Tag: racing

Football…? Really! Just as the racing series close on the championships people leave Pit Row for the 50 yard line. It begs the question as to “WHY”? Of course, here at Missed Gear, we could give a white flag about football. However, we know enough to tell that the first few games of the season are merely there to begin to determine the win-loss ratio for the playoffs. Yes… auto racing is the same, to a degree. The early races go from green to checkered with a wide open points system that really only gets tight after the season puts some mileage on the tires.
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But football…? Why does the Monday morning talk shift from “Did you see the race?” to “Did you watch the game?” Even the heads from the sports news are all crazy about the football season. They spend hours on player trades, camp reports, predictions and all types of pre-season blather. Women talk about shoes less than that.

 

While all this football talk is going on, what coverage does racing get? You might get the NASCAR race winner… Maybe Indy… Formula 1…? Not likely unless something spectacular happened. Grand-Am…? NHRA…? Nada. Zip.

 

But get 6 weeks away from the first pre-season NFL game and you can’t shut them up about football! What is it?

 

The short answer is probably “money”. Odds makers and wager takers love it as so much money is tossed over the line on football bets. That means that all these “fans” who wager on the games simply must know every minute detail about every team so they can place their bets. That keeps these talking heads yammering away while thousands are hanging on every word to get some line on a bet they will make in two months.

 

Yes. There is wagering on racing. The difference is there is one race on any given race day. There are 15 games on NFL Sundays. Betting on a football game essentially gives you two choices. Betting on a race could give you 40+ choices. Football variables are more predictable. Point spreads give the wager a cushion. Fifteen games gives the option to pick a few “sure bets” and go for the bomb on a possible payout.

 

The wagering offers a possible explaination on the popularity of football. However, not everyone gambles on the game. The majority do not. So… Why? Why abandon racing for football just when the points are tight and the championship is on the line?

 

NASCAR is racing at full spead with some points drama still left in the chase. There some Sunday night races so if you simply must watch the day games to maintain some kind of conversation on Monday, have at it.

 

Don’t get suckered in to College Football Saturdays, either! Flip channels until you find something fast and watch it! SCCA, F1, Motocross… We don’t care. As long as it is fast and the only balls involved are the ones it takes to make a 3-wide pass on the outside in lap traffic.

 

We believe you will enjoy the race much better. Wanna bet on it?

Variety. The word describes the automotive fan as much as it does the cars they follow. NASCAR, Formula 1, Indy, Rally, Sports Cars, GT, Grand Prix…  and that is just a few of the racing series. That doesn’t begin to touch the thesaurus of general manufactured cars, modified or not, which draw people in. Lets not skip the customs and hot rods, the modified and the tame, which make people silly about the wheel. We’ve all been to a “car show” at some point. The problem with your typical car show is that it is crowded with cars. By that, I mean the cars are lined up side by side and some are surrounded by those rope things meant to keep you in line at the theatre. Yes – You see a lot of nice cars but they are static and surrounded. You can’t fully appreciate the cars because the many are all around distracting from the lines and curves of the the car in front of you. However, it is difficult to hold a “car show” where each vehicle has some space to be appreciated at its best… On the road, at speed, in a natural setting…

Mark Simpson in a '58 Scarab passing the Oak Tree turn at VIR
Mark Simpson in a '58 Scarab passing the Oak Tree turn at VIR

Unless you have access to a place like Virginia International Raceway.  June finds this paved jewel invaded by auto enthusiasts of all kinds bringing in some of the most beautiful car art ever built. The Heacock Classic Gold Cup features Morgans and MGs, Fort GTs and Ferraris, Porsches and Plymouths… and practically everything else! They are out in the open! They are on the track at speed! In other words – These cars appear in their natural habitat and definately NOT as a static display.

These are the cars you may only see on television or in a magazine. If you are like me (a working slob) then you don’t have the liquid cash to own one. However, on this weekend in June, you can come out to VIR when the people that do have the bank to own them bring them out for all of us to enjoy. Many of these cars represent the golden age of the car and motorsport. With graceful lines, powerful engines and exotic design, these cars turn the pavement of VIR into art in motion. It is something to see. Mark your calendar and don’t miss it again. It is an art gallery on wheels for any fan of motorsport. Check this gallery for a glimpse of the fun!

Prosumer, or crossover cameras, are excellent choices to take to the races.
Prosumer, or crossover cameras, are excellent choices to take to the races.

A brand new racing season is on the starting grid and all eyes are checking out the camera section. Yes. A new season and you want to not only go to the race but also come away with some photos better than the family snaps at Christmas. You’re looking over the selections at the store trying to figure price and practicallity, function over “feel-good” and how much you can spend and still have beer money on race day. Tough one. But not as tough as you may think.

I know you see the pro race photographers with their big SLR bodies and large diameter zoom glass and think you’re out of your league showing up with your wife’s pink purse cam. Face facts. You are.

But you don’t need to be. For just a little cash you can get yourself a great camera to take to the race and have some great shots to take home. New off the shelf or even used from eBay, I can give you the options to look for and the things to avoid when getting a camera for race day action.

First – Here is what to avoid. Pocket cameras. You may already have one. These are the slim 3x zoom cams that are great at parties, family gatherings and amusement parks. There are few options. The lens is small and extremely limited and if your subject is more than 30 feet away a great picture might as well be a mile away. These things are next to useless at the track.

Step up. But that does not mean you need to go digital SLR with a bag full of lenses. You can. But the learning curve is rather large, the bankroll even larger and that big dude next to you that keeps getting elbowed while you try to frame a shot is even larger…

What you want is what is called a “prosumer” camera. These look like SLR cams but are smaller, have fixed lenses with a large zoom range (10x and larger), have all kinds of fun options to shoot fully manual, fully automatic or many between functions. First, the zoom range. What you look for is “optical” zoom. This is all in the function of the lens elements meaning that the camera does not interpret the image to increase size (digital zoom). This makes a better picture. You also want the fully manual option. It lets you fine tune the circumstance of the shot. Aperature, shutter speed, lighting compensation and more are all controlable in the manual setting. You have ISO options (like film speed for low or bright light) that greatly control the quality of the final picture. Finally, you want as many pixels as you can get. Most are above 8 megapixels now. 10 or even 12 is becoming normal and affordable.

Now, which one? Oh, the magic question which has no magic answer. Every hand, every eye, every opinion on what is important is different so there is not “one” best camera to get. Canon makes the Powershot SX110 IS (around $200), the Powershot SX100 IS (around $180) and the newer Powershot SX10 IS (around $340). The latter is a 10 megapixel, 28x zoom, hand held powerhouse!

Nikon has the Coolpix series. The P80 is around $300. However, if you can find the brand new P90 ($400) you can get 12 megapixels and a 24x zoom. That means you can be in the grandstand and get a shot of Gordon climbing into the #24 and still distinguish his DuPont freckles…

Fujifilm makes the Finepix series. The S2000HD, S8100FD, S1000FD, S8000FD, even the S700, are all fine digital cameras ranging from 7 to 10 megapixels and starting around $180.

A lot of companies make fine cameras. I mention the ones above only because I have used, or are familiar with, the brands and models. An excellent site to check out for detailed camera information is DPREVIEW. You can’t get any more detailed information on current and out of production cameras. Read up. Get a good cam and go get some shots!

The auto industry is in some kind of strange, financial black hole… NASCAR is shuffling teams… Race sponsors are holding close to the chest… What does it all mean to the rest of us that just like to watch’em race? Well… It means we have to step up. It means that we have to keep buying tickets even though our driver or team may be under different colors or even in a different car altogether. It means we have to expand our horizons and realize that the sport of auto racing is more than NASCAR on a Sunday. Indy, Formula 1, Grand-Am and all the series in between right down to the Saturday night race at the local track need as much support as we can throw at them.  …read more…  (more…)