Sarah Cooper

For a yank familiar with oval dirt and tarmac oval racing from 1/8 mile midgets powered by chainsaw motors at a track near the house I grew up in to Indy Cars, and from Late Night Modefieds at the local Quarter Mile to NASCAR, this is indeed a treat to see this subject rendered.

I can immediately tell that there is more alike about British oval racing than there are differences in the US. The way the driver is working the wheel. The way the chassis takes a set and loads to the outside rear tire. The conveyance of the action and speed. The line the driver takes through this corner. How the car's handling at the edge of its limit.


I know from my own poor attempts at trying to do this myself that it takes the right lens, the right settings, and a lot of patience to capture an image like this one. One has to find the right spot on the track, see the incoming car, and time the shot so it's well-centered and the car is in this exact particular posture.


I have a friend who used to take Outlaw Sprint car photos similar to these at the professional level for local racing publications and newspapers. Your work is easily on a par with his work and shares that same excitement and level of details about the car in action.

I sincerely hope your work is appreciated by the subjects photographed and that they respect your rights to your work. My friend stopped doing it and went to photographing High School American Football games because the teams would use his work on sales items and never credit his work in any way, shape, or form and the publications paid little if anything at all. I hope you get better treatment in the UK- you certainly deserve it.

Thank you for sharing this subject. It makes the world a lot smaller and shows that there's a lot more in common with oval track racing fans around the world than we'd think. <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Smile) - "/>