We missed a Saturday night of racing last weekend due to rain and I'm feeling out of it. I'll probably get the passion back this weekend when I go to the IRA at Arlington. Arlington will kick off a busy week with the USA Nationals next Thursday through Saturday nights. I'm still not 100% sure whether I'm going to spend the entire weekend out there in the camper, drive back and forth or some combination of the two. My writing deadline is a week from Sunday and it's brutal just trying to stay awake the Sunday after an all nighter let alone write and edit photos. Maybe somebody will twist my arm but I'm kind of leaning towards driving back and forth so I can get some things done around the house and keep up with the writing obligations. I've got a contractor lined up to do my roof and it's beginning to look like the job might fall right in the middle of the USA Nationals. The wife is going to want me at home so I can handle the details with the contractors. It looks like it could end up being a busy two days of vacation more than a relaxing one.
Anytime I've got consecutive nights of racing like that the routine goes something like this. Get up, cut the grass, get online and check email etc., while I charge camera and flash batteries. Get out to the track early so I can get a parking place reasonably close to the back gate. Walk around and stake things out, plan my photo strategy for the night, talk to a few people and say hello to those I don't see very often. Have the camera setup by the time hotlaps start and shoot all night until the conclusion of racing. Make my way to the truck (back and feet are usually aching by this time) and drive home. Fire up the computer, grab a glass of water or sometimes a beer if I've got any, upload my photos and start sorting through them. Check email, make some notes for my column before I forget what happened. I'm usually wound up so I've got to watch a little television then get to bed by 3am. The next morning get up and work on the previous night's photos, charge flash batteries, check the truck, say howdy to the wife and head back out to the track. Same routine at the track and at home for three days and nights.
You can probably see why it's so tough for me spending the weekend at the track when I've got deadlines. When I do that I'm three days behind by the time I get home on Sunday and I've still got a column to write. Sunday I send photos, write my column, send the column, send any additional last minute photo requests, and get as many of the Saturday photos processed as I've got time for. Do a few loads of laundry, make sure I turn the alarm clock on and put the trash and recycling out on the road. So it's not just a matter of sitting around relaxing and drinking beer by my camper for three days and nights. As a matter of fact, sitting around drinking beer can be more of distraction because I'm sitting there thinking about everything I have to do when I get back home. Long race weekends are a lot of work, I'm usually on my feet for five or six hours at the track, so it wears me out. That's why I would prefer not to camp on the weekends that I've got a writing deadline. Some years it falls that way. I didn't reserve a campsite but I've had a couple offers so I might relent and take them up on it. It would be grueling to stay out there but there's something to be said for the parties. If I wasn't doing the photography and writing there's no question about what I'd do. I'm probably going to go right down to the wire before I decide.
Speaking of photos and graphics I hope some of the people that have inquired about me doing graphics for them understand my situation. I'm not going to be the most responsive at getting it done because I've got a day job that keeps me away from home from 6am until 5pm every day. The photos and graphics are just a side deal that I squeeze in on nights and weekends when possible. As you have already seen, next weekend during the USA Nationals I'll have little time for working on photos and no time for graphics. Oh, if I got a special shot that someone needed an 8x10 of I could get it developed in one hour (at a higher cost per photo) and bring it with me the next night. Usually I try to put the photos on the back burner during those long racing weekends. I think me being kind of slow might have irritated some people that have been after me to do some artwork but I have to remind them. Those guys getting their artwork to you the next day have all day to work on it and they own $5,000 roll stock printers. I send all my stuff out and have to do it on nights and weekends when I get a spare moment. Kids and grandkids drop by, things break down around the house, sometimes I just need a break. Are other guys faster than me? Yes. Will I eventually get your order done? Yes.
It helps, especially with the artwork, if people can give me an idea what they want so I don't spin my wheels designing something they don't like. Those guys that do graphics for a living will come up with one design for the big events. Every graphics event border design is the same except it's got a different car in it. When I do them I sit down with a blank piece of paper (actually a blank computer screen) and start from scratch. With my method you're going to get a one-of-a-kind design but it's going to take me an hour or two, sometimes more. Seeing as processing is about $4.95 and I'm spending 2 hours on the design there's $20 profit so I'm making $10 per hour or less. Usually when a person starts a side business they want to make more per hour than they do at their day job, not one third or less. So I'm not doing it to make a huge amount of money but it's something I can do in my shorts while drinking a beer instead of vegetating in front of the television. I figure if I'm going to sit here I might as well make a little something.
So I do appreciate the orders and I'm sorry that I can't be as fast as those folks that do this for a living. The way I figure is this is the only way I can make a few bucks to supplement my travels. Next year who knows, I'm due to buy a car and that means the payments will cut my racing budget down to just about nothing. I don't even want to think about it right now... We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime I'll have fun this season.
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