Its been a busy few weeks, with activities every weekend. I haven’t really had time to update this page, but I’ve been able to try and keep up to date on my flickr page. Now I’ll post a few here too. My friend Mark and I went to the Indy Car race at Watkins Glen over July 4th weekend. There were various races and practice sessions Friday through Sunday, and lots of opportunities for photos. It was neat to see the Indy cars up close, but the race itself wasn’t all that exciting. And it was HOT. Really hot, in the 90’s. We were able to catch some shade under the trees at the track, and did a good job beating the heat. Here’s a few photos, and the rest of them are posted in my flickr gallery. There are also photos from the indy lights race too.
Saturday I took a trip to the Finger lakes Racetrack to practice taking photos with our camera for upcoming summer trips to Saratoga. It was really hot, but I had a good time and got some great shots. There is definitely a trick to getting good photos. I am still working at it. Its tricky to learn why some photos have better focus, color, and sharpness, while similar photos are a bit lacking. Here’s a few of the better shots. A gallery of all my photos from the Finger Lakes Race Track is available on my flickr page.
I just got done freezing my fingers off at the Finger Lakes Snocross ISOC event in Farmington. It was pretty neat, and really packed. I hope to get out there again next year and dress a little warmer. I wore some pretty weak gloves, and my finger sure did suffer. Pretty tough shooting conditions with a temp of 19 degrees, and winds of 10-15mph. They did eventually die down a little, and the flurries slowed too. Pretty neat racing.
On Saturday we traveled up Interstate 95 to Daytona to tour Daytona International Speedway and the museum. When we arrived we were able to hop onto a tour tram and get onto a tour of the infield. I was surprised that the speedway actually seemed smaller than I thought it was. Seemed like if you were watching a race that you would easily be able to see all the action around the track. It is a large track, don’t get me wrong, but I was pleasantly surprised at the sight lines.
The tour took us into the infield through one of the tunnels under turn 4. The tour guide told us that the Italian Auto Club currently had track time, and we were treated to a steady stream of Ferraris, Mustangs, and other sports cars zooming around the track. Pretty much EVERYONE on the tour was more excited to see the cars racing by than look at the row of garages or grandstands and safety fences.
Daytona Cars
Daytona Cars
Daytona Cars
Daytona Cars
The banking of the track is REALLY steep, at 30 degrees in the corners. The tour stopped near the new winners circle for us all to get photos there, and view the VIP suites high above the speedway. Still, most people were trying to get views of the sports cars on the track.
Daytona Speedway
After touring the speedway we went into the museum. There were multiple interactive racing simulators (some cost money), lots of cars on display, and lots of Richard Petty memorabilia. Matt Kenseth’s 2009 Daytona 500 winning car was on display right out of the winners circle. There were lots of bugs and gunk on it, and the fenders, front and back, were bashed in from the bump drafting. Really cool.
Kenseth Car
Daytona Museum
We watched an IMAX movie in 3D which was pretty good, and then went out to the track to watch some more auto club racing from the turn 4 grandstands. The cars were fast, and you could tell the grandstands were huge.
Daytona Seats
More Cars
More Cars
Overall it was a really nice day, and we spent about 4 1/2 hours at the museum before heading back to Coca Beach.
As always, larger pictures of our full trip to Florida are available from my Flickr photo gallery. Day 3 includes our trip to see the gardens at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne and the beach.
Well, no updates for 2 months. What have I been up to? Well I will tell you. I have been working to create two websites to store the content from the Adena Springs Racing Venture 2 and 3 that we belong to. I decided to create two separate dedicated sites for the information. That way I can keep this site more dedicated to our own goings on and happenings, and the new sites exclusive to horse racing. The new sites are up and running and available via links in the menu bar at right, as well as using the banners below.
Adena Racing 2
Adena Racing 3
What else have we been up to? Well Tracy and I decided to do our part for the economy by buying a new car. My first car, that I owned for almost 12 years, finally wasn’t worth the expense to keep it running. A 1995 2 Door Camry with 183,600 miles on it. It was my first car and I will always love it. But we have now moved on, and purchased a new camry. Picture to come soon.
I’d been looking forward to this race for a few months, as my wife and I were going to be in Philadelphia for Thanks giving, and I knew it wouldn’t be too much trouble to go to New York City from there, rather than driving the 6 hours from Western NY. I was really surprised to see Harlem Rocker as the morning line 15-1 long shot. But I felt good because I knew there was money to be made. I met some friends in NY for the day and saw a couple other HR fans there too.
Took a lot of photos in the paddock area, and generally had a good time. The race was incredible. We were able to get right on the rail and watch Harlem Rocker go by. We were ecstatic and screaming like crazy. Did he win? Who won? And then when he was posted winner we were all yelling and high-fiving and running around like idiots. It was awesome. Then they took it all away. And we were sore losers. We called bullshit and called out Prado a bit.
From the replays at the track it really looked like Harlem Rocker had a half length lead when he cut over. Now that I watch the replay again, I can see Prado pull up a little. But still, like Pletcher said, he had every opportunity to run, and HR went past him. It begs the question, how much room do you need to give before taking the lane? I thought he had a half length at least. If these were two cars, and the white car had passed the brown car and pulled in front of him, then the brown car decided to speed up and go past the white car, would we have said someone got cut off here? Unlikely. Harlem Rocker had the speed, took the position, and then if Tale of Ekati wanted it back, he needed to move and take it.
My friend Mark’s brother John summed it up best, he said: “I’ve seen horses lose after doing less, I’ve seen them win after doing a lot worse, but not in a graded stakes race.”.
The most disappointing thing to me, is that at Aqueduct they have a wall where they post the winning silks for the last 5 years, and all the photos of last winners, and HR will not be up there, and probably nobody will remember how close it was, except us.
Harlem Rocker is quite a fine animal, and he has a lot more white than earlier this year. He’s a fine horse.
It was disappointing to see both Springside injured and Wanderin Boy breakdown.
We all made some money, with Harlem Rocker as such a long shot, and Tale of Ekati too. My friend Mark and I would have each been at least $200 richer had he won, and if I had boxed my trifecta instead of wheeling it, I would have hit that one too. Enjoy these photos of my day at The Big A. The photos are a bit “noisey” but with the time of the year and the time of the race, it was basically twilight and my digital elph doesn’t really do that well in low light situations. I am extremely happy with the photos I got, but you can see my Harlem Rocker photos from the summer time are much crisper.
