Ho, ho, ho.....

GOOD MORNING!!!

I'm one of those guys that thinks the holidays are mostly for the women and kids. I enjoy the time off work and getting to see people but the celebration isn't my cup of tea. We won't go into the background of the dates or any of that stuff but look it up sometime and you'll learn some interesting facts about where the customs came from. But in spite of my indifference Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

There's a lot of off season shuffling going on right now. As I mentioned in my last entry, Proctor is still tossing around the idea of switching to Friday night. Idiots!!! I seldom get up to either track but have seen some great Sprint Car races at Superior. On the other hand, I've been to Proctor twice, the first time the track rubbered up and locked down, the second time the Feature was fogged out. I didn't think that Proctor was a very nice facility, small grandstands, rocks in the parking area that could easily cause someone to sprain an ankle while walking back to their car in the dark (and fog), so so racing surface, not the worst I've seen but certainly on the bottom half of my list. If it would have been a little nicer I'd have probably gone there more often. I'm not a big Sunday night racer but it's close enough, all freeway and they run the Late Model Feature early enough. I could make it home at a decent hour and get up for work the next morning. That wouldn't be possible for me with Jim Falls or Redwood Falls. But Proctor never gave me a good enough reason on their schedule to justify it. Whatever happens up there I hope everything works out for the best.

Probably the thing that's bothering me the most this season is the number of racers selling their equipment and leaving the sport. Due to the economy a lot of high profile racers are losing sponsors from Nascar all the way to the short tracks. I think that the best short tracks (best shows, best facilities, near population centers) are going to be maybe in a better position than some of the rural tracks.

My personal circumstances have changed a bit as well. The wife lost a portion of her part time income so that's going to cut into my racing budget. Every year I sell ten days of unused sick time and use the money to supplement my racing budget. This year instead of just supplementing the season that money will be the majority of my racing budget. I have expanded my racing media contributions and added another publication to my list and another media pass to my wallet. That makes three primary publications I'll be working for, Midwest Racing Connection (photos and column), Hawkeye Racing News (photos) and Flat Out Illustrated (photos and an occasional column). In addition to that I am an occasional photo contributor to Wissota's All The Dirt as well as Dirt Late Model. Last season I did a special project for the Cedar Lake Speedway NASCAR night program and contributed photos to several tracks during the course of the season. The media work helps out at the gate because without that I wouldn't be able to attend as often.

Finally, last and probably the least is the gotomn.com website. This will be my thirteenth season running a website. It started out in 1997 as a personal homepage and I switched to the gotomn.com URL in April of 1999 so it's the thirteenth for the website and the eleventh racing season as gotomn. The website hasn't grown or taken on new goals but I have tried a few things that I didn't have the time or the commitment to pursue. And the bottom line with my website is that it's a hobby, I'm not competing for sponsors, market share or page hits. It's just my view of the racing world, a place for a history section, some links, a place to display my photo gallery and at times sort of an artistic outlet.

So I'll be attending anywhere from 20 to 30 shows between Cedar Lake, Kopellah and a few other tracks depending on the money situation. If I can pickup some pocket change from photo sales I'll go to Deer Creek for the World of Outlaws and finish out that week in August at the Jackson Nationals. Aside from those shows, I'll shoot for the Kouba at Brainerd, Red Cedar and Rice Lake IRA as well as Friday and Saturday of the Elko dirt week. I would like to get back down to Sun Prairie for the Fireman's Nationals this year but that's a long ways off so we'll see how it goes.

So far it looks like I'll be able to put together a decent season of racing. Maybe not the highest numbers but I'll go to enough of them. I've got some home projects to tend to so some weeks are going to depend on how well the projects are going. Last year not only did a month and a half of racing fall victim to bad weather at the beginning of the season but the projects lost a month and a half as well. Next year I have to get some of those things done and at times it might come down to finishing my work or going racing. I'll time my projects so that I won't miss any of the big shows but a few of the weekly races might have to be put on the back burner.

I'm going to take some steps to simplify the photo posting on my website. They won't look any different but I'm going to cut out some of the post processing. Post processing only needs to be done when they're going to be used as prints but isn't necessary for the gallery. I'm still thinking about getting that lens I mentioned a while back. Even though it's a manual focus I think that I can work with it and get some good results. The GRP Trivia contest is scheduled to start next month so watch the message boards for more on that.

I'll try to post weekly and more often if anything new comes up.

Later,

Stan

I can't believe what's happening in the Twin Ports

As you probably already know, the Superior Speedway recently announced that they will be a NASCAR affiliated track in 2009. Proctor Speedway has countered by suggesting that they might move to Friday nights and go head-to-head with Superior.

I can't believe that Wissota would allow Proctor to go head to head with Superior in an obvious attempt to put them out of business. What are they afraid of? They dominate practically all the racing from eastern Wisconsin to Montana. If they're as successful as they claim to be they should have nothing to fear and just let things play out. If this works for Superior it works, if it doesn't then maybe Superior will return to Wissota. Even if Superior is another sanction it's still good for racing to have both tracks operating in the area.

When it comes to auto racing facilities more tracks is always better. As auto racing enthusiasts the masses think of us all as a bunch of toothless rednecks so we're all in this together. The non-race-fan masses next to these tracks would like nothing better than for the racing community to implode from the inside over our petty differences. Congratulations Twin Ports, you're going to make the non-race-fan neighbors and politicians very happy if you keep bickering among yourselves resulting in the closure of one or both tracks. Once a track is lost to developers it will never come back and that's what's so disturbing about this whole thing.

I have only attended a few IRA shows, a WoO Gumout show and one Late Model special at Superior so I'm observing this madness from a distance. I have been to Proctor twice for a Wissota Sprint special and the Silver 1000. Last season I attended Wissota, Nascar, IMCA, unsanctioned, IRA, WoO, WDRL, Badger Midgets USMTS, USAC Pavement Midgets and a probably a few other sanctions that I'm forgetting. It's all good racing and everyone in the Twin Ports area will be affected if one of OR BOTH of these tracks ends up closing. That's right, I said both, it's going to be a tough economy and Friday night racing isn't necessarily an automatic ticket to success. People have to scramble to go racing after work and Friday crowds are never equal to those at most Saturday night tracks. A Split Friday crowd could backfire and adversely affect both Proctor and Superior.

Both Proctor and Superior are nice tracks with a long tradition. It would be a shame to see Wissota approve Proctor's proposed change to Friday night and end up having it blow up in their face. Personally I support my favorite tracks regardless of their sanctioning affiliation. Maybe down here by the Twin Cities we're a little bit more tolerant of that variety because we've got Cedar, Elko and Raceway (NASCAR) and Arlington (IMCA and one Wissota class) nearby. A short drive south and we're close to USRA Modifieds. When the southeast Minnesota tracks switched their Modifieds to USRA, when Bob Allen became an IMCA supporter and when Cedar Lake switched to NASCAR the sky didn't fall and the sun still came up the next morning.

Stan Meissner

NAVY DAVY'S SHOTS OF THE WEEK!!!

".........in 2000 Bristol Motor Speedway laid dirt on the track and hosted the Dirt Late Models and World of Outlaw Sprints. The lates were on the first weekend. It was quite a sight to see. The track was wicked fast. I remember Thomas Ware rolling his car in turn one, climbing out and jumping up and down with his arms in the air happy at being the first LM driver to flip his car there. It was very dirty. The cars would raise the dirt and it settled in the crowd. With the bleachers completely surrounding the track the dirt had nowhere to go but on us. We were orange at nights end.
The track was so fast that with all the pressure on the right rear the rims were blowing apart. Mike Balzano had a huge lead in the feature when he was the first to lose his. Jimmy Mars was running great when his came apart. Several drivers suffered the same problem. They had a mandatory caution on lap 50. Dale McDowell who won this event found a crack in his right rear rim. They let them change tires.
It was great being there that weekend. It'll probably never happen again. This weeks shots come from that weekend. Some of our local guys showed up, Jerry Redetzke, Eric Pember, Jimmy Mars, John Bey, and Lance Mathees are few I can think of off the top of my head.
See you at the races in '09............."

NAVYDAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

".........temps at or below zero, snow on the way, geeze must be winter. East Bay was on the Speed Channel Saturday. While I'm not much for TV racing it was good see the Lates going. It's been two months now since my last show at Tri-Oval.
I wonder what will become of racing now with the car companies in the trouble they're in. How will this effect NASCAR and in my opinion, even more important our local dirt tracks. With one in every ten workers attached to the auto industry what will happen if even one of the "Big Three" go under? It's not a pleasant thought.
This weeks shot comes from Kopellah and the streeters putting on another great show. Jeff Heintz leading Krista Swearingen and a three wide bunch behind her. That's Jimmy Randall on the outside.
See you at the races in '09........................"

Thursday December 4 thoughts...

It's December 4th and I'm looking ahead to the 2009 racing season. Wow, it could be a rough one but I'm not sure at this point where media hype leaves off and reality starts. I was raised by depression era grandparents and was lectured daily about how rough things were for them during the 30's. They pounded it into my head to be thrifty and cautious about using credit and that has stayed with me my whole adult life. The media is telling us that this is the worst economic slowdown in many decades and the plight of the auto makers seems to underscore what they're saying. I've been through some slowdowns when unemployment got into the double digits and my job was a victim of one of those recessions. The core economy soldiered on and people needed an entertainment outlet to forget about the hard times during all those past slowdowns so there was still racing. We'll see what happens and hope for the best for all the hard working people out there. That's all we really can do when things happen that are beyond our control.

As far as my plans for 2009 go I'd like to try to hang onto my truck for (as long as it keeps running) so I can go another racing season without making payments. It's necessary for me to own and maintain two vehicles on one income and as anyone that knows me will testify I make due with what I have. The wife drives the nicer of the two vehicles and I get the Ranger without cruise or air but I prefer to drive the truck despite those inconveniences. If I wasn't putting every spare cent I have into chasin' racin' I would stay home and wouldn't need two sets of wheels. Anyways, if the old Ranger can hang in there for another year I'll be happy because it will help me to keep chasing races. It's always been a year to year thing with me that's contingent on my family circumstances as to whether I can keep doing this or not. So far so good but this season is shaping up to be a big challenge for everybody.

The plan this year is to write and/or submit photos to a variety of publications. I plan on continuing with my column for MRC and doing an occasional article for other publications. I'll be sending pictures to MRC, Hawkeye, Flat Out and an occasional shot to All The Dirt on nights when there aren't any ATD or track photographers on hand. I plan on continuing with the gotomn website but don't have any major expansion or improvements planned. I have been doing my website since late 1996 (got the gotomn domain in 1999) and I don't think at this time that it's very relevant anymore. Not that it ever was very relevant (LOL) but early on it got a lot more attention than it does now. Back when the internet was new, most people still didn't have home computers so it was a more tight knit group of hard core fans and most of the racing sites were hobby sites like mine. As time went on more commercial sites came online and the original hobby sites like mine either became businesses or fizzled out. Actually, I think maybe with the tight economy some of the sponsored sites might have a tough go of it and it could affect the printed publications as well. Provided that things don't get too difficult for me personally and I can keep gotomn online maybe there will be a bigger niche for it in the future. On the other hand maybe I'll get tired of it or I won't be able to sustain it anymore. But the bottom line is that I don't plan on making any big changes to the website. We'll be doing the GRP Trivia Contest next month and I'll be doing a little bit of updating as time permits.

Screen savers...arghhh!!! Man, those things are a lot of work so I'm not sure if I'll be doing them or not this year. Maybe just a few computer backgrounds this time around. I'm really not sure with everyone switching to Vista if people still use screen savers or not. Mine have been tested in Vista and they work but they stopped updating the screen saver program I'm using and I was never very happy with the photo resolution. I'd use some great shots to create my savers then I'd import them into the savers and the program would degrade the quality of the photos so they didn't look anywhere near as good as what I intended. Besides, it's a lot of time and work involved to create them. We'll see, maybe the mood will hit me and I'll put something together before the contest.

Preliminary plans are to do a schedule pretty close to what I have done the past few years. As far at travel, last season I attended a USAC Midget race at La Crosse, a couple of races at Jackson, and the WoO at NCS and Princeton. I went to Chateau at Lansing for a USMTS race and I liked that track so I'll try to get down there for the USMTS again. The crowd at La Crosse wasn't very good so I don't expect them to invite USAC back again and that's a shame because it was an awesome race. I'll try to get down to Jackson a couple times and would like to go to Sun Prairie for the Fireman's National again. Aside from those shows I'll be going to Cedar Lake and some UMSS races at Kopellah. Pretty much the same thing I have been doing. Once every few years I'll take a trip to Knoxville but with the old truck I'm not able to travel much.

Well, that's going to about do it for this blog entry. I was posting every day there for a while but that's a difficult thing to keep up. I'll try to put something on here once a week or so to let you all know what's going on. I realize you're not hanging on the edge of your seat wondering what I'm up to but I consider this like a chat with friends.

Later!

Busy weekend...Saturday OT, painting and the Vike's game...

I worked a few hours of OT on Saturday then had a paint brush thrust into my hands when I got home. It's a good thing that I stocked up on beer and B Movies so I had something enjoyable to do later in the evening. Two of three movies worked in our DVD player but the one that looked the most entertaining is that one that didn't work. It was a football movie and I believe I heard somewhere that the team it was based on was the Duluth Eskimos in the early 1900's. In fact I think they might have shot some footage up in the Twin Ports. Anyways, that movie decided it didn't want to load. The other two were of the Sci Fi genre, the first being a shootum up with aliens and the second was billed as being based about the Phoenix Lights incident of '97 but didn't prove to be factual to the event it was based on. If you're not familiar with the Phoenix Lights incident in '97 you'd do well to do some research on what happened there. Long story but a very interesting experience worth the read. We're not alone. I'm convinced of that.

I have been going through some of my photos from the 2008 season and used one to create this windows wallpaper in 1024x768 resolution. I like the composition of this shot taken with the 500mm down the entire length of the backstretch at Cedar Lake. I had taken my first shots during hotlaps up in turn four and worked my way around the parameter of the track as the light changed until I ended up in this spot. A few minutes after this shot was taken I lost my light and had to pack it up for the night and put the flash on. In manual mode you're looking at the viewfinder and pretty much eyeballing what you see, guessing your settings as the light changes as you keep moving towards the available light. It's an "on your toes" sort of shooting but you can catch a few sweet shots in the process. If you want to maximize the number of good shots you get you wouldn't try something like this but if you're looking for something unique it's worth gambling on.




Not bad for a $150 lens


It's interesting to read the reviews on this lens. Most people complain that they could not get any sharp images with it. I'm kind of hesitant to admit it but I have taken quite a few photos with this lens that have appeared in racing papers and magazines. Kind of reminds me of what my cousin used to say about his race car, "it ain't the chrome that make's it go." The same could be said about my camera equipment, I try to get the most out of what I've got.

The conspiracy has begun. The usual winter time bantering about the Superior Speedway and what sanction they will use in the coming season. There are a bunch of threats that something like 40 drivers won't compete there if they don't stay with Wissota. My take? As long as they have their Sprint specials I don't give a #^%@ what they do for their weekly deal. As a matter of fact I haven't made it up there for the Northern Nationals for a couple of years so it's really not a matter of concern at all for me anymore. At one time I enjoyed going up to Superior but I had some hassles at the gate and difficulty getting vacation on race days so I haven't been up there for a while. They were on my schedule this year but I think they must have canceled their spring IRA race because I never got up there. Maybe it was the weather, I don't remember. At one time I considered Sprint Car racing at Superior a must see event but kind of lost interest. That happens for me whenever a track loses "the list" and I have to deal with that king of thing. Maybe we'll get back up there now that Butch has the track again.

Another interesting topic on the boards. One central 100. Again, who cares? Just go to whatever is most convenient and fits your circumstances. I go to the Legendary 100 because it's CLS and you can never go wrong by attending a multi-day CLS show. Others my disagree but CLS invented the 100 and is legendary in that respect.

We'll, there's a lot more things to rant about but I'm going to tend to other matters now. Later!!!

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

".......after as cold a week as we've had it's hard to think about anything but staying warm. For the most part racing is over across the nation for '08. Which brings to mind this question, what lays in store for '09 with the economy in such bad shape?
Will car counts be down? Will tracks beable to stay open? The only bright spot I see is gas prices tumbling. How long will this last? I know I'm staying around home a lot more these days. To bad they waited til the race season was over.
This weeks shot comes from 2004 at the Red Cedar Speedway. Tony Bahr, Luke Rofers, and Rick Hanestead coming out of turn two. Hanestead "tire hopped" Rofers and spun out. It ended his night.
See you at the races in '09................."

Thursday Nov 20, 2008 thoughts...

Three Wide Media publisher of Flat Out Illustrated, Dirt Lake Model and Dirt Modified have a special offer going right now. You can subscribe for an entire year to all three for $60 or pick two for an entire year for $42. I subscribe to Flat Out and Dirt Late Model so I'll have to take a look and see what my expiration dates are. That's a great deal so if you're not subscribing to any of these publications this is a great opportunity.

There has been a lot of chatter on the websites lately about a variety of issues. I'll skip the non-racing stuff for the time being and get right into what seems to be a developing controversy among Sprint fans. The controversy is whether 410 or 360 racing is better. From my point of view they're both fun to watch but 410's, especially the Outlaws, do tend to string out in single file during most of the Heats that I have seen. They're pure speed and it takes a tremendous talent to tame one but some of the side by side racing has been sacrificed. On the other hand, 360's offer more side by side racing but they're a few ticks slower on the stop watch.

The way I look at it the 360's we see today are faster than the cars many of the legends of the sport drove in their time. I saw some great drivers turning laps times that would have bored some of the current crop of pure speed fans. I that being a Late Model and Modified fan in addition to Sprints it has made me appreciate how entertaining good side by side racing can be. Then there's non-wing Sprints, they're in a league of their own. If you have never seen non-wing Sprints or Midgets you've got to make it a point to see them.

But where was I? Oh yeah, talking about the 410's and 360's. It's all good racing, some people have one favorite class, others like some variety. Whatever works for you.

I'll be writing more thoughts as I get time. Later!

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

".....this weeks shot goes back to 2000, it was another of our mega trips. Three weekends and two weeks on the road. It started with the "Show Me" at West Plains Mo. We got there in time for the Thursday night practice and the great BBQ dinner. Due to rain both Friday and Saturday they ran the whole show on Sunday. Ray Cook was the winner that year. After staying with Merry's sister for a few days we were off to Bristol TN. That was the year they laid dirt on the track and brought in the Late Models. I have a cousin who live about 30 miles away and we stayed with them a few days. We then left for the holy grail of dirt tracks-Eldora for the "Dream 100". On the way we stopped at CJ Rayburn's shop in Indiana. Billy Moyer and Don O'Neal were prepping their cars for Eldora and we talked with them and of course CJ. It was quite a trip and seeing three of the biggest races that year was great.
This weeks shot is Gary Stolba, Jimmy Mars, and Edwin Wells during a heat race.
See at the races in '09..........."

Another month goes by without a blog post by Stan...

I'm on vacation today so I have been spending a few hours cleaning up computer files and surfing online. One thing that has been on my mind lately is that I dropped the ball and all but stopped posting to this blog. I guess you could say that my level of passion for racing goes up and down. This time of the year I usually like to take a break from racing but I never stop thinking about it. I have been watching the economy lately and thinking about what effect that's going to have on all of us, not just on racing. I'm not going to get into politics or finger pointing because I don't think that's a constructive way to solve problems. You won't see any predictions from me because I simply don't know. I just try to go with the flow and do my best.

If you were following this blog when I was posting almost daily you probably are thinking that Navy Davy has hijacked it. No, that isn't the case, it only takes me a minute to post his "Shot of the Week" and comments as opposed to me coming up with something to blog about and finding the time to post it. I have been doing some photo work and spent quite a bit of my free time working on a magazine article and other writing obligations. Now that they have been completed I am going to try to get more into the habit of blogging on a regular basis. I'll see if I can come up with some ideas.

I'm considering another lens purchase during the off season. I was very happy with the 85mm f1.8 fixed focal length lens I bought last winter. You're probably all familiar with what a zoom lens is. Most racing photographers like a zoom for a variety of reasons and one of the most popular is the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR. It's a great lens but it's heavy and costs around $1,600 new. I can't justify the purchase of a $1,600 lens when I'm driving around in a truck that's worth about that same amount. In addition to being more expensive zoom lenses aren't as sharp as fixed focal point lenses and most prime lenses are faster. The lower the f stop number the faster the lens so an f2.8 is fast, an f2 is faster and an f1.8 is even faster. Sigma makes a nice 50-150mm f2.8 that currently sells for around $700-$800. Last winter I spent close to that for the 85mm, a new camera bag and several other incidental accessories. I'm not in a position to shell out that kind of money this off season but I have found an alternative.

First I should point out that fixed focal length lenses like my 85mm are what is commonly called a "prime" lens. The advantage of a prime lens over a zoom is that you get sharper images. The disadvantage is obviously that you can only focus at one distance. For example, my 85mm is great for catching those 2 and 3 wide shots both day and night. On the other hand, if a Sprint Car is running way up by the wall I can get a sharp image but it doesn't fill the frame adequately. I do have a budget priced 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 zoom, the cheaper zooms aren't fast (f2.8) and the further you zoom out the slower they become. As far as image quality the cheap lenses can often provide results comparable to pro lenses within a partial range of their zoom capabilities. My 70-300mm is great from around 85-220mm but anything beyond that range is too far to get the image quality I want and that lens is only good until the light starts to fall off.

On a typical night if it's sunny I'll take some outside the track shots with the 70-300mm during hotlaps then run down to the infield and shoot with it during the Heats. Next I'll switch to my 85mm and either shoot with that one for the rest of the night or switch to my 28-105mm f2.8 Tamron for the Features if victory lane is tight quarters. The Tamron 28-105mm was $800 new but I regret that purchase because it's not good for action shots. I have learned it's strengths and weaknesses and can get acceptable results with it but I only use it when I'm at a place where there are cramped quarters and the 85mm won't work for victory lane.

The addition I'd like to make to my collection this year is a Nikon 135mm f2.8 E IA-S manual focus lens. This lens was originally made for Nikon film cameras and is still sold new at several online outlets. The 135mm will mount on my digital but I have to shoot entirely in manual mode and focus manually. It's a "prime lens" and the reviews say that sharpness is outstanding. I would only use it during the Heats and B Mains, the 135mm will give me enough reach to get some better sideways angles and to catch those Sprints when they're up by the wall. This lens costs about $190 delivered as compared to $700-$1,600 for a good quality fast zoom lens. Manual focus is tricky. What you have to do is focus on a specific spot and take your photos when the cars "hit your mark" at exactly the right moment. Consequently, your "keeper ratio" isn't going to be as good as it's going to be with a zoom. I'd estimate that with the 85mm I'm getting 70% to 80% keepers (in focus) shots. With the manual focus my keepers are probably going to drop down to about 50% depending on the track, lighting, dust in the air, etc. So you can see why the 135mm would be something I'd only use for part of the evening and not at every race.

You'd probably be surprised to know that one of the tracks I need more reach for is Princeton. From the stands that might not make sense but in spite of it's small size you've got to stand back further to be safe and it's a wide track with high banking so distance can be a problem. Besides Princeton a couple other places where you need the reach are the big tracks like Jackson and Knoxville. I will rarely if ever shoot at Knoxville and seldom get down to Jackson but a little more distance will help at those places. I think that considering the cost of less than $200 I can justify a lens that I'm not going to be using all the time. The 70-200mm and 80-200mm high buck lenses aren't close enough for some of the tighter victory lane areas so I don't see myself ever buying one of those.

Besides the 135mm prime I've got my eyes on another prime lens as well. It's the Nikon 50mm f1.8 standard lens that sells for a little over $100. I found out that I like opening up the 85mm wide open to f1.8 and taking some wide angle shots with it. I get great results of full fields going into the first turn, four wide salutes and that sort of thing. Another application where I like f1.8 is when they line up all the cars on the front stretch and introduce the drivers. A 50mm f1.8 prime would give me a wider angle and it's a good lens for non-racing stuff too so eventually I'd like to add one of those so that I have three prime lenses.

That's about all the prime lenses I want to carry because changing lenses when it's dusty exposes your sensor and you can get dust on it. I have a "Sensor Scope" cleaning kit and I clean my sensor pretty often during the racing season. An easy way to see if you have dust on your sensor is to lock your camera in manual focus and take several photos of the blue sky. If there is dust on the sensor you'll see little spots in the same place on every photo. Dust and moisture are two things that you have to deal with when taking racing photos. I carry a plastic bag so I can cover my camera if it starts raining and a towel so I can wipe it off. I also like to cut up old t-shirts and use that type of cotton material to clean my lens during the evening because they don't leave scratches. It works great for cleaning off the lenses on my reading glasses as well.

Well, that's about all I've got for now. When I buy the 135mm, probably as we get closer to the racing season, I'll post some test shots. I turned the auto focus off on one of my lenses recently and practiced focusing manually. The photos turned out good enough that I'm confident I can get some good shots with a manual focus prime lens. Some racing photographers only shoot with manual focus so it's not impossible but it takes some practice. The focusing rings on manual focus lenses are a little more precise and forgiving than the ones on the auto focus lenses. You can turn the auto focus off and manual focus and auto focus lens but they're not as precise as a dedicated manual focus lens. I forgot to mention that I have a fixed 500mm manual focus lens that I sometimes like to use for outside the track shots. It's an f8 lens so I can only use it for hotlaps during the time of the summer when it stays light the longest. The lens isn't a Nikon so none of the focus assist or metering works. With the 135mm the focusing dot in the viewfinder should work which should make it easier to shoot with than my 500mm. I have gotten some pretty good shots on full manual no metering with the 500m. I like using it once in a while because I can get some neat angles, here's a sample:



Like I said, this lens is 100% manual and has to be used in good lighting. The fastest f stop is f8 but I get my sharpest images at f11 or slower. Also, I have to use 1/500th shutter speed when the cars are coming at me head on like this. Usually I can get away with half as much shutter speed but in this case I have to speed it up a little. In daylight I have an advantage because I can hold the shutter button and take two or three shots in quick succession. I won't have that luxury at night when using flash because of the recycle times.

Well, that's going to do it. Hope I didn't bore you too much with photo geek talk.

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

"........this weeks shot comes from Hales Corner near Milwaukee in 2001. We were on quite a tour that year. We followed the UMP Summer Series and the Hav A Tampa Series for a week. We started at Brownstown Indiana on a Friday. Saturday found us at Kentucky Lake near Calvert City KY then the next day it was off to Danville Ill, from there it was Hales Corner. We then jumped off the UMP tour and headed for Davenport Iowa for the Hav A Tampa race. Wednesday was a travel day with no racing on our way home to Cedar Lake Speedway for three days. Our final stop on this tour was Shawano WI for another "HAT" race.
This weeks shot is Scott James hiking it up at Hales Corner. Hales Corner closed a few years ago. I heard Menards bought the property. The track and facilities were very shabby. Rough track, shoddy facilities. Very unimpressive. Still I'm glad I got to see a show there.
See You at the races in '09...................."

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

"........the racing season has been over for a few weeks now here in the Northland. Saturday night Speed had a live World of Outlaws event bringing both the Sprints and Lates together for their finale. It was fun watching a dirt event on TV. Josh "Kid Rocket" Richards won the Late Model feature and Fargo's Donny Schatz won the Sprint feature. The track looked good and racey and it was.
Since I just completed my tenth full year of race photography I thought it would be fun to go back and find some interesting shots from those past years. It's been a lot of fun being out there. The middle of the track offers some interesting perspectives that you don't see from the stands. In a way it puts you in the action. I know I've had to run from errant cars a few times.
This weeks shot comes from 2004 at Cedar Lake, going down the back stretch three wide are Joel Cryderman, Jeff Martire, and Paul Brust.
See you at the races in 2009....................."

Sorting things out after the season...

Judging by the dwindling number of message board posts on all of the racing boards people have shifted into post season mode. That's my situation right now too, I'm kind of taking a little break from being absorbed in racing. Well, not exactly a break as I'm busy with a writing project. Tonight I'm trying to locate a couple of old "Race Show" DVD's with a specific driver interview that I need a quote from. Those darned DVD's were sitting here on my desk, not just for weeks but for a couple of years and now I can't find them. Who knows where they ran off to...

A week from Saturday (25th) the first UMSS meeting will be held at the Settlement just north of Somerset at 11:30am. I'm looking forward to seeing what everybody has to say about this deal and how much interest there is. I'll be writing a lot more about it over the off season.

Well, I better see if I can figure out where that DVD went. Later.

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

".........the tracks are all silent now. We closed our '08 season at that little three corner bullring known as Tri-Oval Speedway for the "Great Pumpkin Races.On an unseasonably warm night the action was hot. Three Superstock drivers going for the Wissota National point title were there. Ross "Roscoe"Dixon finished third in the feature and takes the title back to Ramona South Dakota. Bob Timm won the USRA Mod feature. Also on hand were Streetstocks, Midwest Mods, Vintage cars, and Hornets. A scary moment near the end of the Hornet feature saw a nasty roll over. They had to call in the Fountain City F.D. to extricate the driver from the car. It was a long night with many yellows but the racing was good. It was great to see all my racing pals for one last time this season. Mean Gene, Hoosiers Up, and of course Zimmy. Talked with a lot drivers and fans and had an enyoyable night. Even Zimmy found a new freind. See you at the races in 2009......."

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

".....we made our first trip to Deer Creek Saturday. It was a beautiful Fall day. The racing at "The Creek" was pretty good. The Midwest Mod feature was won by about a foot by Al Wytaske. Close racing all night long in all classes. Bob Timm won a hard fought Mod race, Ross Dixon from Ramona South Dakota took the national points lead over Curt Myers by one point by winning the Superstock feature. Mike Prochnow made it look easy in the Late Model feature. Redetzke and Brent Larson had a great race for second. Larson got the spot. At 9:30 the races were over and they played "I did it my way" by Ole Blue Eyes as we all left for the last time in '08. This weeks shot is th of a fierce battle in the Mod feature. See you at Tri-Oval next Saturday for the final races of the '08 season................"

Got out of the blogging habit

I got out of the blogging habit the past few weeks so I'm going to try to get at it more often now that my season is over. The last race around here is the Tri-Oval and as of now I don't plan to go but that could change before the end of the week. It will depend on the weather and what the family is up to. I've got enough cash left over from this weekend that I could do it so we'll see.

Right now I'm recording the 'Dega Cup race on the DVR and am working on some photos. I'm not in a rush to post my Outlaw photos on gotomn because I doubt that anybody from the WoO is going to look at the website of some hack way up in Minnesota. The WoO used my victory lane photos from NCS and Princeton on their website and that was cool. It was an honor to know that people world wide will see my pics. In addition to using my photos I noticed that the Outlaws stayed at the track to greet the fans and that left a good impression on me. I've talked to the people at a couple of the tracks and they all tell me that the people running the series now are a pleasure to work with. That's a good thing and I'm happy to see them taking some positive steps in that direction.

I've got to do some photo editing and a few other things but I'm going make an effort to post here more often. By the way, what classes were they running at Tri-Oval? LOL

In case anyone is wondering where I've been...

Doing a lot of photo processing and researching information for an article and my monthly MRC online column. I've got some photo orders to tend to during the next few days as well. There were three nights of racing last weekend and two more this weekend then I'll be done until next year.

I will make a longer post when time permits.

Monday, Monday, how ya' doin'?

It's been a while since I have typed a blog entry so I better get busy and catch up with posting my most recent thoughts and experiences.

This past Saturday night I went to Husets Speedway with Chuck Priefer and Dick Kelly. I think they got sick of me talking so I guess they better never go on a racing trip with me and GRP. It took four days to Eldora and back before we finally stopped talking racing. (insert LOL) Seriously though, I enjoy traveling with fellow racing fans and sharing our stories and experiences.

There can be no doubt that Husets is an action track. By way of example, some years I'll go all season without catching a photo of a Sprint Car flip. One night at Husets resulted in a three shot sequence of Donavan Peterson going over as well as two other flips. From an action standpoint it's wild.

Saturday was only my third time at Husets and the first time I have spent the entire night taking photos there. The only other time I took pics there was hotlaps during daylight with my old film camera. Shooting there for the first time with the digital and flash was quite the challenge. Up here at familiar tracks I've got the settings all figured out and a night of shooting goes pretty smooth. At Husets I struggled with the cramped quarters and color balance settings. For some reason I always have problems getting it set right when a track has black dirt. I managed to get some decent photos but they weren't my best work but I'm a self critic so they probably look decent to others. Shooting pics is kind of like driving a race car, you're probably not going to come into another guy's home territory and nail the setup on your first try. I was working with some new more powerful flash batteries and the additional power made a difference in brightness. I'll have to keep that in mind this weekend at Cedar Lake or I'll be doing a lot of post processing on Sunday.

Chuck was standing around talking to Doug Wolfgang so I stopped and stood around with a dumb look on my face. I get tongue tied around Wolfie and can't even tell you why. Maybe it's because he was one of my heroes while he was driving but I still get nervous around Wolfgang. I have always wanted to ask him if he really used to ask Tom Wilke if he could scrape the mud off the 87 car when he was a kid. Tom told me that but Tom never hesitated to bullshit me so I can't be sure. I'll probably never know because I don't think I'll ever work up enough balls to ask Wolfgang an off the wall question like that. He's a helluva guy, his observations are priceless. He's just a regular guy just like the rest of us trying to make sure his family does right and putting food on the table for them. That's the second time I've seen Wolfie this summer and the second time I chickened out and didn't say anything to him.

Doug Clark gave me shit about falling on my ass when I crossed the track. I didn't have any problem taking a shot back at him when he tip toed across the same spot a while later. Clark is easy for me to talk to and he invited a rebuttal by taking the first shot across the bow. I met him at one of the Gopher 50's in Owatonna years ago. He's a nice guy but giving people shit must be what they do for entertainment down in Sioux Falls because he sure handed me a full ration of it. That's alright by me, I like a dry sense of humor. Not everybody can say that Doug Clark gave them shit. Probably just a few Outlaw drivers who got sent to the back for jumping a start and a couple dumb assed photographers like me attempting to transverse a wet track.

I ran into Jimmy Schmidt, my wife's aunt's brother. He builds motors out of a shop in Flandreau. I wouldn't have even recognized him but he walked by with a lawn chair that had his name written on it in magic marker. He might as well have had a damn sign on his forehead, "I'm Jimmy Schmidt." Here's your sign! LOL It was nice seeing him and I'll sent his regards back to Dick and Barb.

The first UMSS meeting is tentatively slated for Saturday October 25. I plan on attending and listening to what their plans are. I'm not an authority on motor rules, tire compounds, that sort of thing but I'm familiar with the MSA of eastern Wisconsin and know they've got a good deal over there. I think this deal will be good for the Sprint teams and it will help out some of the promoters that can't afford to book an ASCS, IRA or Outlaw show. We've got a lot of tracks around this area that fall into that category and they know a Sprint show might draw more fans but aren't able to book one. This might give them that opportunity. The IMCA had some Jackpot Junction series shows this year at Jackson and Kasson that I attended on other nights of the week but they run Arlington on Saturday nights. That makes it difficult to run a JJ show at another Saturday track. Just like everyone else the IMCA teams are fighting increased travel expenses. I think this deal at Cedar Lake, maybe Kopellah and a couple other tracks in that area might work out pretty good. The people organizing this want to generate interest among Street Stock, Super Stock, Midwest Modified drivers that would like to try Sprints. Sprints are never cheap but this deal will make it possible for more people go get involved. Sprint Car racing in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin will die out if new drivers don't get involved.

Brooke Tatnell in the Forbrook 5 was leading the Cheater's Day A Main while Mark Dobmeier in the Lunstra 13 worked his way through traffic to second. Mark caught Brooke and got underneath him coming out of turn two. They got together on the backstretch sending Tatnell into a wall scraping pirouette ending his run. Guy Forbrook wasn't very happy with Mark and expressed his displeasure to Dobmeier as he approached victory lane. This was one of those racing deals where you really don't know if one of them slipped or it was on purpose. I have never met Mark but I can't imagine a driver who subbed for Brooke in the Volcano Joe's car at Wilmot

Brooke would be catching a 5am flight the next morning to meet up with the Craig Dollansky team in New York. Craig's arm was broken in an Eldora crash that some have described as the worst they have seen there in 20 years. I wish Craig a speedy recovery and congrats to Brooke for getting the opportunity. When I heard about Craig's misfortune right away I knew Brooke was the best candidate to fill in based on his driving talent, easy going nature and close proximity to Craig's shop. He's been running his own limited deal and subbing in various cars all season so this is a good opportunity to get some WoO exposure. Hopefully he'll have some good finishes and keep his name out there for the next time something opens up. Personally I think if Guy and Brooke could get some sponsorship to run a full or partial Outlaw schedule they'd be a force to be reckoned with. I wish some Minnesota based business would take note of this sponsorship opportunity and come on board.

That's going to do it for tonight. I'll add some more later this week during the Badger Nationals. This should be a good show.

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

".........what a great weekend. Perfect weather both Friday and Saturday. The pits at Red Cedar Speedway over flowing with cars for the 29th Annual Punky Manor Challenge of Champions. Friday night with the Midwest Mods on hand there were nearly 200 cars on hand. So many in fact they were pitting in the infield. Friday was a full show for the midwest mods and heats for the Supers, Mods, and Lates. A very enjoyable night.
Saturday they ran two B-mains for the Supers, Mods, and Late Models. Great racing there. Then it was off to the features. Friday night they ran the MWM feature and Shane Halopka came from 17th to take the win. A very impressive run. Also Friday night they ran The Debbie's and Bongo Dash for the Late Models which was won by Harry Hanson. Saturday's features started with the Superstocks. Shawn Huse in the 1H car was strong and took the win. Craig Thatcher remains nearly unbeatable at Red Cedar. It was his at least his 8th Punky win. John Kaanta got the Late Model win with Harry Hanson second and a fast moving Jimmy Mars third.
All in all it was a great way to end my 2008 season behind the camera. I'll be in the stands at Cedar Lake next weekend to kick back and watch some racing sitting on my butt. That will be it for 2008 as I have other things planned in October. The 2008 season was shorter for me this year with all the early season rainouts. Doesn't seem right we are once again at the end.
This weeks shot comes from the Modified feature at Red Cedar. See you at the races............."

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

"............Mother Nature once again has not been kind to us this weekend. Two of the four days of "The Legendary 100" at Cedar Lake have been washouts. Wednesday night was Midwest Mod and Streetstock night and that went off good. Thursday a steady rain most of the day and then a persistent drizzle wiped us out. All I got for my efforts that night was about two pounds of mud on my shoes. Friday night was great. Cool temps and a mostly clear night made for a fast and racy track as the Late Models, Modifieds,Superstocks,Pure Stocks,and hornets took to the track. It was the hornets first ever appearance at CLS. With the pits full to overflowing it was as good a night as I've seen there. There was some excellent racing and the fans definitely got their moneys worth. Saturday was another story. Once again the steady afternoon rain cancelled the days events. Since Thursday was a washout they ran that show Friday night. Friday nights show was to be run at noon on Saturday. They got two Superstock heats in and once again old Ma Nature stepped in. Today now they plan to wrap the weekend up. Once again Ma Nature threatens to step in so I'm staying put.
Next weekend is the "Punky Manor Challenge of Champions" at the Red Cedar Cedar Speedway in Menomonie.
This weeks shot come from the front stretch at Cedar Lake Friday night. See you at the races..........."