My First Press Race: Victorious at TUCC
Last weekend I got to go to my first ever race where I had press credentials! To say I was excited is just not the right word to describe me jumping up and down, shouting “WOOO HOOO BITCHES,” and generally acting like a complete fool.
This all started when I found out I could apply for press credentials after getting them for the LA Auto Show. I knew that the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship was coming up in a few weeks so I talked to my editor John, and asked him if he would be interested in doing some stuff with the race.
He said that would be awesome and so I contacted Road America. I figured it would take a few days or at least a week to hear that “I didn’t have enough of a racing background to qualify for the creds” so my hopes were definitely not up. Then two hours after I submitted my credentials, I got a confirmation email from Road America saying I was in! I WAS IN!
I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know what to do? All I knew was how to get to Road America, after that, it was a complete crap shoot. How do you dress for events like this? Is it casual? Professional? Should I buy a fire suit?
I asked everyone at the office, and everyone on Twitter what I should do. One friend said wear a kilt and act like a loon. In hindsight, I probably could have gotten away with it, but I didn’t do that. I figured business casual would probably be cool and then spent the next two weeks not being able to sleep from the excitement.
Finally, the Friday came, I made my two hour trek to RA and after a signing my life away, I got….A wristband. I don’t know what I expected, I just figured it would be some form of lanyard, or tag, or cap that said news on it. Something a bit more special.
But no matter, I was in! I was greeted by the sound of spec Miatas running around the track which is one hell of an introduction. They sound like coked up bees, buzzing around at super high frequencies, trying to burrow into your skull! It’s fantastic.
I made my way to the media office where, as some of you might have read, I didn’t really fit in. It was very much and clique, and I definitely wasn’t part of it.
In an industry that has been nothing short of brilliant in helping me out and making me feel welcome, these people single handedly brought me back down to earth. After spending the first day primarily in the office, I chose not to go back for the following days.
Well that and they gave away my seat to someone else. So I said f’ em and hung out with the drivers and track workers, because those people were nice.
The next two days are a whirlwind of heat, noise, desperately trying to walk the gargantuan four miles of track, with massive elevation change, and more heat and noise. But let me tell you, it was all worth it.
Saturday night I almost collapsed from heat exhaustion, and have sun burn like you wouldn’t believe. I spent the whole time past the fences, up close with drivers, up close with million dollar racecars, eating ice cream on the fence while taking pictures as the cars flew past me and destroyed my hearing. To say it was epic is an understatement. It was just fantastic.
Qualifying and practice, and the smaller support races were great, and I would highly recommend anyone to go and see them. However, the headlining race for the TUSC was disappointing. It could only be described as, “And we’re back to a full course caution.” You can read the full report here and here.
But in all honestly it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter people were rude or dicks to me, it didn’t matter that the heat was oppressive, it didn’t matter about the walking, although I did bring my bike for Saturday and Sunday. And it didn’t matter that the race wasn’t spectacular.
None of these reasons matter, why, because no one could take away the fact that I had worked my ass off to get here. I finally got press credentials. I did that. I didn’t have them handed to me, I worked for them. I continue to work for them. This wasn’t just a race to cover and shoot pictures. It was a victory. And it was awesome.
Because I was shooting all weekend, totaling some 6000 images, I’ll be creating smaller posts that deal with only one manufacturer at a time, and only my favorite shots so stay tuned! Up first will be BMW!
