SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

Last weekend (actually Saturday!) I got the call to shoot some racing action out in Baytown, Texas at Houston Raceway Park. The NHRA O’Reilly Spring Nationals drag racing event was in town and it was a great weekend to have it. The weather was awesome with a nice April breeze and without the sweltering heat. I have had the pleasure of photographing Nascar, Indy, Le Mans, as well as drag racing in the past and although each is fun and exciting to shoot in its own ways I am more of a fan of the Le Mans style of racing, which may or may not have anything to do with living in France for a number of years and having attended races over in Europe. Wait…does street racing count?

I do remember my dad taking me to a few events at Houston Raceway Park as a kid and I have shot and attended races, car shows and 1/4 mile shootouts there on several occasions so I am familiar with the area and venue. Even though the Spring Nationals are a pretty large event for the NHRA, the pit areas at HRP are still accessible and open to allow interaction between the fans and the crew. (without having to spend a ton of money on a special pit access pass like some events *cough*NASCAR*cough*) There is definitely a niche fan base for drag racing, but I am always surprised at the different kinds of people that show up to catch the racing action. I stayed away from the the other photographers who were zoned in on the rather drab action images that the track access allowed, and concentrated on what happened behind the scenes.

I do remember watching the short-lived A&E show Driving Force so when I found out John Force and his daughter Ashley Force Hood were both competing, I followed the father/daughter team for a bit. It was interesting to see both John and Ashley take care of business, each in their own separate little worlds, so close together. I noticed a very interesting dynamic between the two. Each had an equally large fan base that loomed near their adjoined-but-separate pit areas and each made it a point to reward the gathered crowds with smiles and autographs after each run.

As for the images, there were lots of interesting colors and although I especially liked the color in a select few of the images, I thought the black and white treatment worked on them as a whole. Of course, as always, for the sake of archiving, the images appear as a broader edit and not a tightly composed essay.

* DISCLAIMER * The second shot of the crowd that looks like it may have been shot with a tilt-shift, actually isn’t shot with a tlit-shift at all. I was concentrating on making images of the crowd when a car passed by once, I noticed the trail of gasoline fumes followed the car like a looming cloud, so I tried to make the next few frames illustrate that effect.

** UPDATE ** This series of images recently won 3rd place in the Series/Multiple category in National Press Photographers Association’s monthly news clip contest for the month of April 2010. Check out the NPPA monthly news clip contest results website for the details.

NHRA DRAG RACING (10-04-10) – Images by Todd Spoth

This entry was posted on Friday, April 16th, 2010 at 10:49 AM. It is filed under Editorial, Sports and tagged with Ashley Force Hood, auto, car, documentary, driving, Driving Force, Events, Ford, Houston, Houston Raceway Park, John Force, Mastercam, Mustang, National Hot Rod Association, Newspapers, NHRA, O'Reilly Auto Parts, pit crew, pits, Published, race, racing, Sports, Spring Nationals, Texas, track. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.