99's Photo FX Photographer Makes
Speedway Illustrated Magazine Cover!!
I guess a photographer knows a great shot when he has captured it. Bo
knew
that as soon as he shot it plus, it helps to be in the right place at the
right time and in a situation like that a photographers response is crucial.
Seconds really count. Over the years of doing this we can see the
development of situations like this and follow our intuition. Nine times
out
of ten we can get the shot and it is very gratifying.
This particular photo is one out of six shots that were taken on June 9th in
the first race of the twin 38s that ran that night. It's a double edge
sword
for us, on one hand it's always the spectacular shot that we want to capture
but, on the other hand we have developed such close relationships with all
the drivers and crews that when something like this happens, your excitement
quickly turns into fear and concern for a friend. It's a difficult
position
to be in. Bo and I talk all the time about how we would or if we could
handle the loss of a friend in a fatal accident. That question still
remains
unanswered in hopes that we will not be put into a position were we would
have to answer it. There are a lot of photographers who just go out and
shoot cars going around the track therefore they have no personal connection
to the drivers. We have chosen to build friendships with the drivers and
feel that reflects in our work.
Bo and I had planned on submitting our photographs to the major motorsports
magazines because we know what they look for and we knew that we had it.
We
had our plans and credentials to shoot the Southwest Tour and the Winston Cup
race on June 23rd at Sears Point and knew that we would be seeing Dick
Burggren there. We enlarged all six of our shot to 8x10 format and met
with
Dick in the media tower. He was floored as soon as he saw them. His
reaction even brought Darrel Waltrip over for a look. Waltrips first
comment
was "Who's in the Barbecue?" and was followed by a sincere concern for
the
driver which is in true style of Darrel Waltrip. Anyway, Dick asked if you
had sent any of our shots to any other magazine and had told him that he was
the first. He quickly asked if he could have the exclusive on our photos.
It
really made our weekend shoot something to talk about. He called me the
following week and said that he had a chance to sit down with the photo
editor and they had decided that they would like to use the photo for a cover
shot, but couldn't say exactly when they would use it. The rest is
history.
We are just pleased that we were in the right place at the right time and
that our relationships have afforded us the opportunities to bring our
"Home"
track into a national circulation.
It's in the January issue of Dick Burggren's Speedway Illustrated can be
found at Boarders Books.
We (Photo FX), will continue to cover the Winston Cup, Southwest Tour, SRL Wild West
Shoot Out Series and the Weekly Racing Series as best we that we can. The
great thing about being freelance photographers is that we can always call
Stockton 99 Speedway our home.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COVER
CLICK HERE TO SEE ARTICLE PIX
Becky Petersen
Photo FX
Motorsports Photography
(916) 797-4858
e-mail - photofxmsp@aol.com