Smugmug goes to NASCAR

GraphyFotoz

Well I've been invited to go to Pocono Speedway in Long Pond PA for the NASCAR Race June 8th.
Friend at work is a local volunteer Fire Fighter and their department goes to one of the tracks within 2hrs drive every year.
He is allowed to take one guest....asked me this year....ofcourse I said YES!
All I hafta have is $75 to secure a seat on the bus and I'm supposed to get that back when I show up for the bus.
I'll have the ole Smuggy strap on the snap box and hope for plenty of pics.
Anyone been to any of these events that can give me some pointers?
I've never been to a NASCAR Race ever.....wish I had credentials to get in the Garage area! :cry
I'm hoping for pics and a few autographs if possible.

My arsenal has the perfect lenses for such photography and will give me a great chance at motor sport photography which I haven't done in 15yrs or more.

Any input is very much welcomed!

Andy

Grow a mullet.

The Mack

Always wanted to go to an event, heard they're a lot of fun in person.
I know I for one couldn't race like that - it's extreme

LUCKYSHOT

GraphyFotoz wrote:

Well I've been invited to go to Pocono Speedway in Long Pond PA for the NASCAR Race June 8th.
Friend at work is a local volunteer Fire Fighter and their department goes to one of the tracks within 2hrs drive every year.
He is allowed to take one guest....asked me this year....ofcourse I said YES!
All I hafta have is $75 to secure a seat on the bus and I'm supposed to get that back when I show up for the bus.
I'll have the ole Smuggy strap on the snap box and hope for plenty of pics.
Anyone been to any of these events that can give me some pointers?
I've never been to a NASCAR Race ever.....wish I had credentials to get in the Garage area! :cry
I'm hoping for pics and a few autographs if possible.

My arsenal has the perfect lenses for such photography and will give me a great chance at motor sport photography which I haven't done in 15yrs or more.

Any input is very much welcomed!

Pocono is a super speedway, so there is not much action on the strightaways, I would go high in the stands to get the shots of them coming out of a turn or go to the base of the stands and shoot thru the fence in either direction,
Good luck and bring Ear plugs
Chris
www.longislandimage.com

GraphyFotoz

Andy wrote:

Grow a mullet.

Yeah riiiight my mullet days are over!

GraphyFotoz

LUCKYSHOT wrote:

Pocono is a super speedway, so there is not much action on the strightaways, I would go high in the stands to get the shots of them coming out of a turn or go to the base of the stands and shoot thru the fence in either direction,
Good luck and bring Ear plugs
Chris
www.longislandimage.com

HUH what did you say?

zacker

Andy wrote:

Grow a mullet.

Best advice yet Jim... lol

sportsshooter06

Your gonna need a fast camera a long lens and lol

GraphyFotoz

sportsshooter06 wrote:

Your gonna need a fast camera a long lens and lol

Got a long enough lens with my 80-400mm just hope it's fast enough.
Walk around lens at 24-70mm F2.8 should have me covered there.

moose135

I've been going to Pocono for close to 20 years, and I enjoy it very much. It sounds like you are doing a 1 day trip to the track - I usually spend the entire weekend there, and I try to spend part of it down on pit road during practice. You can get on pit road Sunday morning (up until about an hour before race time) if you buy a pit pass (it will run you around $30) but be forewarned - pit road is a zoo race morning. If you don't get a pit pass, you can still shoot the cars from the grandstand pre-race after they are rolled out by the teams:


Otherwise, you are pretty well limited to your seat in the grandstand for photos. When they come down the front stretch, you probably won't get great shots - between the fence, and the cars running close to the wall, it doesn't give you much for shooting. And no, you cannot go up to the fence to shoot through it. Your long lens will be fine to shoot the cars on pit road (I'm using a Canon 100-400):



Here's one through the fence into the garage area (you need a pit pass to get to the garage area).


Here's an ARCA car wrecking in Turn 3 during practice a couple of years ago (shot from pit road)


I have a few galleries from Pocono here (I still haven't editted everything from last year!):
http://moose135.smugmug.com/Sports/335932

Definitely bring hearing protection and sunscreen. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Maybe we can meet up at the race.

streegshooter

I had the chance to shoot all of Speedweeks in Daytona this past February and had a blast. I didnt have a photographers pass or rights to go anywhere special beyond my Garage pass.

Here are a few random shots:

Got frame-by-frame of the 'Big One' in the Truck race Friday night (Shot from the Sunoco tower outside of Turn #4)


Tony Stewart rolling down pit road during final practice


Daytona 500 flyover - One of many fun shots I got of that


Full gallery of pictures is HERE

moose135

LUCKYSHOT wrote:

Pocono is a super speedway, so there is not much action on the strightaways, I would go high in the stands to get the shots of them coming out of a turn or go to the base of the stands and shoot thru the fence in either direction,
Good luck and bring Ear plugs
Chris
www.longislandimage.com

Except at Pocono, the front straight is the longest in NASCAR, some 3,800 feet long, and very wide - it's not unusual to see them go 3, 4 and sometimes 5 wide. It is a big track - 2 1/2 miles around, shaped like a triangle (only 3 turns) - so shots of the turns can be tough from the grandstand, unless you are sitting down at one end of the grandstand or the other.