Photographer to the Cars - Dan Knopp

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Noise and Smoke

     Nascar racing doesn't make anywhere near the top of the list around here, but watching vintage stock cars race is a lot of fun now and then. Lots of noise and tire smoke, the smell of racing fuel, and scorched brake pads.

 

Vintage Race Action

     Put that together with the show put on by a handful of historic stock car racers at some vintage races, where they barrel down to the middle of the straight and suddenly put all the cars into a well controlled drift, and you get a very enthusiastic crowd of spectators. Much more memorable than watching them go around in circles for hours.

 

Photo opportunities

     Historic races allow the best photo opportunities now, with many of the stock cars racing being of fairly current vintage. You'll find the owners and drivers to be friendly. Most people involved in vintage racing know and play by the rules. No one is under the stress inducing thumb of the high dollar corporate racing world, and they're there to have a good time - win or lose.

Dodge Charger Nascar Racer

Dodge Charger Nascar Racer

     Stock car racing had a tremendous influence on the Detroit automakers in the '60s and '70s. Homologation rules required that a number of cars actually had to be built and sold to the public in order to qualify for racing. Engines designed to compete on the track were detuned to be driveable on the street. The 426 Hemi was created to blow away the competition, and it did. The race was on and Nascar soon had to limit intake size so things didn't get out of hand. As cars got faster, the limiting got more severe. Meanwhile Detroit was getting serious about aerodynamics in their body designs.

     It's a different race these days, somewhat disconnected from the moonshine running roots it grew out of. The cars all look alike and the celebrity show is more important than the competition between manufacturers.