Bye-Bye Bush, Daytona 2004, Air Force One at the 2004 Daytona 500
- Brian Cleary
- Sep 1, 2025
- 3 min read
by Brian Cleary / bcpix.com
In NASCAR circles, any conversation containing the word "Bush" tends to center around the two Busch brothers, Kyle and Kurt, who dominated many races in the early 2000's. At the 2004 Daytona 500, however, any mention of Bush was most likely referring to the visit of U.S. President George Bush and Air Force One at the Daytona 500, who flew in the day of the race to give the command and watch the first half of the race.
As a photographer covering the event, I was one of many who immediately started planning the best times and angles for photographs of Air Force One at the Daytona 500, arriving and departing the speedway, remembering the iconic photos of President Ronald Reagan's visit to Daytona in July of 1984 on the day of Richard Petty's 200th career victory.
Since the President was scheduled to arrive before the race it was a given that the only option for race cars on-track in any photo of Air Force One at the Daytona 500 would be as the aircraft departed about midway through the race.
Wind direction suggested the plane would be taking off in a westerly direction and a quick review of a facility map showed that it would most likely lift off behind the backs straightaway grandstands.
An obvious option would be to photograph the departure from the frontstretch grandstands as it rose behind the the huge Daytona 500 crowd in the backstretch grandstands, and there were several spectacular photos taken that day from that location. However, I was hoping for a more on-the-ground, among-the-crowd feeling of the moment, so I hopped on my scooter and headed to the infield. I was hoping for a picture of Air Force One carrying President Bush out of Daytona as the infield crowd looked on with race cars passing by on the track.
As the moment approached, I was in the general area that I thought would work and, realizing that time was growing short as the moment of departure arrived, I got off my scooter and watched in the direction of the runway. A quick assessment of the scene in front of me revealed that everything looked about like I'd envisioned, except that the race fans lining the infield fence were obscuring the race track, blocking a view of the cars. I was probably 10 feet below where I needed to be to capture the image I really wanted.
There was a twinge of disappointment in the back of my mind as I realized that it was too late to do anything about my low camera angle and I would have to take what I could get.
This is where the old saying "Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good" once again made a presence in my career. As the iconic airplane came into view, I aimed my camera and hit the motordrive to record a sequence of the moment. As luck would have it, in a circumstance totally out of my control, there was a gap created in the line of fans along the fence created by a pair of seated race fans. In the entire sequence that I shot that day there was only one frame that had a race car in that gap and it happened to be the car of Dale Earnhardt Jr, who would go on to win the Daytona 500 that day!
To borrow a phrase from golf: These are the shots that keep you coming back for more.
BCPIX.COM is the online home of my photo archive and features photos for editorial and commercial use downloads as well and personal-use prints for sale.
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