And it begins…

It was only a couple months ago that my 2012 drag racing season came to a close. Yesterday, it cranked back up with the first test and tune of the year, held at Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip. Unfortunately, the turnout was weak, but it worked out well for my friend Josh, who made numerous passes in his turbo Maverick. The questionable weather, and the big race in Valdosta put a damper on the turnout, but it was a great chance to get out for the first time in a while. Check out my full gallery of pictures here:
http://byrdphoto.smugmug.com/Cars/Brainerd/Brainerd-Opening-Day-2013

Swap ‘N Shop

I love swap meets. Big or small, swap meets give me a chance to see some cool stuff, and possibly buy it if the price is right. My dad raised me to go after a good deal, so I’ve been going to swap meets with him for as long as I can remember. From the good ol’ days at the Corvette Expo (when it actually had a great swap meet) to our most recent adventures, my dad and I enjoy hunting down a good deal.

My kind of Black Friday!

Don’t worry, this post isn’t about shopping. It’s about my favorite color to shoot–black! I’ve heard a lot of photographers complain about black cars, but I thoroughly enjoy shooting them, especially when the conditions are right. Lighting has to be precise to get the right look, but when you nail it….good stuff happens.

Ernie Lankford’s ’55 Chevy sets the standard for the black-on-black-on-black look. FYI, it’s a big block, four-speed car.

Test and Tune Action at Brainerd

As if I already didn’t have enough to do, I decided to go to Brainerd Drag Strip a couple of Fridays ago. I had not yet tested the G8 GT after the new exhaust, so it was a good chance to do so, since the temperatures were cool. I heard a lot of other folks were going to be testing, so I figured I could go shoot a few pictures, test the car and shoot the bull.

Usually, when you see Dodge Vipers at the drag strip, they spin the tires and generally perform poorly. This one, however, hooked pretty good and ran 7′s in the eighth mile.

Lost Drag Strips Book

A couple years ago, I wrote my first book, entitled Street Sleepers. It was published by CarTech Books and it’s widely available through many book stores, both online and in stores. You can click here to find out more about it. Soon after finishing the sleeper book, I decided to pitch a few more ideas to CarTech and see what might be the next book in my future. I knew that a book about abandoned drag strips would be interesting, from the angle of the reader and from my perspective.

Here’s a sneak peek at the cover…click the photo to view the Amazon product page and pre-order your copy now!

Taking a Break from Vacation

The past few months have been wall-to-wall action for me, including a very special weekend that should have been used as an anniversary trip. Instead, I worked all weekend at LS Fest, covering the event for Super Chevy magazine. Have I mentioned how much car stuff my wife puts up with? Anyway, she went to Bowling Green with me but it was by no means an anniversary trip. So, we decided to take the next available weekend and turn it into our little vacation. Somehow, I managed to squeeze a drag racing event into that vacation, too!

Robert Killian brought out his 2,000hp Model A (Uncle Jed) and made a few 7 second quarter mile passes.

Corvette Transformation

My entire childhood featured a revolving door of awesome cars. My dad bought, sold and traded a lot, so he always had a yard full of cars. And with his bodywork and paint skills, he started bringing in full on restorations and street rod builds. The Corvette I’m posting pictures of today is one of the most impressive transformations I’ve seen him perform.

The starting point–a completely butchered ’65 Corvette roadster.

Paradise Show and Go Fall 2012

I’m still trying to get caught up on all of my event coverages, and it didn’t help that I had a double headers a couple of weekends ago. My dad and I planned to take our ’67 Camaro drag car down there to test it, and see if we could possibly sell it. Unfortunately, those plans fell through, but we still made the trip down to Calhoun, Georgia to have a good time. It’s always fun, and the Paradise Show and Go event always offers lots of excitement thanks to a wide variety of cars.

Now this is what I like to see…two flat black ’55 Chevys racing on a drag strip that was built in 1961. Which one do you think won this race?

The Chattanooga Cruise In

Man, September wore me out. The last weekend of the month didn’t require much traveling but it was still a great deal of work. I had spent months planning and promoting the Chattanooga Cruise In (formerly known as the Coker Tire and Honest Charley Cruise In) and it was time to see if the hard work paid off. I woke up and looked out the window to see cloudy skies, and rainfall…not good.

I never pass up the opportunity to take nighttime pictures in front of the Honest Charley store front.

Somernites Power Cruise

Out of all the years that I’ve heard great things about the massive cruise in events in Somerset, Kentucky, I finally made the trip for the first time last month. I didn’t actually plan on going to this particular event, but Coker Tire sponsored the Power Cruise and hosted a starting point in Chattanooga, so I figured I’d support the cause. I’m sure glad I did, because it was a great way to spend the weekend.

The Dayton gang is huddled up and ready to hop in line and head to Somerset, Kentucky.