Highs and Lows... and Expectations, Part 1 - The Highs

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It seems like lately the only time I have to blog is when I'm at a shoot - and have downtime between sessions. So, here I am, at an Indycar race in Lexington, Ohio at the Mid-Ohio course, finally getting a chance to blog. 

Being in media has some really high highs - and some really low lows. I guess that's really like most jobs, though. 

It seems like everything was thrown at me this past week - so much so that I seriously considered not coming.

However, this is one of the biggest dreams that my husband has had. He grew up really close to this track and this is where he fell in love with Indycar racing. 

Once he picked up photography, he had one of those dreams that's so big that you can't even really dream it - it's just an underlying, very, very small nudge that it would be wonderful if it ever happened.

His dream was to shoot an Indycar race as a credentialed photographer. In fact, the hope that he could shoot a race at Mid-Ohio was barely a flicker of a dream. Then this year, when I was once again looking at ways we might be able to do it, an unexpected way fell in my lap.

Two years ago, I interviewed an Indycar chaplain. I can't remember if I asked him or if he just told me about this up-and-coming racer named Sting Ray Robb. I made a note to contact him in the off-season and hopefully be able to set up an interview the next year.

We were able to set up that interview as hoped. One aspect of the process stuck in my memory, even as I wrote and submitted that article and started filling my head with all of the information from other interviews, shoots, and jobs I work as a freelancer. 

He calls his mom his "momager." It's exactly like it sounds - she's his mom as well as his manager (at least she was as he rose through the various racing levels).

I hit it off with his mom while setting up the interview and doing the follow-up stuff I do as a writer. It was one of those times that it was like we were friends, though we had barely talked.

It may sound wild to admit this, but I even invited her to my virtual wedding.

Finally, the 2023 Indycar season loomed. Sting Ray had placed 2nd in his class for the IndyLights level in 2022 and got a spot on an Indy team for 2023.

I was so excited for him - and for his momager.

So, when it became time to start applying for credentials for the season, I asked her if she knew of any other Christian racers that she thought I might be able to cover. 

She said she didn't know of anyone, but that she had media passes available for this race that we could have. Unbelievable!

Our local track, Barber Motorsports Park, held its Indycar race before this one. We had shot there twice before at this point, so we knew what to expect. After we got settled, we left the media center to go and say hey to Sting Ray and his momager.

She surprised us by giving us VIP passes to their tent by their hauler. It was amazing! We were able to hang out and talk - and I got to shoot a lot of photos I wouldn't have been able to otherwise.

We were on a super high. It was so much fun!

I just knew that the Mid-Ohio race would be so much better...

(This is getting really long and I need to get some actual shooting done here, so I'll work on Part 2 as I can. Stay tuned.)



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