NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!!!

........another year goes by the wayside. HAPPY NEW YEAR one and all. Just about one more month or so and Speedweeks in Florida starts. Arizona will have theirs soon and don't forget Talladega Short Track's Icebreaker. Another season will soon be underway. Four months til we get going up here in this winter wasteland.
This weeks shot is kinda neat. I was going for shot of Bloomer as he came into turn two at Cedar Lake. I wasn't using a flash but as I took the shot someone with a big flash was. It turned out pretty neat I think. See you at the races........

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!!

"........snowing and blowing today. I wish everyone the Merriest of Christmas's and hope you all have a great day. We've turned the corner now and days will be getting longer again.
This weeks shot comes from Cedar Lake during a Modified heat. Merry Christmas!!! See you at the races......"

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

"......just waiting for the '08 season. This weeks shot comes from day one of the "Labor Day Shootout" at Hibbing. See ya at the races......"

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

"........another cold winter weekend-thank God for football. We had -17 here one night. The ice should be ready for some ice racing soon. Time to get the old Sorrels and long johns out and go see a few of these races. Lots of rumors floating around about the upcoming season. We'll have to wait and see which one's are and which one's aren't.
This weeks shot comes from the 'Punky" at Red Cedar. See you at the ice races........"

Good news from the doc and other notes of interest

I just went through the mill for three months and ended up getting some good news on Friday December 7. In early August I noticed a growth on my temple area and was due to see the dermatologist to follow up on another matter so I made an appointment. They did a biopsy of the bump and found something called B cells in it. Evidently that sometimes indicates a rare form of lymphoma that causes skin lesions like the one I had. There was another smaller spot on my chest that appeared around that same time so the entire growth had to be removed. I had the procedure done on Wednesday the week of the Princeton National so I'm probably the only one who was happy for the Friday rainout. I made it through the Saturday program with a big conspicuous bandage on my head. That was just the beginning of three months of medical tests.

Between October and December I have had blood work done four or five times, two biopsies as well as a CT scan of my torso and a whole body PET scan of the skin and lymph nodes. All tests came back normal, normal organ function and nothing to indicate that there was lymphoma in my lymph system. They even tested my blood for a stomach bacteria and lyme disease.

Yesterday I got a call from my oncoligist's nurse at the Humphrey Cancer Center. The latest biopsy taken on December 3rd finally came back and the oncologist determined that I do not have skin lymphoma. He wrote in his notes that my case could be pre-skin lymphoma and he wants to see me on the 27th and treat it with antibiotics. It seems to me after this experience that anytime they're not sure what you have they use the word "pre" if they think you might be prone to developing the condition someday in the future. The last time I saw the oncologist a couple weeks ago he was talking localized radiation or a mild localized form of chemo. Obviously I'm happy with yesterday's news and am looking forward to the 2008 racing season with renewed zeal and thankfulness. When you go through something like this and experience the roller coaster of ups and downs between tests it gives one a unique perspective and appreciation on maintaining good health. No, I'm not going to become a nuts and berries health nut but I might only have one hotdog instead of two next season.

Best of all, the tests showed that liver function is normal. I got some Miller Lite for the weekend, rented some movies and sat in the recliner celebrating.

Last week I got that work done on the Ranger and it's running pretty good now. It's a 1993 that had 104,000 miles when I bought it and is now at a little over 133,800 miles. It's not much to look at, the paint is faded and the tool box is a bit rusty, but since I've had it I've put some money into keeping it roadworthy. Over the past couple years I got a new exhaust system, new serpentine belt and a new heavy duty battery. The timing belt is in good shape and must have been replaced by the previous owner. Last week I had a ball joint replaced as well as trailing arms on the front end, the brakes done and replaced the thermostat. Let's see, they also repaired the parking brake so I don't have to carry a wood block to put behind the wheel anymore LOL. The put in a new set of plugs so it's running better and seems to have more power. I didn't realize how bad the plugs were, they were original plugs and when they showed me the old ones they were as bad as I can ever remember seeing. It's a miracle the truck was running so good and I'm sure I would have ended up having problems during the next year if we didn't replace them.


(My son Les pops open a cold one before the 2003 Richert Memorial. That's the Weenie Wagon on the left and the Ranger on the right so I'm guessing that I've had the Ranger for five years.)

During the winter I only drive my truck to the park & ride for my vanpool which amounts to about ten miles a week. Occasionally I'll drive the 50 miles round trip to work if I've got an errand or appointment but 90% of my mileage is put on during the racing season. I lost track of how long I've been driving the truck but it's got to be four or five years now. At the rate I'm putting miles on it the thing could conceivably last a couple more seasons. I'd like to get something a little more road worthy so I'd be more comfortable on the 150 to 200 mile trips but I'm not complaining. If I wanted to go to Knoxville or somewhere like that I'd take our Olds and the wife could run her errands in my truck. So anyways, I should be able to go another racing season without making vehicle payments.

I can't remember a fall and winter when I've sold as many photos as I have this season. My photo sales supplement my racing travels and if you factored in my mileage and expenses it's still a break even deal and not officially a business. I'm sure a lot of these sales are for photos that are going to be given to sponsors and such so it's probably going to slow down after the holidays. Nevertheless, I anticipate my photo sales to increase so I'm looking at some more equipment purchases in order to improve the quality.

I have been doing some research and have made some changes based on my findings but won't be able to test them under racing conditions until April. There is a lens that I've got my eye on that will be better suited to my needs than the one I'm using. Up until now I have been using a Tamron 28-105mm f2.8 which was a popular lens among our local photographers at the 1/4 and 3/8 mile tracks in our area. That lens works great for getting those three wide night shots of the bigger cars like Late Models and Supers. I bought the lens new for around $800 on the advice of some of the Late Model photographers but found that it's not good for Sprints running the high side up by the wall. The Sprint guys seem to prefer the 70 or 80-200mm f2.8 lenses where you can zoom in when they're up on the cushion but the problem with those lenses is that you're too close to victory lane. A new 50-150mm f2.8 lens was released this fall and it's getting great reviews for sharpness, image quality and a quick focus motor so I'm probably going to buy that one. It just came out and they're out of stock at some places which is usually a good sign because it indicates they're in demand but the downside is that the price is going to stay around $650. If I want one I'll have to pay the going rate.

The only other thing that I would consider purchasing someday is a Norman flash unit which comes in at around $1600 new. I'm going to keep an eye on the new digital camera bodies that are addressing the noise issues as that could someday render the portable studio flash obsolete for racing applications. My opinion is that a high end studio flash would be overkill for me because I consider night photos to be newspaper shots. I'm getting as many of my night shots in the papers and magazines using a $300 hotshoe as the guys with the more expensive flash units. Most of the photos I get in magazines or sell were taken in available light without a flash. I find that photo sales are part talent and technique and part getting the word out about your work. I think the gotomn website photo gallery and my work in the magazines accomplishes that objective.

One thing that I'm not doing much of that people like is the two sided photo cards. I know how to do the layering and artwork as you can see in the samples but haven't bothered to find a printer who will make up the cards at a competitive price. If I got into the card business I'd probably end up with too many irons in the fire during the season. Doing the artwork and running to the printer during would be time consuming and be more like a job than a hobby. The railroad sometimes offers early retirement packages and I've only got nine years to go so maybe I'll get an offer I can't refuse. These buyouts bridge union employees to retirement and I'm in situation where that might very well happen. If that happens I'll be able to concentrate on my photography and website full time.

In the meantime I am able to do one sided designs on standard 4x6 photo stock. A few racing teams have had me do designs for them. If I was doing design work on a daily basis I could refine my skills but I think what I'm doing on a limited basis looks good. Most people buy CD's with flames to use on their cards, I designed my own flames as vector files as well as the cartoon on my main page.







Well, that's going to wrap up my latest update. You can email your comments or feedback to me at mndirt@hotmail.com

MRC Online December 2007

A repost of my column in the December 2007 issue of Minnesota's Racing Connection online:

November through March are a welcome break for me. It's nice to reconnect with family and catch up on the things that I neglected during the summer. I'd like to be able to kick off my season at the Chili Bowl or Florida Speedweeks but that's not possible for me. I'll go to an occasional swap meet or banquet during the winter but I'm not what you'd call a regular attendee at those functions either.

One advantage of hibernation is that it gives me an opportunity to reflect on the previous racing season. I enjoy going through my photos and notes with the goal of making improvements. As I view the photos of each event I reflect on my experiences and would like to share a few of them with you. This isn't a recap of the entire season or a summary of the racing action. I picked out a combination of ten races or in some cases entire weeks or weekends and what made them special to me.

1) My memory of the May 25 Superior IRA race is kind of fuzzy. I have a hard time remembering who won by the next day let alone trying to retain the information until early December. Suffice it to say that I had a good time and enjoyed the races at Superior. I could look in my records to see who won but that isn't necessary for this column. What stands out about this trip is that there was a disagreement between two of the promoters a week or so prior to this race. I recall wondering if they would still be racing. As it turns out the race went off without a hitch and I drove home from Superior with plans to head up to Brainerd the next morning.

The next day I found that some very cold weather for May had blown in overnight and Brainerd was taking the brunt of the winds and cold. I called the track a couple of times on the way there to make sure they were still racing, the weather was that bad. In fact it was so cold that I "wimped out" half way through the races, packed up my camera and went to my truck to warm up. I hung around and watched the Sprint Car Feature from the grandstand and left before the program was over. There was a time when I used to sit on a bucket and ice fish but that was before I had titanium and screws in my neck. I have since abandoned cold weather recreation and do my best to avoid that type of weather. I'm pretty sure the show would have been canceled if the IRA hadn't traveled so far to get there. Hats off to NCS.

Brainerd would be more than inconvenienced by the weather later in the 2007 season when a severe storm caused extensive damage to the facility. You probably recall hearing about it on the news late last summer. Track personnel and volunteers scrambled to ready the track for their first ever WISSOTA 100. The storm damage made all the Twin Cities news outlets but the real story that they didn't cover was how the racing community all pitched in to make repairs.

2) I've got a computer personal wallpaper of Jerry Lepinski broadsliding the Wilke Chevy around the historic Owatonna oval in the early 70's. Owatonna first opened in 1934 making the 2007 season the track's 73rd year. 2007 was my second season as the Owatonna “track photographer” so I attended their Memorial Day USMTS race. I don't get many opportunities to watch the USMTS and they put on a good show. Since Owatonna is a specials only track getting the surface prepared can be a challenge. Track preparation during the 2007 season had improved after a rough start in 2006. The future was beginning to look good for historic old half mile. Unfortunately the 2007 season only lasted through the July 10 Tri-Star Challenge Series Late Model race. The remaining three races, a Labor Day USMTS race as well as two ASCS Sprint Car specials, fell victim to a dispute between the promoters and the Steele County Fair Board.

I'm not certain at this time if any racing will be scheduled at Owatonna in 2008. What I do know is that I won't be working as their photographer next year. My decision has nothing to do with the promoters who I consider friends. Owatonna has been a struggle since the bulk of their schedule takes place on week nights. Consequently, Owatonna requires taking vacation or being out late during the work week. Maybe this is a sign that I'm getting older but I find that doing accounting work without adequate sleep gets more difficult every year. If there is racing at Owatonna during the 2008 season I will include some of their events on my schedule but won't commit to the entire season. When Owatonna canceled their September 15 ASCS Sprint Car race I was able to attend the final night of the DTRA 100 at Cedar Lake and decided that I would never again make conflicting plans on the final night of the 100.

There were some good times at Owatonna so I don't want to give the impression that the racing wasn't good or that I didn't enjoy myself. It's just that for me there are bigger events that I want to preserve my vacation for. The August Fair race at Owatonna is a classic so I'll always make an effort to be there for that one. Perhaps I'll get down there for an ASCS race or two as well if they host that type of racing again in 2008. It's going to be interesting to see what happens down there next year.

3) The next special event on my calendar was the Masters at Cedar Lake. This year I was excited about the addition of the 360 Sprint Cars to the Thursday night preliminary. My MRC Masters preview predicted that Jerry Richert Jr. would win the IRA Sprint Car Feature and Justin Fegers would be victorious in the WDRL Late Models. My prognostications were off but Jerry Richert Jr. did win the Thursday 360 race so I was partially right. Jerry didn't get to celebrate in Victory Lane as Scott Winters came across the finish line first but didn't make the required stop at the scales. Winters posed for photos with the trophy and Richert was declared the winner after the ceremonies. Jerry was happy with the winner's share of the purse and felt bad that Scott had run such a good race only to have it taken away from him.

My other memory of the Masters (at least I think it was the Masters) was a 3am excursion onto the track. Miller Lite in hand I followed an anonymous friend through the pit gate so we could stand on “sacred ground” under the stars. I didn't calculate that my legs were shorter than his and my crotch didn't quite clear the chain securing the gates together. Fortunately I didn't spill my beer but the can did sustain some damage. As I lay sprawled out on the ground looking up at the stars I had a revelation. I realized that I'm getting too old for 3am Miller fueled adventures and need to stay by my camper. I'm not sure how bad I damaged the pit gate chain but I apologize to the CLS owners if you're reading this.

4) The Cedar Lake Speedway put a new twist on their annual World of Outlaws race in 2007. Instead of the traditional Monday date the Speedway booked the “Greatest Show on Dirt” on Sunday night. Having their annual Firecracker on the previous night made for two consecutive nights of racing and another camping weekend. The combined events worked out great for me but I see that they're going back to their traditional Monday night in 2008. I'm not sure if that had something to do with the Outlaw schedule, input from fans or some other reason. I'll probably camp at the track Sunday through Tuesday again next season but will have to find something else to do on Sunday night. Perhaps I'll make my first trip to the Eagle Valley Speedway on Sunday night.

A couple of notes about the Outlaws before I move onto the next topic. The series boasted 26 touring cars at Cedar Lake but don't expect those kinds of numbers on the tour next season. Some cars will be parked due to teams folding for economic reasons and a few very familiar teams are rumored to be no more. 26 cars out on the tour was an anomaly made possible by the demise of the National Sprint Tour. Two series gave some teams a taste of what it was like to be out on the road with the Outlaws (and NST). The return of Steve Kinser, Danny Lasoski and company and the absence of enough tow money to support all these new travelers forced a reality check. I expect the WoO car count to self correct to a more reasonable 18-20 traveling teams next season.



Donnie Schatz captured his second consecutive Knoxville Nationals and World of Outlaws titles in 2007. Not only did Schatz repeat but he silenced the critics who said that he won in 2006 because Kinser was not present. Donnie will be driving for Tony Stewart Motorsports in 2008. This pairing is going to be formidable right out of the box but I won't concede the 2008 title to Schatz yet. Donnie's dad Danny has been with the team for over a decade and we all know how important experience is in motorsports. I'm going to withhold judgement until we can see how well the new team gels. I look for Steve Kinser to slip down a few more spots in the WoO point standings next season. Kinser is in his mid 50's and the inevitable effects of age are becoming more apparent. Steve is going to be competitive and will win some races, maybe some ones, but his days of dominating the sport are over. It doesn't matter how many WoO titles or Nationals championships Steve won, age catches up to all of us.

5) July 12-14, we spent three nights camped at Cedar and sandwiched a Kopellah weekly show between NASCAR night and the Billy Anderson Memorial. Cedar Lake booked NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., this year and the place was packed. I had the opportunity accompany Dan Plan to the media center and take some photos for MRC. At my age I'm not into hero worship so I my encounters with racing personalities aren't as special as they used to be. I have been in what some would consider the enviable position of having many close encounters with the biggest stars of NASCAR. Despite my somewhat cynical view of celebrities I was impressed by how nice of a person Dale Earnhardt Jr. is. Dale was extremely humble and polite during the press conference and seemed to be having a great time. I might have to break down and get an Earnhardt hat one of these years.



The next night my friend Vince and I went to Kopellah to join Dave aka “Navy Davy” Trautmiller in the infield. I enjoy going to Kopellah and have gotten to know many of the people who go there on a regular basis. Owner Marguerite Lindblom has secured on my list of “Sprint friendly” tracks with the addition of one or two 360 specials each season. On this particular evening we had to scramble back to my truck due to a quickly approaching thunder storm. Enough of the program was run to consider it a complete show but we missed out on a couple of the Features. We made it back to the Cedar Lake campground just in time to get our campfire started before the rains came. We kept the fire burning, fired up the grille and did a couple hours of bench racing.

My final race of the weekend was the Billy Anderson Memorial on Saturday night at Cedar Lake. For those of you who don't remember Billy, he was a Minnesota Sprint Car driver who used to race at Cedar Lake in the WISSOTA Sprints. Anderson was paralyzed from the neck down in a 1998 Knoxville crash and died of complications from his injuries several years later. The Billy Anderson Memorial honors his memory and it's an event that I make it a point to attend every year.

This also stood out as the night my camera flash failed in the middle of the racing program. Dirt track racing can be hard on photographic equipment when you're out in the elements shooting hundreds of photos per night. I checked the manual and my flash had exceeded it's life expectancy after three seasons so I got my money's worth out of it. An online order from B&H Photo resolved the problem in time for my next race.

6) August 2-4. I didn't reserve a campsite in time for the USA Nationals so I had to drive home after the races all three nights. This trip was a working trip would be all business. As far as the racing at the Nationals goes I enjoy watching Scott Bloomquist anytime he races at Cedar Lake. Bloomquist has been limiting his schedule to big events and no longer chases points with any series. Next year I have to make it a point to reserve a campsite for the Nationals next season.



7) “Here's Jonny”... Jon McKorkell that is. I attended the Friday all Sprint Car night of the Jackson Nationals on August 17. Chuck Swenson was DQ'd for an illegal modification to the ASCS heads after appearing in Victory Lane. That was the last time Swenson raced during the 2007 season. Jon McKorkell returned as promoter after a year absence and did a good job under difficult circumstances. I'm planning on heading down there for Friday night of the Nationals again in 2008. I love half miles and Jackson is one of my favorites. I wonder if we can move it closer to Forest Lake?

8) IRA Rice Lake Saturday August 25. I hadn't been to Rice Lake since 1999. What was I thinking? The facility has seen many improvements since my last visit, the racing was excellent and the staff welcomed me as if I were a long lost friend. They even allowed me to park my car behind the pit concession stand. Prior to the Rice Lake race I had exchanged messages with IRA driver Mike Reinke on (of all places) the Dave Blaney NASCAR message board. I met Mike at Rice Lake and will make a point to look him up whenever he's racing locally. The Pure Stocks put on a great show at Rice Lake. There are a ton of cars and the racing is very competitive. I'll bet you thought you'd never hear that from me. Rice Lake's IRA show will be included on my 2008 schedule.

9) My son called my office on Friday September 7 and asked me if I wanted to go to the races. I haven't been going to the Friday of the Northern Nationals the past several years so I could get ready to camp at the Richert Memorial the following night. Seeing as Les offered to do all the driving I thought “why not” and jumped at the chance to get out of the office early. My camera batteries weren't charged and I hadn't made media arrangements in advace so I spent the night in the grandstand. The racing was good, Les was happy to spend time with his dad and I got to relax for a change.

The following night at the Richert Memorial we saw Mike Reinke win what has become known as the IRA's biggest race of the season. Even more exciting for me was getting to meet a boyhood hero, Scratch Daniels. Scratch who was voted into the Sprint Car Hall of Fame was a team driver with Jerry Richert Sr. I watched both Richert and Daniels drive Supermodifieds when I was a kid so this was a special night for me. My brother-in-law joined us in the campground with his notorious “Weenie Wagon” for the first time in several years. It was truly an enjoyable weekend.



I'm including the September 15 finale of the DTRA 100 as part of this ninth listing. I wasn't able to attend all four nights of racing but I was able to make it to the Saturday night grand finale. The 2007 DTRA 100 had a twist reminiscent of Scott Winters being stripped of a win because he forgot to scale earlier in the season. Joel Cryderman held off Pat Doar for what appeared to be one of his biggest wins of the season but was turned away from Victory Lane due to running over the cone on a restart. Doar was sympathetic to Joel's blunder in his Victory Lane interview.

10) Friday night of the Princeton National fell victim to rain. Saturday's weather was nice and I was ready to go racing one more time in 2007. Proctor's Proctoberfest canceled earlier in the day due to thick fog sending a few more fans to Princeton swelling an already packed house. Donnie Schatz took a popular win and the racing was excellent.

So that's going to wrap things up until the next issue of MRC online. Have a safe and happy holiday season. In my next column we'll take a look ahead to the 2008 racing season.

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

".....we finally got our first snow of the season. We ended up with maybe 6-7 inches so I've been out plowing all morning. Another month closer now to the '08 season. What suprises will '08 bring us?
This weeks shot comes from Deer Creek Speedway near Spring Valley MN. It's a USMTS modified heat race coming out of turn two. See you at the races......"