2010 Jeffery blog highlites.

.....con't from the 2010 Winternationals

The second major event of the year for me was the NHRA Divisional race at Mission.

Anticipation was high as always, however the Sun Gods were not kind this year. The resulting on again, off again schedule had everyone pulling their hair out, including mine (if you know me, that is pretty hard to do). Criticism abounded as many hard core fans were completely baffled by on-track decisions - suffice it to say that the whole event was a disaster. The feature classes were somehow relegated to second class citizens and, when they did run, it was usually right before the next downpour. Track conditions were scary at times, and if you don't believe me, check out the shots of home-town favourite Shawn Cowie who barely kept his TAD off the wall.

Even scarier was the pass by Edmonton driver Nathan Sitko. Neither shots are terrific quality, but they certainly tell the story.

Enough said about this.

Two weeks later, I made a last minute decision to head up to the Langley Loafers race in Ashcroft. I had never shot this track before and it turned out to be an unexpected surprise. I had a great time.

The weather was terrific as were the people and the event. Of course the race featured a plethora of street rods and hot rods, but was also one of the official races in the Canada West Doorslammer Series as well as the newly formed Rocky Mountain Funny Car Association. Competitors from both series put on a great show for the fans. I will definitely be back in the future.

The following weekend saw MRP's only Pro Mod event of the year. The race is an all Door Car affair featuring the Canada West Door Slammer and the Pro Street Association in addition to the big guns.

The weather gods were more cooperative, with sunny skies on the Saturday and mixed skies Sunday.

It has been interesting to watch this class over the past few years. It seems like only yesterday when MRP hosted the biggest Pro Mod event in its history, with a full 16 car field featuring the likes of Carl "Big Dog" Spiering, Scotty Cannon Junior, Glen Kerunsky, Rick DiStefano and many more, setting near world record times during the two day affair.

This year, the turnout was dismal as the West Coast Pro Mod Association could barely muster an 8 car field.

There were less than a handful of real contenders so the show certainly wasn't what it once was.

Calgary's Joe Delehay did come ever so close to MRP's first 5 second pass, but just missed the elusive marker by a hair.

A three week hiatus before action resumed. Next up was the NHRA National event in Seattle, the Northwest's premier drag race of the year.

As always, the "Big Show" rolled in to town with its usual fanfare, but it too wasn't quite what it used to be. The terrible economic situation in the U.S. has hammered all forms of motorsports and drag racing has not escaped the pain.

Both the Pro and Alcohol ranks were weaker than I can remember, especially Top Fuel and TAFC.

However, as always I was thoroughly enjoying the event until mid afternoon Sunday when tragedy struck. What appeared to be an innocent top end incident turned out to be a fatal accident for popular A/Fuel driver Mark Niver, as his dragster lost both chutes at the finish line, shot straight into the safety net and buckled the front half of the car back into the cockpit. The incident cast a sombre pall over the entire weekend. I will never forget the horror and shock that his family had to endure as they waited for, and then received the tragic news. As a former fire fighter, I have been involved in many such tragedy's and they never get any easier. My thoughts and prayers go out to the entire family.

One weekend off and then it was back at it as Mission hosted their annual NHRA Canadian Open.

And what a weekend it turned out to be! For the second year in a row, the feature classes were primarily nostalgia funny cars and for the first time, three different series attended the event ----

Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars, Rocky Mountain Nostalgia Funny Car Association

and the BB/FC group out of Washington and Oregon State. Expectations were extremely high and I have to say it was truly one of the best races I have attended in a long time. Every once in awhile it all seems to come together at a race and this proved to be the case that day -- there were a total of 26 funny cars on the property, plus an outstanding field of Comp Elimination door cars (thanks to Chad Perkin and Dean Murdoch sponsorship involvement), Top Dragsters, the Pro Street Association and...

Nitro Harleys as an added feature.

The weather was beautiful, the fan turnout strong and everyone was treated to three days of non-stop racing action. The only major incident occurred when Dale Mozniuk lost control of his beautiful Pro Street El Camino and crashed head-on in to the wall on the opposite side of the race track.

It was a hard crash as you can see by the photo. Fortunately he was not injured but the car was a mess.

I can't say enough about this race and kudos to both the NHRA and Mission Raceway for a job well done. Let's see if they can build on this in 2011 (did I hear the possibility of a 16 car field of Nitro cars in 2011????).

Next up was the annual Langley Loafers event at Mission, an all-Nostalgia extravaganza that featured a myriad of pre-seventies roadsters, street and hot rods as well as the ever popular booked in contingent of AA/GS gassers. As an added bonus, the Canada West Door Slammer group competed throughout the weekend.

This may not be the fastest event of the year, but it is impressive nonetheless given the large turnout of beautiful custom rods. It has to be one of the best attended show-and-shines in the lower mainland.

The best part is that we get to see many of these cars run full out in the quarter mile.

Last year I began focussing on these classes and have really come to appreciate the ingenuity and passion of the people behind the machines.

Three weeks later, it was back at MRP for the two day Night of Fire, featuring Wheelstanders, Jet cars, BB Funny Cars, Canada West Door Slammers, Pro Street Association and bracket cars.

Again, it was a pretty good event with lots of racing and action.

This is the only race at MRP that allows fans to see both a 4 second time and a 300+ MPH speed and they love it. Quite frankly, these drivers must be a little off their rockers - they not only run these incredible speeds in a car that is basically 4 wheels and a driver strapped to a Jet engine, but they choose to do it at night with very poor lighting at the top end. I don't know about you, but I wonder about some people's sanity. I tried shooting the night shots with a hand held camera without any flash. It was quite a challenge as the overall available lighting at MRP is minimal (I have often shot this way in Pomona and Vegas where there is a ton of floodlights and header flames from the nitro cars).

However I did manage a couple of cool images here as well.

Nothing major until November and then it was off to Vegas for the National event.

I was unable to attend on Friday due to other obligations, but was at the track with Bob "Northern Thunder" Wilson at 8:00 a.m. Saturday. Qualifying was supposed to end by 6:00 p.m. but 13 hours after the start of my day,

I found myself still standing beside a chunk of concrete and asphalt shooting race cars. There were no less than 7 major oil down and crash incidents which forced extraordinarily long delays and the cancellation of several qualifying sessions.

I dubbed the race the Oil Down Nationals. Frankly, it was brutal; so bad in fact that it forced the NHRA to once again levy penalties against offending teams. These penalties have now been carried over to the entire 2011 racing schedule (to much controversy).

I don't know what the answer is but something had to be done and no matter what they do, not everyone will be happy.

The good news is that the many delays forced the nitro cars to run under the lights, a rare opportunity for me so I took advantage of it by trying some new things with my camera and flash. I was very pleased with the results which are showcased in a couple of shots here.

On Sunday I was in the stands for some 300 mph pan shots. These are always fun and can result in some pretty interesting mid to top end photos such as capturing the NAPA funny car driven by Ron Capps the instant it grenaded an engine. Also, some photos of the extremely close side-by-side passes on race day still amaze me when I see them on my screen.

That's it for 2010. I will be back at it in 2011, attending as many races as I can with my trusty D300's and reporting back to you through the lens so to speak. I can hardly wait!

I started off with the Winternationals below

2010 was a great year of drag racing photography for me. It was filled with many incredible moments and memories, all of which are frozen in time in thousands of photos stored on my hard drive. As a photographer, I feel privileged to be one of the few who are tasked with recording the history of our sport, and to be able to share some of them with you on this site.

2010 began with me attending the 50th anniversary of the NHRA Winter Nationals and I have to tell you I haven't been so excited about a drag race in a long time. It didn't disappoint. From the moment I arrived the on-track racing action and the special activities seemed almost non-stop. I didn't want to miss anything but, as a one-man show I had to pick and choose. I decided my main focus would be on the track, with the odd dash back to the Golden Corral when time permitted.

The first race of any year is filled with much anticipation and excitement. All of the competitors are on equal footing, many teams are sporting new sponsors and/or new paint, some old faces are gone, some new faces have arrived and every team is filled with hopes and dreams. This race, however, seemed especially important for one man - John Force. After the tragic loss of rising star Eric Medlen in a tragic accident, John's near fatal crash in 2008 and his subsequent disappointing 2009 season, the once invincible "Superman" of drag racing was at an all-time low.

Like all professional sports today, the stakes are very high and the pressure from fans and sponsors alike can be immense. Winning is everything and to someone like Force, it is almost life itself. The importance of this milestone race at this particular time in his career seemed pivotal and appeared critical to any possible comeback for the champ.

There were many other storylines of course - how would the Al-Anabi team of Larry Dixon/Alan Johnson fare in their second year together after missing the championship by 3 points in 2010; could Tony Schumacher hang on to another championship post Alan Johnson; could the DSR camp finally win another funny car title; would Mike Edwards run away with the Pro Stock title again... just to mention a few.

On the nostalgia front, Don Garlits was the star attraction of the Golden Corral. Even more interesting to me was that Chris "The Greek" Karamasines was actually attempting to qualify in the 16 car Top Fuel field after almost 60 years behind the wheel. He did qualify and, for the first time in my life, I was going to actually see and photograph the famed Winged Express in action.
I don't have to tell you how it all worked out - the results are already logged in the history books. But a couple of things really stand out for me - John Force won this race and, as we all know, went on to win his 15th World Championship - fair and square.

The highlight for me though, was in the media centre after the race when Bob Frey interviewed John. Don't get me wrong, John Force is not my hero, but I was no more than 5 feet from him and for the first time in my life I was witness to what makes someone a legend and why some people are champions and others are not. In true John Force form, he laid it all out there --- the raw emotion, the incredible passion, the sense of responsibility to his family, his fans, his sponsors, the sport of drag racing and most importantly to him as a man just came pouring out. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life and I will never forget it. Love him or not he truly is a giant in this sport and no one can take that from him. Now more than ever I understand why.

Of course Dixon won this race and many more throughout the year, ultimately taking the Championship.

Mike Edwards also won the race but surprisingly not the Championship. Oh, and watching Big Daddy giving the NHRA officials the gears for shutting him down during the cackle fest (for safety reasons) was worth the price of admission, believe me. Here are a few shots of that event. I hope you enjoy.

Jeggie is special. Pure Pro Stock pundits would say he is the best pure driver in the sport. Unfortunately for the fans of the sport Jeggie is stepping away from the class that made him a super star. He has said he will still race but for 2011, it will be in a sportsman seat......the question is how long will that last. Rumors of a nitro ride are prevalent!!!!!!!!

Jason Line saw his team mate win the 2010 title and he finished a solid fifth.

Not a good season for one of the futures of the sport. Morgan Lucas, one of THE most improtant drivers and owners in Drag Racing had a year he would like to forget. Yes he made the countdown, but that in Top fuel is almost by default as only 11 cars ran the entire season. The last couple races of 2010 were under the tutulage of new crew chief Dickie Venables and the second to last race at Vegas was ugly for the team. Morgan and the team grenaded bullets at Vegas and failed to qualify for the first itme in 2010.. They also struggled at the Finals on one or two runs. But they seemed to right the ship, qualified in the top half and went to the semis. Testing in January of this year at Palm Beach went well and the team is optimistic!!

A couple great top end shots of two of the stars of the class. Ron Capps and Cruz Pedregon. Both are back for 2011.

Sportsman TAD star Shawn Cowie was 4th overall in 2008 and third in 2010 debuting a new car. What will 2011 bring??

One of the best in TAD, Jim Whiteley has the best known BAD crew chiefs, Norm Grimes. and tunes arguably the most potent Blown TAD in the class. Is a championship in the works?

Dale Carlson's ride in Hugh Ridley's TAD lasted a year and a half, before the money ran out. New driver James Butler has a few more resources behind him and the team hopes to challenge in Division 6 and 7

Tony Bartone in the Jackson Brothers TAFC made the quickest lap in TAFC history at the finals in 2010 with a 5.44. 2011 bodes well for the Steve Boggs tuned Mustang.

Just a very cool Super Stock shot of a wheelstanding Logan Smith.

More to come from the best of 2010 over the next couple weeks