As a kid growing up in Daytona Beach, Florida in the 1960's who was lucky enough to later pick up a camera and create a career photographing race cars, I had the unique experience of photographing many drivers who had been childhood heroes of mine. NASCAR legend Buddy Baker was one such driver.

At some point during the race, my editor caught me completely off guard. He handed me a 500mm lens—no small piece of glass in the film era—and casually instructed me to head up into the blimp to photograph the race-leading Porsche 935, driven by A.J. Foyt, Bob Wollek, and Derek Bell. Just like that, my perspective on Sebring was about to change—literally.

I never had the chance to ask about the hand signal and to this day I don't know if it was made in jest, a good natured ribbing of a buddy as he raced past on the racetrack or whether it was made out of some sort of simmering bad blood among teammate rivals.