the hairpin at Long Beach, isolated out there, is a thrill too.

So, gimme your best shot.

[Administrator]

Originally Posted by Todd Benne

Ok, this one is for the house photographers. To what lengths will you go to get that perfect shot? How close to the action will you stick your neck out?

Now, I am not a pro shooter. But i did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once or twice. Hell, I don't even have a digital SLR camera. So I point and shoot with my Sony digital thingie. But, I have been pretty damn close to the action.

There was one time at St. Pete that The Master and I were shooting in a photo hole at the exit of a left hand turn on the backside of the convention center. Turn 7 or 9 maybe? Head out the hole less than two feet from the cars.

Anyway, heres come Pruett throttle down on the exit...decibels just freaking screaming at us...he tracks out to drivers' right and pushes the jersey barrier into JT and I. We both just look at each and giggle, "dude!" It was neat.

Standing in the hairpin at Long Beach, isolated out there, is a thrill too.

So, gimme your best shot.

Yikes... we did that?

LOL - Kind of like the difference between a good friend and a true friend. A good friend will come down in the middle of the night and bail you out of jail. But a true friend will be sitting next to you saying ...."Dude... that was freaking awesome!" LOL

Anyway... I got knocked of the wall in Cleveland during the old Trans Am days.. I'm pretty sure it was DeMatta... came hauling onto the front straight... I was leaned in trying to get the angle off the corner. He sideswiped the wall about 25 feet past me... oh my. Got my attention for sure.

These days, though, I'm on the other side of the safety deal. Don't need an open casket with four Audi rings embossed into my forehead. Sure, it gets close... but I'm always considering where I'm going if I have to go in a hurry. To be honest, the big fear these days is losing your footing around the course. We almost lost Jimmy walking out to turn one at Road America this fall. If he'd have barrel rolled another half turn is fall would have extended by at least another 200 feet.. off an extremely steep incline.

JT

[Todd Benne]

I don't know, but, I think that crazy crap of hanging out of the back of a moving pickup to do rolling shots ranks pretty high up there as well.

Or being in the right place at the right time. Peter Rabbit...meet Mike Davis...

[Rizzo]

And this one time.... at the Dallas GP (my first event) I was leaning on the wall (rookie mistake) and one of the WSC cars came into the wall backwards. When I woke up there was another rookie photographer putting my broken 300mm 2.8 and Nikon FM body in my lap asking if I was okay. The safety workers were attending to the car and thankfully NEVER noticed me.

I gathered my thoughts and a put the birdies flying around my forehead back in their cage and trudged on to shoot victory circle.

When I get home I couldn't breath very well and had a serious headache. Went to the minor emergency care center and had broken two ribs and a minor concussion from clanging my head on the sidewalk where I landed.

I don't preform those stunts anymore.

I do recall, some years later, at Laguna well before all the safety mods on the back straight approaching the Corkscrew thinking that we had no business being there. At that time there was no fencing and the barrier was three feet tall or so. When the Indy Car/ CART/Champ Car came though there at speed it was like getting punched as the wind blew past.

I did get a few shots of Johnny O bailing out of the Corvette at Laguna when it was bar-b-qued many years ago. Feeling the heat from that is one thing I will never forget.

This is the longest reply ever for a quick reply. Woo Hoo!

[John Thawley]

You must be talking about this little roast.

[mayk]

Drivers right, just under the drive over bridge to Greenpark, is a photo hole in the K wall......Stick your head out there, with a 70-200mm...when the LMPs come by, there is definite pucker factor there (for me anyway).....got smacked with some pick up, not fun.

At Houston this year, forget the corner, but it was also drivers right at a high speed turn, there was a photo hole at the exit of the turn, and about a foot from the Kwall to the sidewalk, standing there only once when the wall got brushed was enough for me...as that was just insane to be standing there.

I think it was back in 2005, at Laguna, the last corner, van der Steur looped it, and smacked the wall, right by the photo hole, I just left the shot, but J Davies was there and got showered with carbon fiber....nasty!

The Sherrif would always state in our photo meetings, if he caught us leaning or placing any equipment on the sacred concrete, our credential would be pulled.... Nuff said....

[porschefan]

When I used to be involved in off road racing (desert), there were and are, no walls; a couple times I saw photogs step out into the course to get a shot of a truck coming straight at them, shoot it, then run. Thankfully never saw one trip.

[Zach C.]

Never tried the photog thingy but...I made myself all too familiar with the turn 12 wall @ Barber. Sunday October 10, 2004 running a 125 ICC as a support to the Grand-Am. Sixth gear, right around 105mph when I left the track. Needless to say: Wall 1, Zach 0. It took care of my left tibia, fibia, foot, and knee.