2011 Lucas Oil Off Road Series Round 15 from Firebird Raceway in Chandler Arizona

The Lucas Oil Off Road Series (LOORS) crew made their final stop for the 2011 season at Firebird International Raceway and I was lucky enough to cover the weekend of dirt and mud-slinging racing action. For this race I told myself I would do my best to put a human face on the racing and try to get as many driver portraits and pit shots as I could during the three days of action.

Ford Motorsports Metal Mulisha driver Brian “the general” Deegan always gives good “face” when he is on the podium at these events, and you can bet at some point he will be on the podium.

To see more of the fantastic action from the LOORS round 15 click on the more link below.

NASCAR Nationwide Series – WYPALL 200 from Phoenix International Raceway

The boys, and girls of NASCAR stop by Phoenix International Raceway twice a year and the November race looked to be an exciting weekend of racing because Phoenix had been called “the wildcard” by most of the media due to the new track surface and “configuration.” From my perspective there didn’t seem to be much of a change to the shape or distance of the track however, they did raise the back part of the track several feet allowing fans to see the cars on the back straight from the grandstands along the front straight but, the shape and distance didn’t change.

10 November 2011: Sam Hornish Jr. (12) takes hot laps during a practice session for the NASCAR Nationwide Series Race, WYPALL* 200 powered by Kimberly-Clark Professional at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale Arizona.

To see more of the story and images, click on the more link below.

2011 NHRA Arizona Nationals from Firebird International Raceway – The Funny Cars

I love photographing NHRA Drag Racing, it’s like all the action and excitement of a two-hour Motorsports event compressed down into a little 4 second burst.

The action starts on Fri. with first round qualifying and as the sun dips below the horizon and the sunlight fades enough to really see the header flames you can make some intense images. In this shot from Friday’s qualifying session, Mike Neff makes a pass in his Ford Mustang.

To see the rest of the exciting NHRA action, click on the more link below.

Hot sun, hot fun, sweat and dust at another weekend of Lucas Oil Off Road Series racing

The Lucas Oil Off Road series racing crew rolled into Surprise Arizona for round 11 and 12 of this fun-filled, hot, dusty action at Speedworld, and I was lucky enough to be there to try to capture the intensity and excitement.

I love covering LOORS (Lucas Oil Off Road Series) racing, although it’s tough on camera equipment, lots of dust and dirt, as well as hot, bright sun and sweaty, sunscreen covered faces pressed into the viewfinder and on the LCD screen.

To see more hot sweaty images from the weekend’s racing, click the more button below.

Lucas Oil Off Road Video

I covered the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series – April 15-17, 2011 Speedworld Off Road Park, Surprise Arizona and talked about shooting some video during the weekend. I am finally able to share that video with you here.

As mentioned in the following post: MORE Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series – April 16, 2011 Speedworld Off Road Park, Surprise Arizona  I split my duties capturing stills and shooting video and learned a great deal about what to do next time I try shooting video.

Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series – April 15-17, 2011 Speedworld Off Road Park, Surprise Arizona

Holly cow, that’s a long title. I’ve got a bunch of Motorsports posts and a few different events to catch my viewers up on so let me start with some Lucas Oil Off Road racing from Surprise Arizona. Speedworld Off Road Park in Surprise Arizona hosted rounds 3 and 4 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Series (LOORS) and this was the first time covering an event at this track. A great facility with an interesting and exciting track as well a lots of great shooting positions. I spent the weekend trying out different shooting positions and angles for the best light, cleanest backgrounds and best shots. I’m still working the bugs out of shooting at this track but here is a sampling of the images I captured during Friday’s practice and Saturday’s round 3 action.

Friday’s mid-morning practice session had me shooting through the fence and in harsh-bright-sunlight so I tried some cross-processing on this shot of Brian Deegan (38) putting the power down.

See more dirt-slinging action photos by clicking on the more link below.

NASCAR Sprint Cup – SUBWAY Fresh Fit 600 April 10, 2010 Phoenix International Raceway Part 3

I wanted to finish off the NASCAR Sprint Cup SUBWAY Fresh Fit 600 images before I moved on to some other images, but it turns out I just have way too many images to post them all in one story.  I’ll post another group and hope you enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed shooting them.

During the opening laps of the race everything was getting a little mundane, with the cars just going around, and around. The cars were a bit bunched up and things were very exciting for us photographers because every time the group of cars came by a big cloud of dust and track debris would get sucked behind them and pelt us photographers and our gear which is a bit like being in a sandstorm/dust storm.

Click the link to read the rest of the story.

NASCAR Sprint Cup – SUBWAY Fresh Fit 600 April 10, 2010 Phoenix International Raceway Part 2

I’ll jump right in with more images from the NASCAR Sprint Cup SUBWAY Fresh Fit 600 from Phoenix International Raceway.

On race day most of the activity in the garage area are just for show and to make the fans happy, but sometimes a few minor tweaks are done to give the cars their final race setup. Here Kurt Busch’s crew make a few tweaks to his number 2 Miller Lite Dodge.

See more by clicking on the link.

NASCAR Sprint Cup – SUBWAY Fresh Fit 600 April 10, 2010 Phoenix International Raceway

Make no mistake this is a show on a grand scale, the coordination and production that go into this event is over the top.

Joey Logano’s No. 20 Home Depot Toyota comes off the hauler as the Sprint Cup teams arrive at Phoenix International Raceway.

See more images by clicking on the “More” link.