AC Delco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals

[funhouse69]

Hey guys I just got back from Vegas and while I was there I went to Friday Qualifying. It was awesome as usual. Here's a few pics from the first two rounds of qualifying.

1.
http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/photos/411338286_xvVoX-XL.jpg
2.
http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/photos/411336004_U3Ju9-XL.jpg
3.
http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/photos/411783900_MFKyL-XL.jpg
4.
http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/photos/411782791_RjU8N-XL.jpg
5.
http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/photos/411954895_zrSjv-XL.jpg
6.
http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/photos/413064554_mSB5o-XL.jpg

[adamsti]

Great catch on Hight's car.

[funhouse69]

Great catch on Hight's car.

Thanks - I was so happy when I reviewed the pics and saw that.

I also caught one of the TF Cars doing a really nice wheel-stand. I will have to see if I can dig that one up as well.

[RadAL]

great timing on #3!

[FlyingPhotog]

#3 FTW...

The last looks like it's gonna end badly... :shock:

[CH3NO2]

Great catch on Hight. Up in smoke and kaboom. I caught one of Doug Herbert last year when he popped the blower. For me it was dumb luck on the timing.

[ahhhlawn]

great shots... these cars must have been flying as you were snapping them

[funhouse69]

I was sitting at about half track so the ones straight on the cars were going really fast. This was my 3rd time there and had a different seat from the other times and it worked out great.

Here's a few more.

1.
http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/photos/411785055_xojSe-XL.jpg
2.
http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/photos/411783264_hpo5Q-XL.jpg
3.
http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/photos/411780069_UZfUq-XL.jpg
4.
http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/photos/411978309_4rayh-XL.jpg
5.
http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/photos/411980237_yo4cj-XL.jpg

[CH3NO2]

Thats a nice shot of "Sarge" and Will.

The Half track seats or farther down allow a better chance at catching more action. I usually sit top row in Section J or K.

[SpeedySwede]

Great work! Especially on the panning shots. They are very sharp. I tried this a few weeks back for the first time at an IHRA event and it is tough. Ultimate test of panning skills. I'm curious what shutter speeds you used on these? Hand Held?

[funhouse69]

Great work! Especially on the panning shots. They are very sharp. I tried this a few weeks back for the first time at an IHRA event and it is tough. Ultimate test of panning skills. I'm curious what shutter speeds you used on these? Hand Held?

This was my 3rd time at this track and each time I'm either getting luckier or better with the shots either way I am very happy with the results :-)

In April the sun was a problem so I had to go full manual with the camera. This race it was overcast but still pretty bright for almost the whole day which made it a little easier. I went with low speed burst mode, AI Servo auto focus with center spot, Aperture Priority since there was a decent amount of light and was sitting at ISO 100, f/8 for a lot of them and f/7.1 for others in the first round. This was giving me 1.250th to 1/400th shutter speed.

The second round I bumped up the ISO 800 and ended up with f/4. I was using my 24-105 f/4L for 90% of the pics.

Oh yeah they were all hand held while standing.


Thats a nice shot of "Sarge" and Will.

The Half track seats or farther down allow a better chance at catching more action. I usually sit top row in Section J or K.

For the last year and this years April Races I was sitting in Section 1C which was great but I was getting so many shots with people heads in them. For this race I couldn't get the same seats so I asked them to give me the best seats they had with taking pictures in mind. They ended up seating me at the top of 1F and I have to say the seats were perfect as you can stand up behind the row and not worry about blocking anyones view. I didn't sit in my seat the whole time Top Fuel was out!

[chips34]

Funhouse69 i love #4 !

[justincase724]

Those are some excellent shots! Nothing like watching the nitro cars go down the track after the sun goes down.

[jimken61]

You have some great shots here, #2 and 6 in the first batch and all of the fuelers in the 2nd batch....its kind of hard ot pic a fav. Great job!!!

[funhouse69]

Thanks again everyone for the compliments, as I mentioned I am Thrilled with the results I got at this event.

I was really sad that I was only able to go for Friday qualifying but I think I picked a great day to go. The weather was awesome and the performance didn't disappoint.

I will certainly be back there for one if not both of the races next year as well.

[dvanarts]

Great shots! I really enjoyed this series. Thanks for sharing them with us.

[James Salenger]

Nice tracking of the cars.

[funhouse69]

Thanks again to everyone for the compliments

If you want to check out the rest of the series here are the links:

Funny Car Qualifying Round 1 (http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/gallery/6480198_yzLkH/1/411330989_rWmaZ)

TF Qualifying Round 1 (http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/gallery/6485949_2gAQ2/1/411779448_9yWmB)

Funny Car Qualifying Round 2 (http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/gallery/6487974_gVegK/1/411956892_smDfF)

TF Qualifying Round 2 (http://funhouse69.smugmug.com/gallery/6488451_sERiD/1/411977843_Dp43W)