The Wee Ones

My enjoyment (fan) of open wheel racing predates my photography days by a fair amount. My father took me to a local ¼ mile dirt modified track when I was 3 years old. I first followed (in magazines) Champ Dirt Cars, and was a spectator at, midget and sprint car races long before they added those life saving cages. I saw Bobby Unser win a sprint car race at Terra Haute Indiana.

These three forms of auto racing, with the drivers sitting upright and their heads above the small roll bar, were almost too dangerous to watch. Still I watched. The eye stinging sere of the alcohol fuel and the inherent danger of these cars made them different than other forms of racing. You could smell the danger.

Just before my initiation into the field of racing photography, the three types of cars mentioned above all finally added roll cages to help these guys have longer careers. Even though some of these cages were flimsy bolt on units, they did make this part of auto racing, at least a bit safer. I hated the way they changed to appearance of the cars. Doing this just before I began photography seemed mean. In reality we all got used to the look within a season, and most of us are thankful they took this step towards safety.

It wasn’t long before first top wings, and then nose wings were added to sprint cars, especially on dirt. It was another step away from the look of an open cockpit car. It also however added speed and the ability to make very, very bold moves on the track, so we settled on the fact that sprints would be a bit different from midgets and the big dirt cars.

As time went on they began to seal the driver into the cockpit of the sprinters. The racing still was (and is) great but they slowly lost their place (visually) as a close brother to those other two types of machinery.

Then in the 2000s the Dirt Cars, now Silvercrown Cars, went through a visual metamorphosis, that made these now primarily asphalt cars, look like they belonged on the planet Ork. I ceased to think of them as a part of this trio of cars that I loved so much.

I photographed my final races in 2007, and midgets were on the bill both times. They still had the feel (especially on dirt) of those same cars that I first saw in the early 1960s. No wings or aerodynamic aids. Again this is more true on dirt. Even on asphalt, for some reason, they were still midgets as I remembered them. Those wee little cars that seemed to be made for 10 year olds, but were truly the high speed machines of very brave grown-ups. It did not hurt that the final race of my career was a Badger Midget race at Angell Park in Sun Prairie Wisconsin. This place is midget auto racing.

I photographed many Badger, USAC, UMARA and Rocky Mt. Midget races in my career.

The two pictures of night time dirt racing were made at Sun Prairie and the asphalt shots were made at the Milwaukee Mile as part of an IRL race.

In actuality I loved all forms of oval track competition and covered many, many stock car races. I also enjoyed an occasional road race, and photographed one off road race in Crandon, Wisconsin. I also covered one NHRA drag race in Colorado, and enjoyed the ear splitting sounds and the incredible speeds it provided. One trip to the Pike’s Peak Hill Climb was a blast as Bobby Unser won the stock car division and I saw a young Rick Mears for the first time.

In the end there was never anything as good (photographically speaking) as a great dirt race. Four wheel drifts, wheels off of the ground and dirt coming off the rear wheels. Of course if I was doomed to three or four dust bowls in a row, I would usually make the switch to the black top for a few weeks. After cleaning my equipment that is.

Thanks for stopping and I will talk to you next time.