The Need for Speed (On 2 Wheels)

Niccolo Canepa gets a little air as he accelerates leaving the first s-curve at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during rookie open testing.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Got a chance to shoot one of the Moto GP practice days at the Indianapolis Speedway this week. Very interesting experience.

After five years of shooting the Indy 500, I am definitely a converted gearhead. This wasn't always the case.

When I was at Ball State, I was able to do my required internship experience by shooting for Reuters wire service the summer of 1996, before my senior year.

It wasn't an exciting experience. As interns (unpaid) we were basically cannon fodder for Reuters. We were assigned to a turn and spent all day there shooting cars as they went by. For much of the time that meant we just got photos of cars passing by. If a car happened to wreck in our turn, then that definitely increased our chances of seeing our picture used in some way.

I didn't see a wreck the whole month, not that one is ever happy to see a wreck, but when that's the only thing one is assigned to do it can make a photographer stir crazy. And that was back when the month seemed stretched out much more, now practice and qualifying is much more compressed.

My memories from that month were hanging out with the other photographers and the heavy, HEAVY rain that we got. I remember sitting in my car in a flooded field, eating ding dongs and drinking MGD (there's a taste combination).

The first few years I was in Kokomo, I wasn't interested in shooting the Indy 500. I thought it was just standing in a turn. More of the same, how wrong I was. The 500 brings out several hundred thousand fans just on race day alone. It's an interesting study of humanity on such a huge scale, to me it transcends the sports aspect of it. I've been pretty successful in the five years I've shot the race, improving my images each year I think, which always makes a photographer happy.

All of this experience has made me look forward to the upcoming inaugural Moto GP race this September. The last cycle race at the Speedway was in 1909, the year the track opened. That's amazing, 99 years ago. And the cycles move much, much quicker than they did back then.

The track was open for several rookie competitors in the Moto GP circuit to learn the track and get some time in on their bikes.

The speeds are little different from the Indy cars, the cycles going a little slower on some parts of the track, particularly going through the s-curves. But considering the cycles are a smaller target, it makes it just as difficult to shoot as a larger car.

I shot the above image as the cycle came out of the s-curve near turn one and Niccolo Canepa gunned it heading into the next curve. Nearly all the riders got a little bit of front tire air which always looks pretty cool. I stood and waited as each rider came by because I knew I wanted a good shot of a cycle, with the "flying wing" on the wall behind it as a possible centerpiece for the article. And I got lucky that Canepa popped a good one right in front of me.

Head to my Sportsshooter page to see more images from the practice session.

As I sometimes say, I'd rather be lucky than good. Shooting 10 frames a second certainly doesn't hurt either.


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