I'm back with yet another exciting set of images from another race I recently photographed! This week I photographed the 2009 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Although, this time I photographed for an entirely different organization all together. I photographed the race for the city of St. Petersburg itself. You can't ask for a much better organization than that! They took care of me quite well and I look forward to covering the race again for them next year. Part of my assignment was to shadow and photograph the mayor for part of the day as well which served as a very interesting experience in its own right.

It was hands down, the most exciting and adrenaline pumping race I've ever covered. At times, I was literally within one foot of the race cars on the turns photographing them head on. The only thing separating myself and the race cars from colliding was the cement barrier between us. Needless to say, it made for some INSANE photos.

I was nearly taken out by the wreck that Danica Patrick got wrapped up in as I happened to be photographing at that EXACT corner where the wreck happened. I've been told that that particular corner is the fastest corner on the track. I have no doubt as the cars flew by me in excess of 100mph+.

It's definitely an experience watching the cars come flying at you so fast until you get stuck in an instance where you realize the cars you're photographing are now in the middle of a pretty brutal crash, watching the race cars and shrapnel come flying at you via your viewfinder. You have a fraction of a second to duck, run, or pray. In my case, a combination of all three.

The amount of texts, phone calls, and emails I received from that crash with friends of mine having caught me on television at one point or another was pretty humorous. I'm just thankful I'm still around to be able to laugh about it now.

Regardless, I've tried to capture the photos so that everyone who wasn't able to attend can at least get a glimpse of the action from my point of view. Which, is a pretty damn good view to have! Enjoy the photos and I look forward to hearing from you all.

As always, thanks again and enjoy!


Here is the official link to the full gallery on my website:
Chris Grosser Photography


Some of my photos from my 3 days of coverage:

Beautiful downtown area where they build the race track in the heart of the city. It's a crazy sight to see:



Winner's celebration:



One of the instances where I was caught on television. Up close and personal:



The corner where the massive crash happened:



The photo has a grey tint to it due to the massive cloud of dust and debris that engulfed me 10 seconds prior from the crash:



Verbal beat down:

 

Graham Rahal:









Aftermath:






Joerg and Patrick:

 

Adrian Fernandez:



TK:











Many more photos can be found on my website's gallery:

Chris Grosser Photography


Thanks for viewing!

- Chris

 

nice series of pics. good action and vibrant colors, well done!
Thanks for sharing

 

Great Pics - You do good Work...

Great pic of TK - Love to see if he comments.

 

Thanks for viewing.

I always appreciate it. It was a rough event to shoot and could not have picked a worse time to photograph an event like this. Smack dab in the middle of the day in Florida.

85+ degrees outside, ridiculously bright sun. I tried to make the most of it though.

Glad you like the photos!

 

Thanks for the comments!

Good point, I do recall that he posts on the forum from time to time.

It was pretty awesome to see Ashley Judd hanging out in the pits not even two feet away from me and TK. Pretty lady, just funny I didn't realize who it was until my friend who was photographing with me for the city pointed it out to me. (She was wearing a very large poofy hat - it obviously served its purpose for staying under the radar quite well)

I didn't want to bug TK in the pits but he seems like an awesomely nice individual and my favorite driver, hands down.

Hopefully we will be fortunate enough to hear from him in the thread.

 

Great job as usual, Chris! I had no idea the race was this past weekend! I totally forgot to tune in and watch. Nice to see the Flying Lizard guys back on top though! Really nice pics considering the harsh midday lighting! Keep up the awesome work! I don't suppose you'd be up for shooting ALMS at Road America with me in August? Is that too far of a trip?

 

I'll have to look into it further. You'll definitely have to post up the pictures whenever you shoot it! Did you have any lucky getting media credentials?

Thanks for the comments! It's always appreciated.

 

Not yet. Did you have help from DJ or did you just apply? I think anyone can get credentials for ALMS at Road America but it's a pretty steep fee of $300 for credentials. I'll have to look into it further but I'll keep you posted as I find out more. Should I start applying already even though the race is 4 months away?