“Sometimes life comes at you pretty fast,” said one Ferris Bueller. In my case, life came at me faster than a 2,000hp doorslammer. In 2020, I found myself not only in the middle of a pandemic, but also facing a cancer diagnosis. I never thought it would happen to me, but I had to remind myself that, somehow, things would get better. Finding comfort in the battles to come was difficult; however, there was one love I never let go of: drag racing.
While I didn’t compete myself, I loved reading about and watching drag racing throughout my treatment. I joined forums and online groups to keep up with what was happening, and watched far too many YouTube videos to understand the craft and the different racing series. Combined with my passion for art, I knew I could channel myself to capture drag racing for myself between cancer treatment sessions. Photography was always my strong suit, having owned a camera for a year or two and doing it professionally as part of my day job before it all came down on me. I had to find a way to meld the two.
Living near two of the best drag racing facilities on the United States’ East Coast – Maryland International Raceway and Cecil County Dragway – has its perks. You can pick just about any weekend and catch some racing, and it was almost always one heck of a show. I found myself drawn to the Strange Engineering Street Car Shootout the most, particularly its Pro 275, Street Fighter, and Top Sportsman classes.
The sights and sounds acted like a cure for what ailed me, connecting my love of racing with my passion for capturing candid moments whenever I could manage it – when I wasn’t bedridden between events and treatments. It reinvigorated me and kept me coming back for more. The smell of methanol was like gearhead chemotherapy, while the sound of pure, unbridled horsepower made living for the next opportunity to experience it worth the fight.
I knew I wanted to make memories and capture something great with a camera. I scoured the internet to see how other drag racing photographers approached their shots, then experimented on my own until I found a style I liked.
Now, three years into remission, my love for both drag racing and photography hasn’t subsided one bit. I’m always out there looking for something interesting to capture. Having something worth looking through a lens for, chasing that next great shot, keeps me going.
Being sick didn’t make me feel any less; it only made me more certain that I wanted to live to see the next event and the next record-breaking pass down the quarter-mile. And now, I feel so much better for it.
