A Special Burn Out by The King to Thank John at Speed Junkies and ioannis Design!

I just wanted to take the time to thank John/Astroman/ioannis over at ioannis Design and Speed Junkies for taking the time to post some of my shots. You can view the wonderful post and fine compliments here:

http://ioannisdesign.com/speedjunkies/?p=1403

We really appreciate all the help we can get from all of the different sites and blogs out there in posting stuff here from Stu's Shots, and The Speed Junkie himself is no exception. They went above and beyond in posting this shot along with a few others on this post--let alone others they have posted over the course of the last few months here--and go all out to showcase mine and others work. I personally could not get all of my stuff out there after so many years of following this racing thing without help like this, let alone the internet in itself and the doors it has opened for me to be able to do so.
And I am by NO means a full 'Pro' AMA Photographer as The Speed Junkie has labeled this post. I've been very fortunate to sell a couple of shots and get some of these out there over the years to make it more exciting for me, but I consider the work of Brian J. Nelson-who shoots for www.roadracingworld.com and www.superbikeplanet.com-- and Larry Lawrence--who runs his awesome site www.theriderfiles.com and writes for www.cyclenews.com as the true AMA Pro Photographers.
I've been taking pics since I was a YOUNG kid back in the early '60s first with a little brownie camera, working my way up to a little Kodak Instamatic in the late '60s, and then getting into the 35mm stuff when I was in high school back in the early '70s. My dearly departed Dad set me up with my first AND only 35 outfit back in late '73. It was a new, but left over '73 model Minolta SRT-101. And I didn't even get my first 'lens' until mid '75 when he set me up with a Vivitar 85-205 Autozoom as a high school graduation present. And then about 17-18 years ago or so I added an AutoSears 300 Telephoto that was a 'loner' from one of my best buds, Tom Snyder (no, not the late night guy).
And I have just started working with the digital shots in the last five years or so and still haven't worked into a full-on SLR yet. The little Sony DigiCam I use pretty much for still shots, and if I get lucky an occasional action shot. Pretty bare bones stuff that really has served me well over the years and decades.
So to be catagorized this way is a supreme compliment and I really appreciate it. But by no means do or would I consider consider myself on that level. Heck, I remember seeing Double L out at Indianapolis Raceway Park back in the early '80s when he was working for American Roadracing and he was on some sort of 'loaner' program where they would send him different lenses to 'test.' I remember thinking some of them looked like pieces of sewer/drainage pipe they were so big. But Lare always could get the shot! I'm just thrilled to finally get some of this racing stuff out here after all the years of taking these as pretty much my hobby. I always sported wood at the races and to be able to catalog it with pictures over the years has just helped to nurture the fix. And now with the internet, and having started Stu's Shots within the last 18 months or so I can finally get some of this out there to share with the masses. And if another time or two comes along to make a couple of bucks if someone wants to do a magazine article or book using some of my stuff, great, another added bonus of being able to share it all and get it out there for more to see and, hopefully enjoy.
So, thanks again to The Speed Junkie himself for reaping such high praise on my meager little offerings here--it is REALLY appreciated and I am more then glad to help him AND all of the others who have taken the time and effort to showcase my work. Without you folks out there, and the internet, of course, none of this would be possible. You rock big time!
And take the time to check out more stuff over at http://ioannisdesign.com/speedjunkies/ as I guarantee you WILL NOT be dissapointed. Great stuff! And thanks again for checking us out.