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It was March 1981 and I was studying photography at Daytona Beach Community College in Daytona Beach, Florida. I had recently earned my BA degree in communications from Florida Atlantic University and, while I liked journalism and writing, I was pretty sure that it was not what I wanted to do for a living. Having discovered photography through a couple of classes I took when studying journalism, I decided to go after my photography degree in Daytona and ws hoping that this would be my career.

This is where I stood in my life in March of 1981, which also is that annual "Bike Week" in Daytona. One day at lunch I grabbed my old Canon AE-1 (which was actually my new Canon AE-1 at the time) with a DeJur 135mm lens and drove the mile or so from the college campus to Daytona International Speedway, where practice for the annual Supercros motorcycle race was going on. I've always enjoyed all forms of motor racing and I figured that this would be a good way to spend my lunch hour and maybe good a good photo or to for my photojournalism class.

I paid my $5 and walked into the main grandstand area. I stood by the fence and watched after the dirt bikes circulated around the bumpy track and was impressed as the racers flew high over the large main jump right in front of me.

As I watched , one of the bikers looked a little different as he sailed through the air. He semed to be leaning out a little further than most as he soared toward his landing and it soon became apparent that he was not quite going to clear the top on the landing hill. I raised my camera and focused on the rider as he descended. Sure enough, he landed short of his target, the rear suspension of his motorcycle compressed and then launced him over the handlebars. I snapped a single frame since I had no motordrive or power winder on the camera and then took a few more shots of the course marshalls helping the rider up. I shot for another half-hour or so and then returned to the college for my afternoon classes.

On returning to school I processed my Tri-X black and white film and was surprised at the picture that I had. I hurried to the darkroom and made an 8x10 print. As I stood in the hallway examining the print, my photojournalism instructor walked past and looked at the photo. The instructor, Pete Wright, also happened to be the local Associated Press stringer. Pete asked for a copy of the print, slapped a caption on it and transmitted it over the AP wire. The next day the photo appeared in newspapers across the country, and I was hooked. I always look back at tht day as the day when my photojournalism career started. It was 27 years ago and I've covered the Daytona Supercross nearly every year since then, but that photo still remains the best I've gotten at a motorcycle race.

Tags: bike week, motorcycle racing, supercross, daytona, bcpix, Brian Cleary, bcpix, photograph

I became an Earnhardt fan back in 1979 when he was running for "rookie of the year", driving the #2 Osterlund Racing Oldmobile. I liked his quiet confidence, his bold driving style, the way he sat "laid back" in his race car and the fact that he was not afraid to race head to head with my heroes, Petty, Allison, Baker, Yarborough, etc.

As my career in motorsports photography progressed, I saw firsthand the Dale Earnhardt was not only an" intimidator" on the racetrack, but off-track as well. When a photographer aimed a camera at him, he had a way of staring point blank down the lens in a manner which almost dared the photographer to take a picture of him. He'd stare down the photographer in manner that said, "Hurry up, take your damn picture and get it over with!"

I saw him do some amazing things on the track and have some very vivd memories of his exploits, many of which I was lucky enough to witness in person. I was there when he cut a tire down on the last lap at Daytona, handing Derrike Cope a Daytona 500 win, I was standing on Daytona's turn 4 tunnel as he zoomed past trailing shreds of seagull after striking the unlucky bird on the backstrecth ending another gallant, but ill-fated Daytona 500 bid. In 1997 I saw him flip on the backstretch at Daytona only to get back in the car to finish the race.

Earnhardt and Sterling Marlin slammed the wall right in front of my photo location at Talladega one year in one of the most violent impacts I'd ever seen and I watched in disbelief as he walked to the ambulance under his own power clutching his injured shoulder and refusing a stretcher. That is what racing's all about, I thought at the time. And I was also there in Talladega for the final victory of his great career.

But I think that one of my strongest Earnhardt memories was at the Daytona 500 in 1998. I photographed the race from a platform high above the Roberts Tower grandstands. It was playing out in typical fashion, which a dominant Earnhardt leading the charge into the race's late stages. I, like probably everyone else in attendance waited for the "other foot to fall" and some strange bit of bad luck to once again snatch the 500 from Earnhardt's grasp. When the final caution flew and Earnhardt beet Bobby Labonte to the line to finally secure the win, I followed the car around the track in my viewfinder and photographed the historic checkered flag.

The real significance and emotion of the event didn't sink in, however, until I removed my eye from the camera's viewfinder and looked down on pitroad where virtually every crewman and official on the property had lined up to congratulate the triumphant Earnhardt. I think that will always be my strongest Dale Earnhardt memory!

Tags: dale earnhardt, daytona 500, 1998, Brian Cleary, bcpix, photography, nascar

I was covering a pro-am motorcycle event at Daytona International Speedway many years ago. Stationed out at the chicane, which is a pretty remote location on Daytona's road course, out of sight of the spectators and kind of a pain to get to for photographer, I was the only person in the area, other than a few corner workers out at their station.

These events were a day-long succession of short sprint races filled with club racers who were not well known and whose skills were not on a level with the great racers who compete annually in the Daytona 200, so the racing wasn't always stellar.

These circumstances can combine to lull a photographer into a trance-like hypnotic state. It was in just such a stupor that I sat as I waited for the start of the next race. At these races, the riders circle the track once in there "sighting" or warm-up lap before returning to pit road the line up and start the race.

I watch as the group of riders approached my position on their warmup lap. Suddenly one bike slowed to a stop at the entrance to the chicane. The rider got off and leaned his motorcycle against the wall. Thinking that he must have some sort of mechanical problem, I was hoping that this would not delay the start of the race by too much. Then, I watched in interest as the rider turned to the wall and appeared to be unzipping his leathers. With his back to me, I watched as a stream of liquid appeared on the wall and ran down onto the racetrack (see photo above). Relieved, the rider re-zipped his suit, climbed back onto his bike and sped off to join the other riders on the grid for the start of the race.

I looked around the remote location and realized that I was the only witness to the unusual pit stop. I laughed to myself.

My amusement turned to amazement as the same recently relieved motorcycle rider smoked the field and won the race going away! Some people jokingly say that you should always bet on the dog in a dog race who relieves himself on the way to the starting gate, as that dog will be just a little bit lighter, and I guess the same theory must apply to motorcycle racing.

Tags: motorcycle racing, break

With the holidays upon us my thoughts today drift back to December 19, 1999. At that time in my life I had a 4-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son and my wife and I were living in Daytona Beach, Florida and I was scrambling as fast as I could to make ends meet as a freelance photographer.
That is how I found myself leaving my house at 6am on a Sunday morning to drive more than 200 miles to photograph a 1 o'clock Miami Dolphins/San Diego Charger NFL game at Joe Robbie Stadium. By leaving at 6 in the morning , I could make the drive to Miami and still arrive in time for the free, team-provided media lunch. At that time I was also covering some of the Space Shuttle launches at Kennedy Space Center in Titusville for Agence France Presse (AFP), the French wire service. I was going to miss this particular launch because of the conflicting football game that I was going to photograph.
During the long drive south to Miami on that Sunday morning I had plenty of time to think and I , as was my habit, I began to calculate what time I would be home that evening. I wasn't long before I realized that, if the game ended at about 4 pm, as usual, and if I got to my car and on the road quickly, I would be near Kennedy Space Center by about 8 pm. I also knew that the Space Shuttle was scheduled to blast off at 9 pm. I picked up my cell phone and called my AFP contact at Kennedy Space Center and told him that, if he wanted, I could try to photograph the launch from somewhere nearby and then bring the film to him at the Space Center. He told me that would be fine and even better if I could somehow tie it in with the holidays, since Christmas was only a few days off.
With my task defined, I continued south to Joe Robbie Stadium, where I shot the game, which the Dolphins won 12-9 (YAY!), dashed to my car and headed north on I-95. As usual, between traffic, stopping for gas, grabbing some food, etc, by the time I was nearing the space center, I was running a little late.
I was monitoring the launch on my radio , and knowing that I would have to drive 10 or 15 minutes east after leaving the interstate and still find a suitable site from which to photograph the launch, I made the decision to exit I-95 and drive east near Melbourne, FL at about 8:30.
Arriving on state road A1A, which parallels the Atlantic Ocean with just a few minutes to spare I drove north, hoping to find some sort of Holiday scene. Sure enough, I found a decorated christmas tree at an oceanside park, parked my car, grabbed my camera and tripod and waited for the launch, which was now less than 10 minutes away.
Although this before the days of readily available portable GPS, and while I didn't know exactly where on the horizon the shuttle would appear, I knew from experience that in a night launch a bright glow precedes the appearance of the firing column of the space shuttle rising into the night sky.
With moments to spare, I mounted my camera on my tripod, set the shutter speed to "bulb", guessed at a f-stop, about f22 (these things are bright!), and waited. The horizon began to glow, I placed my tripod appropriately and opened the shutter. The Shuttle streaked through the sky and was gone in less than a minute. I packed up and headed to the space center. This being before the days of digital photography, I processed my film and handed the frame to the AFP photo editor, who scanned in and transmitted in around the world.
For my efforts on the day, between the football game and shuttle launch, a 500 mile drive and and a 16 hour day I earned about $500, including expenses.
A successful day for a struggling freelancer in 1999!

Tags: bcpix, Brian Cleary, NASA, Space Shuttle, Christmas

As I watched the Jacksonville Jags beat the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday on a snowy, windy Pennsylvania afternoon,I thought of the winter afternoon in New York City a few years back where I stood on Park Avenue wearing a tuxedo in a blowing blizzard and photographed the newly crowned NASCAR Winston Cup champion as show shot horizontally through the photo.Matt Kenseth had clinched the '03 championship a few weeks before and I as prepared to travel to New York for the banquet from my home in Florida, I was excited by the weather channel's forecast of snow for the banquet week in New York, as I hadn't seen any real show since I was a 5-year-old growing up in Massachusetts.When the snow arrived, however, it was much more than I had bargained or prepared for, with 17 inches falling over the Thursday, Friday and Saturday of banquet week. The storm reached its peak late Friday afternoon and Matt Kenseth and his team prepared to pose with their race car on Park Avenue in front of the Waldorf. At the appointed time the driver, crew, and all the media (me included) walked out into the storm to record the traditional image of the NASCAR Champion and his crew and car in front of the Waldorf on Park Avenue.Wearing my light tuxedo in the blizzard, I might as well have been standing there in shorts and a tee shirt. I would bet that this Park Avenue Champion's shoot was the quickest, and most unusual on record. We quickly shot our photos and everyone dashed back into the warm lobby of the Waldorf. I've always liked the look of the photos from that shoot, with the snow blowing through the pictures, and yesterday, as I watched Jacksonville's Fred Taylor carry the football on a snowy field in Pittsburgh, I thoguth to myself that NFL players aren't the only ones who are called upon to perform their jobs in less that perfect weather.

Tags: photography, NASCAR, snow, New York City