Joe and I are back at the media centre at 9:10 AM to pickup the latest information, some Tim Horton's donuts and some water and we head over to get ready for the drivers coming into the pit area for the first practice round.
We get some great personal shots of the drivers and are position near the johnny on the spot quickly becomes a gathering point of the drivers who need the facilities before they strap themselves into their cars.
At lunch we fuel up with prepackaged sandwiches at the media centre (Champ goes all out), watch some "drifter" racing and then we head to the National Trade Centre building for the GPT Auto Expo. Billed as the "largest Automotive Lifestyle event ever held in North America" the building is full of Champ support vehicles and trailers and the "tuners." Tuners take some average cars (although there are a few BMWs and the like) and create an impressive looking vehicle with features like gull wing doors, LCD televisions, stereo systems that take up have the car - they look both fast and furious.
Back in Thunder Alley we catch the Bikini Wrestling match and use our press passes to get through the crowds and photograph ringside. The fight models are also out in full force so cameras at the ready - fire.
We return to the pits for the afternoon's Champ qualifying session. After the session I download my 512 MB flash card onto a Nikon downloader so that I can format the card and shoot again if required and lose my 1 Gig card (not downloaded) which I don't notice until we return to the media centre. In a panic I search all my personal stuff and can't find it. I go back to where I downloaded and the card was not there! I grab my brother and I begin the search thinking that I would have to go to Thunder Alley but knowing that the card and all it's contents would be gone.
I ask a security guard who had been sitting near where I had been sitting during the download process and he told me someone had found it and brought it to the medical trailers. A quick visit and I was reunited with my memory card - what a great feeling.
Thinking of the lost pictures and replacement costs of the memory cards is enough to put you into a heavy sweat. To reduce the possibilities of losing your precious cards you may consider going with the largest cards you can buy instead of using a bunch of the earlier smaller memory cards you may have lying around. The downloader is another great invention. Back up the cards to the downloader and don't format the card unless you need it for shooting more pictures. Also use a special pocket or holder only for your cards. You can always do a quick check and now if your cards are safe.
I calmly leave the race grounds and await the afternoon's shuttle to the media hotel. I was going to take a picture of the traffic people near the shuttle area - there was one guy who was horrible. He was mean and abusive to people and in one case he almost jumped though the window to pound one driver that wasn't respectful enough to him. This guy should definitely not been given the job - thank god they didn't pass out weapons to them!
All in all the race day was adventure packed and the weather remained perfect. The cooling Lake Ontario breeze kept temperatures very reasonable and attendance is pretty high at all the events.
