2017 Has been quite the year for me to say the least.
If you had told me a year ago that people like Robin Miller would even know my
name, let alone offer up advice on how to “make it” in racing media on a frequent
basis, I'd have thought you were crazy. But, this past April, magic happened.
Well, magic for me anyway.
During my first experience,
on Friday at Barber, I struck up conversation with Mr. Miller on pit
road...during a practice session being taped for NBC Sports. I'm not exactly
certain it was the most professional time and place, him being on the clock and
all, but when your journalism hero is standing right beside you, it's hard not
to be tenacious and speak up. We talked at length in the media center,
exchanged business cards, and went about our assignments.
He told me to email him and
send him a story that I could shop around by the following Wednesday. I did, of
course. He passed it around, it got overwhelming approval, but as the luster of
the weekend faded, I returned to my bargain bin Bruce Wayne life of stand up
comedy and co-hosting Sports Viewpoints with Bill Bolen at TV39.
When a TV station is in a
single wide trailer (And was once a UPN affiliate), you know
you're working on borrowed time. Even in April, it was entirely possible the
station would close before my piece on Barber even aired.
By late spring, I had put in
place plans to move, and it just so happens Chattanooga's Tower of Low Power
was to cease operations on July 1st with the final Sports Viewpoints
airing the night before. We went out with a bang, sipping champagne on the air
and reminiscing about shows long past.
Just days later I found
myself out of a job, living with my brother and his wife in Dayton, Ohio.
So what do you do when your
TV show gets canceled? I reached out to another pal, Pat Caporali, IndyCar's
senior manager of media relations. We met at Barber and have stayed in touch.
She's turned out to be one of the most helpful people I could ask for. I told
her the position I was in, and she invited me to work as media at Mid-Ohio.
Great! Except now with no name but my own to rely on, what was I supposed to
do?
I did all I know to do, and
that's book a hotel, put on my road trip playlist (The Strokes, Tom Petty, and
Pearl Jam mostly), jump in the Ford Fiesta and party on over to Lexington.
My first impression of the
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course reminded me of home. It had a more rustic, farm
style look than I expected. Honestly, when driving in it looked like the kind
of field where Billy Corgan would have wanted a Smashing Pumpkins video shot in
the 90s. Maybe I was spoiled by how pristine Barber is. It took me by surprise,
but the down home charm hooked me in and made me fall in love. This was, after
all, only my second trip to a road course as media, so I was very much
star-crossed.
Mid-Ohio is popular among fans and personnel alike for its tremendous campsites. The sea of tents and RVs in the lot is impressive, and it's no surprise campsites are in such high demand given the views from every inch of the course. This place, although showing its age, is still just as beautiful as I imagine it was when the first generation of Rahal and Andretti were going toe to toe there.
Mid-Ohio is popular among fans and personnel alike for its tremendous campsites. The sea of tents and RVs in the lot is impressive, and it's no surprise campsites are in such high demand given the views from every inch of the course. This place, although showing its age, is still just as beautiful as I imagine it was when the first generation of Rahal and Andretti were going toe to toe there.
The media center is in The
Treehouse, the big tower behind pit road, and upon entering I quickly felt more
like I was at summer camp than a race. This was going to be a fun weekend.
I got there just about as
early as possible on Saturday morning. The media center opens at 7AM and I was
checking in for the weekend at 7:15. With no cars on track, I ran to the
paddock and shot some beautiful breakfast time B-Roll (I just love
alliterations). Pat came to greet me shortly after 9 and I was off to the
races, pun very much intended. She reintroduced me to her coworkers and to some
new people with whom I'm eager to work at some point, but the coolest thing she
showed me was the view of the paddock. It's amazing, and it's not just for
media, it's for fans too. You can walk up a short set of steps and look down at
your team of choice working on their car. It's a full overhead view, one from
which you can see everything. It's a one of a kind experience exclusive to
Mid-Ohio, and one that any gearhead will appreciate.
One of the big things I
noticed throughout the weekend was just how interactive IndyCar is. It
reinforced a lot of what I learned at Barber. If a driver is within a fan's
line of sight, they're more than happy to take a photo or sign an autograph.
Even the legends of the sport like Mario Andretti take time to speak with fans.
I saw two younger women gushing over getting to meet the once ruler of the
racing world as if they were teens meeting the Backstreet Boys in 1999. Unlike
other forms of racing where drivers are often behind a fence and hard to talk
to, IndyCar's stars are friendly and more than willing to make a fan's day.
Nowhere else was this more proven than when I assisted in Graham Rahal's
judging of the annual campground decorating contest. Originally just for
contestants, Graham hauled 3 boxes of
t-shirts to give away. Rahal is the hometown hero, the fan favorite, and word
got around quickly that he was riding around the campground. He gave a shirt to
each and every fan who asked for one, passing them out like Halloween candy. He
even threw some at unsuspecting campers. What was supposed to take an hour
turned into three as he took selfies, signed autographs...oh yeah, and judged
the contest. It turned out to be a lot of fun.
Meanwhile I had shot 4 hours
of footage throughout the day, and qualifying was next up. Pat told me I could
shoot the P1 Award celebration alongside the “real” production crew and
photographers. I was nervous yet excited. Imagine being a teenager getting
asked out by the prom king. It's tense, but the kind of tension you live for.
This was, after all, my first chance to mix it up with any and everyone who
shoots this sport and gets paid for it. And if I ever want to rock The Peacock
on my polo shirts, I'd darn well better get in there and mix it up like my Mom's chili. And I'd say it
went well, nosing my way into the pit and getting within a brush stroke of
PoleWinner Will Power's silver and red Chevy, being front and center for his
reception of his 49th P1 Award trophy. Not bad for my first time
being thrown in with the sharks.
After qualifying, exhausted
doesn't even begin to describe how I felt. 36 Hours with no sleep, combined
with the massive adrenaline dump meant I was falling asleep in my dinner at
Denny's. I felt like Elvis that time he passed out in soup, except the burns on
my face were from the sun. To decompress, I spent an hour in the hotel pool and
decided to not even think about the race day ahead. I plugged my camera
batteries in to charge, put on some Lou Reed, and fell asleep on the pull out
couch.
I awoke a few hours later to
race day, and if those two words don't excite you, nothing will. The tension in
the press room, the drama on track, it's the kind of thing that gets your blood
pumping. I shot footage on the grid for the first time, and I noticed a strange
juxtaposition between the innocent jubilation of the fans and the brutally
intense focus of drivers and teams. Peeking in on a Team Penske prerace pep
talk with The Captain himself hammered home the point that this was serious
business, even if just yards away fans were going wild over the mere sight of
team owner (and personal hero) David Letterman.
When the grid was cleared to
begin the race, I was kicked out of pit road. Security was confused as to which
pass meant which, the only complaint I have about the whole weekend. When that
was resolved, I watched part of the race from behind the pitbox of Graham Rahal. He
was running near the front and was a short jog from the eventual winner's
pitbox. Everything was going great until about halfway in when I went to
scratch my ear and it felt like it had exploded. The sound was even more
savage. I ran to the medical center behind pit road where, after a series of
questions that put blood banks to shame, I was told I had severe sunburn and
that what had exploded was a blister. I was given some burn cream and was back
in the game.
The drivers were gearing up
for the only restart of the day, and realizing this might be a repeat of
Barber, I ran down to the pitbox of Josef Newgarden. Watching the finish of a
race from behind the pitbox of the winner is emotionally intimidating. The
nailbiting, the anxiety that this could be the moment all hell breaks
loose and the race is lost-surely, I thought, these guys have been here before,
right? I mean, it's Penske. I realized that doesn't matter, winning is a dream come true every time, and losing
feels like a dagger in the heart. Walking that line until the fat lady sings is
excruciating.
Newgarden won, and for the
second time this year I got to run to victory lane. It's pretty funny, if you
watch the broadcast, you can see a green dot rushing to get as good a shot, to get as close to the car as
possible. That's me. I was in the best position, able to sit on the left sidepod if I so
chose. The next thing I know, I'm next to Roger Penske, across from Will Power,
Josef gets out of the car and I get the best shot of my career- or so I
thought. My battery went dead and the file became corrupted mid-shot. I was
furious, but I decided to make up for it at the podium celebration. Third time
I had to wade through a sea of journalists and photographers, and I think I'm
getting the hang of this. Even though I busted my best pair of dress pants
crawling under someone, bah gawd I was once again at the front, getting a clear
shot of the confetti cannons showering the top three with paper stars. I felt
like I had done myself proud by hanging tough with the big dogs, something I
continued to do in the press conference. Those are funny, because new
journalists seem to have to ask tough, out of the box questions to get noticed
and earned respect. I asked Josef about whether he was nervous or not about St.
Louis being the only track at which he hasn't raced, and how the pressure of
being the points leader could affect that. I proved, at least to myself anyway,
that I actually knew what I was doing and could thrive in this environment if
given a week to week chance.
When the champagne evaporated
and the sun began to set, I shot my wrap arounds and went back to the Treehouse
to say thanks to Pat, Mike Kitchel, and everyone who made the weekend possible.
This series is filled with good people and I'm happy to get to join them when
possible. It was likely my last race day experience of the season, and as my
brother pulled away in the Fiesta, I began to think about the year I've had. A
once dear friend once summed me up as pensive, and boy was I as the gorgeous Columbus skyline came into view. This year, I rode
the rails of local TV until the train rolled off the tracks, ventured into a
new world in standup comedy, and most importantly got to cover the IndyCar Series
for two races, all things a ten year old me would have squealed over. It was
through perseverance and the help of some kind strangers turned friends and
colleagues that I was able to do any of it.
It's just over 8 months until
Barber next season, if the 2018 schedule mirrors this year's. I have no idea
what I'll be doing or who I'll be working for, but I'd like to imagine I'll be
enjoying my third media experience, or maybe fourth, fifth, etc. by that point.
I've learned a lot from these
two races, the most important being that tenacity is key in motorsport, no
matter if you wear a firesuit or a suit and tie. I feel like that will take me
farther than anything. These opportunities have been nothing short of amazing
for a kid raised in stock car country, and you can bet I can't wait until
opportunity comes knocking again.
Link to my piece on the race: https://youtu.be/lFNWGDwBOv0
Link to my piece on the race: https://youtu.be/lFNWGDwBOv0
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