Laguna Seca Gallery Reader's Choice

The Laguna vote was pretty clear from the very beginning: as expected, the action shots dominated the vote at Laguna, just like they did in other galleries. The two top images collected 50% of the vote. PJ's Eagle in flames took a clear victory over the pit stop shot of Christian Fittipaldi. The fire wasn't really big, but I guess the photo is what counts, and there it looks pretty 'hot'

My own favorites? Clearly, the burning Eagle is one of my top iamges of the season, but it was more luck than planning that I got it that well - you just have to be there. The pit stop shot took a lot of planning and legwork to get permission, but it's nothing I can't repeat, so again, not the photographer's choice. I REALLY liked "He passed my boy" - it was pretty hard to take pictures of Bryan Herta's dad, who I expected to celebrate Bryan's first win, but then in the alst lap he almost collapsed in front of me. The photo only partly does justice to what was going on in the Herta pit that day.

Thanks to everyone who participated this season in our first ever photo vote. We will do this again next year, if we are still around then. Thanks for all the Chrismas wishes and support - we will try to continue this project into 1997 and bring SpeedCenter to you as long as we can. Here the vote ranking for the Laguina Seca Gallery:

Filename                     Thumbnail Caption          votes  percent
feathers_singed.jpg          PJ Kevorks the Bird           26   36.11%
ten_sec_bud_lube.jpg         12 Second Bud Lube            10   13.89%
z_man_corked.jpg             Z-Man Corcks Hertamania        4    5.56%
threading_the_screw.jpg      Threading the Screw            4    5.56%
the_wild_bunch.jpg           The Wild Bunch Hits the Track  4    5.56%
greg_lifts_a_leg.jpg         Greg Lifts a Leg               4    5.56%
brakes_are_for_whimps.jpg    Brakes are for Whimps          4    5.56%
territorial_dispute.jpg      Territorial Dispute            3    4.17%
swan_song.jpg                His Last Convertible           3    4.17%
no_respect.jpg               The Boy has no Respect         2    2.78%
outta_here.jpg               And He's Outta Here            2    2.78%
he_passed_our_boy.jpg        He Passed my Boy               1    1.39%
laguna_fire_team.jpg         Emergency Response Team        1    1.39%
no_smoking_please.jpg        No Smoking in Pit Lane         1    1.39%
osco_drug_glasses.jpg        Jimmy, Get Some Nicer Glasses  1    1.39%
blessing_the_valvetrain.jpg  Blessing the Valvetrain        1    1.39%
not_my_fault.jpg             Really, it was not my Fault    1    1.39%
                                              total        72  100.00%

Justification for long lenses... This image is a 50% crop of the full frame, but the detail holds up. I was just about ready to pack up my camera Sunday morning in Turn 5 at Laguna Seca, when a friend behind me started yelling that one of the cars had caught fire during the cooldown lap of the just completed warmup. This stuff is just pure luck: next to me, only Dan Boyd was in that turn that morning, and he had already packed his gear, while I was waiting for Christian Fittipaldi to lock his brakes for me at the end of the session. The locking brake photo turned out rather dull, while PJ Jones gave me the image of the season. It only took moments and I had only 4 frames of film left. Next time I have such an opportunity, I'll shoot more during the driver escape phase - the shots of the fire extinguishers are rather dull. I was extremely lucky that he just make it to the cornerworkers near Turn 5 in front of me - perfect light, perfect lens, fast film to freeze the heat - it's all there. Too bad sponsors don't like shots like that... so it'll remain a Burke Internet exclusive.