2014 began for the Tudor United Sports Car Championship with a knock down, drag out battle to the death at Rolex 24. Tragic accident aside, the 24 Hours of Rolex at Daytona was an amazing race to be up close and personal. The red flag stop for the crash was just a humbling reminder of the risk the drivers face jumping into the car every day. In all the years I’ve been to the Rolex 24 I’ve never seen anything quite like it.After nine years relaxing on the sidelines, I was lucky enough to get into the action in the pits and for the first time, I made it up before the sunrise for one of my favorite shots I’ve grabbed at any race so far. It just so happened that my home town heros at Turner Motorsports were front and center.As the season went on, I missed the IMSA races in the top half of the continent, but missing those gave me some determination to make it to anything south of Virginia. For some reason the 12 Hours of Sebring was just too hard to pass up, it may have something to do with being two hours from my home base in FL.If I could be so bold, Sebring might be more Nascar during the “12 hour” than Daytona has ever been during the Rolex24. Sebring managed to out Nascar the Nascar track. I have never seen that much scaffolding in one place at one time in my life. There is reason for the die-hard fans and the cause is simple; Sebring presents a uniquely affordable and up close spectator experience. Lots of tracks have miles and miles of fences designed to protect viewers and track workers, not Sebring, that’s why I loved it. This track was made for using, not for marketing, not for VIPs, it was made for racing and watching the race, that’s it.A few months went by, I went to a pirelli world challenge race, a formula drift event, but just wasn’t satisfied.Watching a race in your home city though, is a… strange feeling. St. Petersburg, Florida Pro Mazda Series: I love road racing, especially long races. It doesn’t matter to me if its measured in miles or hours. I think the mental demands of running a 12 or 24 hour race just does not compare to a sprint race. Sprint races are a continuous burst and it takes skill to make it through without missing a braking point or getting a love tap that ends your trip. Endurance races make you do that three times in a row. Endurance races put the teams, drivers, and cars up against so many variables, and the ability to keep a straight head for a whole race full of that adrenaline is just an incredible feat to achieve. This lead me to Cota. “Circuit of the Americas” officially I guess. Everyone just says Cota. The Lone Star Le Mans brought me the cars I had only ever seen on 24 le mans live feed. There was no excuse not to go to Texas. While it wasn’t IMSA I went for this time around it was just the idea of seeing the revered Le Mans endurance racers that drew me in.Now, this is the part of endurance that draws me in by my photographer heart strings… Its almost like one race has multiple seasons. You get rain, sunsets, night, day, crashes, road grime.. “slag”, and most importantly, time to walk the track and find your golden hour spot, before it hits.

The point of this post? I want to say thanks to the series, IMSA/Tudor, Pirelli WC, WEC, etc etc… For keeping it together. Keeping it together through rough opening races, mixed publicity and pushing to make racing more accessible for the fans. One day I hope to travel the circuits with the teams getting all the shots, but for now, I’ve got my sights set on Spa or Le Mans. What do you think?

I also just went to Road Atlanta for the Petite Le Mans. I can’t give this track enough praise. Everything there reminds me of Limerock and that is a good thing. Lowered Lifestyle article coming soon: