Screaming impact guns followed by tires squealing off into the distance. The air’s a mix of rubber, race fuel and caffeine. It’s late, but you’re awake.
“Watch your backs! Watch your backs!” a crewmember barks from a pit cart towing enough tires to support a few seasons of autocross. The little alley behind the pit stalls is jammed with myriad race car stuff: wheels and tires, spare body panels fully wrapped and ready to go, Honda generators humming along. Security guards act as traffic cops.
All traffic moves westward toward pit-out. Despite the seemingly chaotic scene, there’s just enough space to make way. There always is.
Everyone’s wearing black.
My favorite place in all of motorsports: the trenches of pit road after dark. The later, the better.
Marshalls wandering up and back offer a smile, fresh faces mixed with ones that have been doing this for decades. I smile back. Do not sit on the wall, though, or you’ll get a stern finger.
Between stops, team members check phones, cram a sandwich down their throats, grab a few winks or clean. There’s always something to clean: wheels, bodywork, tools, whatever.
Engineers nervously look at screens. Do not interrupt.
Each team has banks of these monitors, the full rainbow on display as they broadcast all manner of data and scoring info. Who’s leading? Who’s out of the hunt? Hey, someone’s got the UGA game on. Touchdown.
A nod from a crewmember says I can stand there and grab a few photos. Car’s coming in soon, though. They never need to tell you. You can sense it: Helmets go on, relief drivers stand ready with wide eyes, someone checks that their air gun is good to go.
No. One. Says. A. Word.
In a few seconds, it’ll all be over.
This time I broke out something different at IMSA’s pre-season test weekend–an old film camera. Another photographer on pit lane caught me loading some black-and-white film. He nearly dropped his digital rig.
Two’s a crowd, three’s unconscionable. I like to roam alone, pulling out an earplug to catch up with dudes I’ve known since we were all new to autocross. Even in just a few short minutes, the conversation will turn to Miatas.
This is my me time. And it comes in the middle of the action on Daytona’s pit road.
Comments
This time I broke out something different at IMSA’s pre-season test weekend–an old film camera. Another photographer on pit lane caught me loading some black-and-white film. He nearly dropped his digital rig.
I know the feeling–a year or two ago, two photographers–big lenses, media vests and all–stopped me after they spotted my K1000.
They were so smitten, apparently, that they had to take a few photos of my camera.
In reply to Colin Wood :
Oh, totally. It’s kinda loud down on pit lane so I didn’t get to talk much to that other photographer, but he saw the camera and seemed happy to see it.
I’m impressed with how the photos came out, to be honest. It was dark, I had a manual focus camera, and I didn’t have any high-speed film with me–I know, rookie move.
The photos that you see here were all shot with Kentmere 400, a fairly inexpensive film. To help with the lack of light, I underexposed it by 1 stop.
Out of the 38 images on the roll, like all but two were keepers. I’m a little bummed that I didn’t make more.
And a little behind-the-scenes action:
Where eveyone’s carrying these big lenses and modern cameras, I was walking around with this for a bit. It worked.
I’ve shot a few night photos at the Rolex with Kentmere 400–I’ll have to see if I can find them.
I need to keep some Kentmere 400 on hand.
Snert
SuperDork
12/4/25 4:35 p.m.
Good one! I like the staccato tempo. With those photos, it put me there.
aw614
HalfDork
12/4/25 4:49 p.m.
David S. Wallens said:
I need to keep some Kentmere 400 on hand.
Its cheap enough to buying a few rolls and storing!
Snert said:
Good one! I like the staccato tempo. With those photos, it put me there.
Thank you. 🙂
aw614 said:
David S. Wallens said:
I need to keep some Kentmere 400 on hand.
Its cheap enough to buying a few rolls and storing!
Totally! I need to stock up. Thanks for the tip to push it. Very happy with the results.
Snert said:
Good one! I like the staccato tempo. With those photos, it put me there.
And a little behind-the-scenes: I wrote this before getting the scans back from the lab. Would this all come together as I pictured in my head? I took a leap of faith. Really glad to hear that you enjoyed it.
Thank you.
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