I’ve driven past the Santa Maria Speedway countless times since I moved to San Luis Obispo County back in 1989. I’ve heard the noise of the cars at my girlfriend’s house (six or so miles away from the track) on Saturday nights in Santa Maria. I’ve had a few invites to go to the races, but never went. In fact, I’ve never been to any type of car race—unless you include racing go-karts at miniature golf course tracks.
When I initially proposed doing a photo essay on the Speedway to my editors, I was totally in the dark about what happened there. I had no idea what I might be able to capture and then craft into a viable photo essay.
On July 24, the day of the visit, I was immediately overwhelmed by the visual possibilities, yet I had only a limited time span—2 p.m. to 11 p.m.—to capture something I would be proud to showcase within the pages of the newspaper. A whopping 1,800 images and almost two weeks later, I now reflect back on that night and mentally high-five my good luck in documenting one young man’s day at the track (along with his father, girlfriend, and support crew).
At the beginning of the day, I spent some time with Kurt Larsen Jr., a Nipomo high school student and racecar driver who doesn’t even have a California driver’s license. Nonetheless, he ended up winning the night’s mini stock car race.
Out of all of the images, I chose the Larsens’ story because it was a complete documentation of a day at the races. It was definitely a bit of luck combined with preparedness that I actually had a full set of images to tell their story.
A congratulations goes out to Kurt Jr., but also a big slap on the back for the crew workers who make the race come to life: the men who work throughout the week to make the dirt track driveable for a variety of vehicles; the score keepers; the track referees; the mechanics; the concession stand employees; the announcer; and, of course, the huge amount of support staff behind all the racers. Everything ran so smoothly and was so fun to watch, I kick myself that I’d never bothered taking the time to visit the Speedway before. But now I know what a spectacle it is!
Contact Sun and New Times photographer Steve E. Miller at semiller@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Aug 12-19, 2010.