Some Roundy-Round Shots

[moose135]

I'm out in Pennsylvania for the NASCAR circus again this weekend. Friday didn't go well - rained much of the day. I did catch about an hour of practice before it started raining again. Ultimately, practice and qualifying were canceled. Weather is forecast to be much better on Saturday, but Sunday is questionable - I may still be at the track on Monday :(

Since I had good shots of most of these guys in June, I thought I would work on some panning shots. As I expected, a fairly low ratio of keepers, but it was good practice. For the details - Canon 40D, 100-400L, ISO 100, shutter speed of 1/100 (on all of these, but I tried a few different speeds). The cars were about 200 feet away, and were traveling around 150mph when they passed me.











This was actually shot at 1/800, but by panning with the car, it blurs the background.

[moose135]

I was in my favorite spot, at the entrance to pit road, which lets me get shots like this sequence. Michael Waltrip spun coming off Turn 3, saved the car from backing into the wall, but ran through the grass on the inside of the track, tearing up the front valance of the car.







He caught some air running back up onto the pavement.

[njgtr82]

Great set Moose, they all look great

[cancidas]

Some Roundy-Round Shots

and here i thought you were talking radials. [/dissapointment]

[Matt Molnar]

What are these strange vehicles? How do they move without wings?

[MarkLawrence]

That Michael Waltrip sequence is fantastic John!!! Great shots!!!

[moose135]

Some Roundy-Round Shots

and here i thought you were talking radials. [/dissapointment]

Sorry, Matt...maybe these will help you feel a little better:





And I heard a rumor we may see an AH-64 Apache on Sunday. They did announce the fly over will be done by a KC-135! Can't wait for that! :borat:

[moose135]

Saturday we had much better weather - sunny, around 80F, so I found my old favorite spot and got ready for Cup practice this morning. Just like in June, qualifying was rained out on Friday...just like in June, Tony Stewart was awarded the pole as the series point leader...just like in June, Stewart wrecked his primary car in Saturday morning practice, and will have to start the race at the back of the field in a back-up car...



Given all that, I now expect him to win on Sunday, just like in June... ;)

How about a couple of Junior for my little friend in FL?



Tried something different here, this was the only one of a dozen that worked...


Checking tires








Forecast is for thunderstorms on Sunday, hope we get the race in, would hate to sit around all day, then have to come back on Monday - and I would hate to miss that KC-135!

[AirtrafficController]

Great Coverage Moose! :borat: I'll be watching the race tomorrow.

[mirrodie]

Sweet sequence John!! Unreal!

[MarkLawrence]

Awesome John - your little friend in FL says THANK YOU SOOO MUCH! He loves them!

[moose135]

Rained a good part of the day, and finally they canceled the race around 4:30, although I knew about 2 hours before that that there wasn't much of a chance of seeing any racing today. Around 2pm, they did the normal pre-race ceremonies, at their regular scheduled time, in case the track got dried, and they could start the race quickly. I was out in the car, listening on the radio, and with the low clouds I figured "...not a chance we get the fly over..." Silly Moose!



Unfortunately, since I wasn't really expecting it, I wasn't in a good position to shoot it - there were a number of trucks parked between me and the grandstand, blocking the best shots:



He was right down low over the grandstand, it would have made a killer shot, if I had time to move 40 feet past the trucks :cry:

It's off to the track again Monday, weather is forecast to be sunny and 75F!

And Matt, there was an Apache, but it was parked over in the vendor/display area, with so much National Guard stuff around it, it wasn't worth shooting.

[cancidas]

And Matt, there was an Apache, but it was parked over in the vendor/display area, with so much National Guard stuff around it, it wasn't worth shooting.

s'ok, the -135 makes up for it!! so, so pretty....

[MarkLawrence]

We were watching the pre-race - I thought the same as you - clouds too low - no flyover - then I saw the -135 and said to the family - I bet John is loving seeing that!

[moose135]

Great weather today for the re-scheduled race. Lots of action on track, and lots to see. Got to the track around 9am, just in time to see them preparing the AH-64 for departure. I thought I was in the perfect spot to shoot the takeoff, then they towed it a couple hundred yards further away, directly into the sun. They did make their turn out almost directly over my head.





I think Michael Waltrip is glad to be done with Pocono for the season!




Smoking out of the pits


Some fine adjustments with a 10 pound sledge :shock:


It was uncharacteristically rough on track today!


Denny Hamlin survived the carnage to take his first win of the season.