Connoisseurs of Horsepower,

A frozen winters worth of chatter, rumor, and guess work is all but over, it is now time again to get down to the business of speed.

Last Saturday afternoon, the ominous blackness of freshly mounted racing tire met the artfully manicured beauty of Central PA's luscious deep red clay, at the the Lincoln Speedway, in Abbotstown Pennsylvania. With that blessed union, the 2011 racing season is officially here in the Northeastern part of the United States. A-men.

Who won, who lost, and who ran are days old news by now, & furthermore written by men and woman, far more skilled at putting word to paper than I would ever dare to dream. The bigger story is, as always, the people. The crowd is the thing. I love a crowd. This particular crowd, who had been delayed their racing fix, by one, long, week came out in full force, people from 5 states, that I had spoken with at the very least, and from all manner of interest level. In grabbing some pit-side shots, prior to hot laps I met 3 first timers. They had that open mouthed, brain not comprehending, nor processing what their senses were telling them. The first race for anyone, is other-worldly. To watch on TV, to view photos on the web, etc, are a far cry from the attack on the senses that short track racing provides when witnessed in person, live and in living, breathing, color.

I love shooting the breeze with folks I meet when I am at the track shooting. I don't particularly care if they hold any special post, title, credentialing or education, at the track everyone offers up insight in some way, shape or form and gives me the feel or flavor, for the track, the culture of the event that I am covering. And that is pretty darned important.

Talking to first timers and long timers alike, gives me 2 critical things, that Super Wal-mart does not offer. A) Perspective Hope. Each in gigantic economy sized quantities, and does not require a prescription from your Doc. Perspective and hope are the two part chemical reaction that yields success. You get that formula cooking up to a boil, combine with a dab of knowledge, a pinch of drive and a couple 50 pound bags of sweat through two t-shirts type hard work and tenacity, then, you got something. I'm talking about racing now of course, but, if you take my old school, scientific equation right there and apply to most any business, or everyday life, success just might come along as you keep moving forward.

Hope is something entirely different than sticking one's big, stupid, head in the sand, and acting like everything is gonna be cool. Sticking your head in the sand wasn't in my equation, and never will be. Hope is that seat of your pants feeling, that tells you that with the wind at your back, and lazy sharks, you can go from what seems like, up a crick without a paddle to, sitting shore side, eating grilled fish and drinking cold beer. Hope is what gets you to suck it up and get over the hump, and here it comes, perspective, is what gives you the opportunity not only to get through it, but learn from it, grow from it, find opportunity to succeed through it and come out the other side, a better version of what you might have thought at one time was completely and utterly, trashed. Times, they-are-a-changing. Have they ever not been though?

Click here, and Crank up the volume

(Photos by Fish - Bone Jarring Tunes By Rage Against the Machine) Available in 1080p*

-Have no clue what 1080p is, if it is anything like WD-40, we should be in good shape.

If you prefer viewing your racing photos, sans music, feel free to click here and browse as you listen to music of your choosing:

http://luvracinphotos.smugmug.com/Jay-Fish/Lincoln-Speedway-Ice-Breake/16094006_Jdiaq#1207981474_Nprsu

Best Regards,

Jay Fish

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