No, I'm not sick but got a sinking feeling when thinking what a summer without much racing would be like. Let's just say that I got dangerously close to the edge but caught myself before I took the leap. No, I'm not upping my number of combined races/street rod shows to 25, 30, 40 or more as I had done in the past. The only way I could hope to attend that many races would be to take on a part time job all winter to save up for racing. Seeing as racing is something I do for fun I can't see any sense working all winter to fund my racing. Actually there's kind of a gray area where relaxation stops and work starts as far as my racing goes. Most people go to the races to sit back, enjoy some good food and drink, hang with friends and family and enjoy the action. I keep myself pretty busy at the track running around gathering information and taking photos for the next story. Hell, even if I wasn't writing for some publication I'd probably keep on doing that anyways. My hobbies have always been a lot of work whether it was the way I approached fishing or whatever. I'm just not one to sit and relax much on summer weekends.
Recent developments have made it clear that I can probably do about a dozen instead of the half dozen I was originally planning. I probably sound like I'm a step ahead of the poor house driving old cars and not being able to make as many races but that is not the case. I make a pretty good living but keep in mind that when one is dealing with non-race-fan family it's only fair that every dollar spent racing is matched with non racing activities. In other words, yeah, I can go racing, no problem with that but I have other things to tend to. Rabid race chasers think nothing of dropping $500 on their passion but a lot of people aren't able to do that for various reasons. Let's just say that I'm at a point where my racing has become more of a juggling act and leave it at that.
This October through December is the first time in five or six years that I didn't get a flurry of photo orders. Usually I sell the most photos of the entire year in this period leading up to the Holidays. This year I sold zero, zilch, zippo, nadda, nothing...not a single order. People are always complimenting my work, the papers and magazines use my photos on a regular basis and I have lost track of the number of websites and Facebook pages that they're displayed on. As a matter of fact just the other day someone reposted one of my sample pics and commented that I do a good job. So what has changed? More photographers competing for less business and racers spending less on pictures. There are some very aggressive salesmen who have gotten into racing photography during the past few seasons. I have always taken a laid back approach and been able to make enough to supplement my expenses by sitting back and waiting for people to contact me. That approach does not work anymore when you've got three photographers going from trailer to trailer at tracks they wouldn't even have bother with a few years ago. Add to that some of them even have helpers that make sales contacts in the pits and stands while they're shooting. My approach can't compete with that and the very word "competition" doesn't jibe with weekend relaxation. I've got a very busy day job that wears me out so I don't want my hobby to turn into a job. I'm not complaining mind you but I do miss that few hundred bucks I used to make every year at this time. I've been doing the racing media gig pretty much by myself for almost fifteen years and all of a sudden there's all this competition and aggressiveness. Hey man, I'm sixty years old, they can knock themselves out and fall over each other as far as I'm concerned. Not my idea of fun.
That's kind of the reason that the Street Rods have become so attractive to me. Last summer I went to Back to the 50's at the Fairgrounds and took hundreds of photos. With admission only $12, the Fairgrounds less than $25 miles and only a couple of big shows a year you can see where the cost comes in way less than racing. I had a great time and plan on doing both big shows at the Fair next year as well as some of the community car shows around the area. A lot of those shows like the weekly deal at North St. Paul are free so the costs are minimal as compared to racing. I think that a mix of car shows and racing will work fine and money will be much less of an issue.
I'm sure that a lot of you probably still don't get where I'm coming from so I'll put it another way. Each year after the holidays have passed I have to come up with a racing schedule and a workable budget before I can commit for the season to the publications. I appreciate how important it is for them to get a firm commitment so that they know how much space they're going to need and can set it up with the tracks. What happens a lot of times is that people think it would be cool to write for a racing publication. They imagine they'll get some recognition, maybe some perks like passes and that sort of thing so they agree to do it. One of the publishers has told me that it's very difficult to find people who hang in there for every issue and last the season. I know what's involved because I did it for thirteen years through neck surgery, weddings, the birth of six grandkids, car troubles, loss of loved ones and just about anything else you could imagine. Readers look at our mug shot in the paper and think that our life revolves around racing but nothing could be further from the truth.
So anyways, another simple principle is that I like for my word yes to mean yes. When I look at my budget in January I have to know that I can put in a full schedule and do them justice. Anyways, a little more on the competition that I alluded to. Take the Racing Connection for example. I first came in contact with MRC at the MOA back in 1999 when I picked up a copy at a Motorsports store. There was no dirt and no Sprint Car coverage so I contacted the publisher, we arranged a meeting and it was like an interview where I pretty much sold him on adding more dirt and Sprint Car coverage. Back in 1999 ATD was the only act in town and you couldn't have paid most people to write for MRC or "that asphalt paper" as they used to call it. I plugged along for years as the only exclusive dirt writer and I'd like to think that my contributions were instrumental in gaining acceptance among the dirt racers. I used to be self employed so whenever I do anything I "own it" or in other words approach is like it's my own. Anyways, things have changed, now MRC gets a lot of offers and that competition factor where others are coveting my gig. It's uncertain at this point what involvement I'll have going forward, maybe a more reduced role or maybe I won't be asked back in that capacity. Whatever happens I can be proud that of what I accomplished while I was with the paper and would like to continue to contribute on a more limited basis. It's got to fit their needs though. I still plan on doing a little for the magazine.
I have been giving it some thought and if nothing else works out I may start doing some event recaps with photos right here on this blog. Kind of an online column similar to what I was doing for MRC with photos, a story and some video clips. Who knows, maybe even some kind of podcast and tie it all in with gotomn. As I have explained my enjoyment comes from using the technology to communicate. I've got a lot of experience and it would be a shame not to share it in some small way. Nevertheless, there's a balancing act involved here. Doing all that work to promote the interests of tracks, series and sanctions would not come without a thank you in the form of hospitality. I'm adamant about that, some don't agree but hey, you're all free to do this. Go out and spend a few grand on camera and video equipment, a few hundred on web hosting, learn graphics, photo editing, writing, etc., put down your beer, crawl down out of the stands and show me now it's done. What's that? I must be crazy? Yeah, I thought that's what you'd say. LOL
