BOY IS IT GOOD TO BE BACK! I haven’t been out shooting at Pitt Race since 2019. I don’t think there is a reason to get into what happened to Drift Pizza in 2020, you can use your imagination and fill in the blanks. Regardless, coming back to my ‘home’ track of Pitt Race and the familiar faces of Clubloose 2 was a great way to start the season.
Pitt Race was the first track I ever officially shot at back in 2016, the very beginning of Drift Pizza Media. I had convinced my girlfriend that us getting a DSLR for travel photos would be a great use of money. So I headed off to Costco to pick up a D3300 with some kit lenses, I can’t even say I shot a single photo of traveling before that setup made it’s way to Pittsburgh International Raceway. I went on the Clubloose website, found a media application, filled it out and waited. A few days later I got an email back telling me media is basically a free for all at CL2, but John & Jimmie run the show so talk to them.
I packed up my Ford Focus (2004 ZX3 for anyone who wants to know) and headed north to the track. At this point I had been going to events on and off since 2013 but had never talked to anyone at an event. I always got anxiety being at drift events because I would just stand around and keep to myself, well that D3300 was my grand plan to get into drifting. I was convinced that if I had a camera and could figure out how to take cool pictures I could work my way into what seemed like a walled off community of S13s and tire smoke.
Little did I know that when I finally made it to the event and hunted around for the two people in charge I not only was welcomed to shoot all I wanted, but they offered to help me out! They introduced me to drivers and explained what parts of the course would look cool to shoot. I was instantly hooked, even though this was just a glorified parking lot adjacent to a road course, this would be the grindstone where I would learn the basics. You can look through my instagram and flickr feeds and find some of these old photos, some are even hanging on my wall as I write out this post. Pitt Race was the beginning of something that I never expected to still be doing 5 years later and especially didn’t expect it to take me to the places it has.
Thanks for indulging me in a little trip down memory lane. Getting back out to shoot this past week made me remember why I got into this in the first place and how much fun it is to hang out and take some photos. This post is the official start of a new year, a new opportunity to get out and travel around the north east shooting anything I can. I have some events lined up that I can’t wait to share with you, and even some hidden treasures from last year to show off. I’m excited for the year ahead, I hope everyone is ready to get back on track. See you all at the next one…
-Dax ✌️
