One of the best races I went to last season was the 13th annual Turkey Bowl at Summit Point Motorsports Park, in West Virginia. The action on the track was one of the reasons that I enjoyed myself so much. So was the hospitality of everyone connected to the Vintage Racer Group. It was also the first time in many years that I'd photographed racers on a road course, and it was nice to discover that I still knew what to do.
Most importantly, however, I was there just for fun. No assignments, no deadlines. Just fun.
The GT40 is a heck of a machine, but Robert Andersson had to work hard to get past Fred Pfeiffer in this very quick 1974 Porsche 914-6. (All photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2009. Click directly on any of the images to see larger versions.)
I'm spending this weekend (with no races anywhere within driving distance) inaugurating my new racing photography blog, by looking at personal highlights from last season. The racing photos had been sharing my main website with my documentary photography and musings about photo history. It seems to me that they deserve a home of their own.
No joke, this is the quickest Volvo I've ever encountered. It's a 1963 122 Amazon, driven by Rich Kushner. It was very competitive in its class.
But back to the Turkey Bowl... It was great to be reminded that road racers, like drag racers, will hot rod anything with wheels. (Scroll down to the next post to see a drag racing minivan.) I really like the looks of this flying Swedish taxicab.
There was a lot of terrific on-track dicing in every class. Here Bill Schwacke, in a '55 Corvette, tries to hold off a mid-60s Mustang.
You can read my original write-up about the Turkey Bowl and see many more photos (and many more wonderful cars), here.