Beautiful Weekend for IHBA Napa Auto Parts World Finals

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A weekend full of great weather and great light made for another great weekend home in Phoenix shooting the IHBA Napa Auto Parts World Finals at Firebird Lake. Mark motivated a few photographer friends, Will Lester and Richard Quattrocchi to come out and shoot the boat races with me and I'm glad they did. As IHBA wraps up its last season sponsoring the drag boat series, everyone put on an exciting race.


Friday was a rough day for me. I begin setting up my gear, and my camera and lens were not talking to each other; it would not focus. FML. Luckily Richard let me borrow his D3 while he used my D300 with his 200mm. It was working great, until the battery grip it decided it did not want to work. So after the Top Fuel Hydro boats wrapped up, I made my way to Tempe Camera to rent a camera. Shortly after, I received a called from Mark that I had missed pro eliminator driver Quinton Kight crashing.

Saturday morning, I had everything working and I made way out to Firebird Raceway.

Top fuel hydro driver Glen Wilson during qualifying.

Top fuel hydro driver Daryl "Madd Maxx" Erlich deploys his chute during qualifying.

Top fuel hydro driver Jon Haas during qualifying.

IHBA top alcohol flat bottom drivers sit on the holding rope during qualifying for the Napa Auto Parts World Finals at Firebird Lake.

As each pair of boats launch off the starting line, I watch both the boats, then I pick a boat to follow and go back and forth.

Here is top alcohol hydro driver Joel Weber and Kebin Kinsley.

As I begin to follow Joel Weber, it didn't turn out the way he had hoped.

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Here is my whole sequence.



The rescue personnel brings in IHBA top alcohol hydro driver Joel Weber after he crashes during qualifying for the Napa Auto Parts World Finals at Firebird Lake.

After most of the boat pieces were cleaned up, there was another beautiful Arizona sunset as drivers made their last runs for the day.

Top fuel hydro driver Glen Wilson.

Pro mod driver Kyle Brawley.

Top eliminator driver Stan Tweedy.

Sunday I made my over to the island for a different light, backgrounds, and angles. Its very easy for sports images to begin to look the same. I am always looking for different angles to shoot something at.

Johnny Love and myself.

Photo by Richard Quattrocchi

As I waited for the opening ceremonies to begin, I saw a lady bug on the desolate island running around. I text my sister to make sure that lady bugs were for good luck.

As some sportsmen boats were making their runs, they gave off very soft gentle wake. The lines were stunning, and the bird made for the perfect final touch.

A wide shot of the course prior to the opening ceremonies. Looking back, I wish I had walked further up the island. However, I still like all the reflections in the lake.

The opening festivities were pretty cool as two boats display the American flag or Texas flag and the Lucas Oil flag for the IHBA Napa Auto Parts World Finals.

If you have never been to a boat race, I highly recommend them The down time can be rough. But the moment a top fuel hydro boat makes its run, the rooster tail of the shoots so high and screams so loud, makes it worth the while. Below are two photos of a sequence with different crops that produce two strong images.

Top fuel hydro driver John Haas (left) races along side Jarrett Silvey during eliminations.

I enjoy going through my photos and seeing details that are captured that you miss when you're watching the action in real time. Below, Jarrett Silvey deploys his chute.

Having the grandstands in the backgrounds really gives it more of a feel of being at a racing event.

As the sun got higher and moved further west, I made my way back to the other side.

As the sun was setting, it was absolutely gorgeous. It just goes down so quick.

IHBA top fuel hydro driver Daryl Erlich (left) races along side John Haas during finals for the Napa Auto Parts World Finals at Firebird Lake.

Daryl "Madd Maxx" Erlich comes flying thru my frame and forces me to follow him.

I had to show this off, me and my ripped arms!

Photo by Richard Quattrocchi

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Left the IHBA Bayfair race with too much lens and a great tan

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Mark and I had plans to shoot the IHBA Bayfair race in San Diego, CA together. However he got the call Thursday that he was to shoot the BYU game on Saturday and the Chargers on Sunday. I was a little bummed to not be shooting the whole event together since there is a lot of down time...but I was also excited to hopefully catch some great stuff and rub it in his face.

I'm not too excited about my Saturday photos. The fog and light was difficult to battle. It didn't illuminate the boats well enough to show off the vibrant paint jobs.

Across the bay on Vacation Island, Unlimited Light boats were racing. Mark was kind enough to leave me with the 600mm for the weekend and I wanted to see what it could do.

First round of qualifying began with the National Anthem and I couldn't be more excited for the Top Fuel Hydros. Scotty Lumbert takes his first pass in the Spirit of Texas. The spray amazes me every time!

John Haas makes his first run as a seagull tries to be his spray.

Then he starts to get a little shaky as he begins to get a little air. That's right Mark, both propellers!

Daryl "Madd Maxx" Erlich makes a record breaking pass at 265mph as he smashes into the time sensors. Too bad I clipped his front end as he speeds thru my frame.

While I'm at work all day, Mark so kindly emails me youtube links of various crashes he finds. Fortunately, I watch them and it actually prepared me for my first ever crash. Top Alcohol Hydro racer Kent Price starts to get wobbly as he makes his pass. In my head I start thinking, he's gonna crash, he's gonna crash.

This is where it starts to get ugly. The crash literally happened right in front of me and the 600 was no longer my friend. As you can see I'm panning with the boat as it shoots up into the air and I lose him for a few seconds before finding him again as he makes his descent into the ocean. Below is my contact sheet.

Just as I started to calm down from Price's crash, Top Alcohol Flat driver Fred Hart makes a run that also ended horribly.

What could have been my best shot of the whole weekend ends up out of focus. Ugh. What can I do.

Mark suggested that I move further down the beach for the faster boats since they have a tendency of crashing after the finish line. However Hart managed to make his way pretty far down the track and crashed right in front of me...again. I am cursed with too much lens.

To everyone's surprise the capsule lid was missing as everything settled down. Luckily Hart landed right side up. As I'm shooting a couple of shots of him getting picked up, I notice he's holding something up...it's his arm.

Day 3 I came to the track with an attitude of doing something different. I didn't want to end up with the same shots with crumby lighting as everyone else. So I tracked down Johnny Love, the track engineer, to see if he would take me in his dingy across the track to this island. Here's a pic of my camp for the day.

Photo by Richard Quattrocchi

As John Hass made his first pass for the day, I was so glad I went to other side of the track to not have to fight the fog and shadows.

Jarrett Silvey deploys his parachute during the first round.

Scotty Lumbert shoots out some great flames as he makes his first run for the day.

Maybe its the colors, but for some reason, I love the Mean Streak boat driven by Mike Fry. It catches my eye every time.

For a moment I thought I was on set of a Pantine Pro V commercial. Terry Kain emerged from his capsule with such grace and shook his from side to side as he took his helmet off. He then stood on his boat with such confidence I couldn't help but photograph his presence.

I made my way back to land courtesy of the Rescue boat and its fine crew.

Photo by Richard Quattrocchi

As the day was coming to an end, the tear out crew for the sound system was enjoying their overhead view of the race from their boom lift. Still on my kick of shooting something different, I asked the guys if they would take me up. They were more than happy to help.

Photo by Richard Quattrocchi

I couldn't have asked for better backgrounds. With an elevated view, my frames consisted of beautiful glimmering water and the colorful boats. If only they had been there for the previous days action.

Pro Mod driver Shawn Reed.

Top Alcohol Hydro drivers Mike Fry and Joe Blatter race for first in their final round.

Unfortunately, Blatter's boat Pure Nasty blows his blower and it barely hangs on as he crosses the finish line.

Finally the big boys John Haas and Scotty Lumbert battle it out for the Top Fuel Hydros.

Hass makes a beautiful pass, however he red lights at the starting line and is unable to walk away with first place.

Funny thing is, Lumbert also had some troubles at the starting line and ends up getting pulled across the finished line for his default win.

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