The Eyes Behind the Helmets: NASCAR Media Day 2011
- Brian Cleary
- Dec 1, 2025
- 2 min read
Back in February of 2011, as the new NASCAR season was preparing to kick off in Daytona, all the drivers and media descended on the speedway for Media Day.
Traditionally all the drivers show up in their new firesuits, showing off both new and traditional sponsors and partnerships and make a circuit of the room, sitting for interviews and stopping at photo stations for fresh headshots ahead of the marque Daytona 500 and the long grind ahead that is a typical NASCAR season.
On this day, my assignment was to roam the room, looking for interesting driver candids and shots of the participants interacting with the media and each other. Not too tough a gig, as there is a lot of dramatic lighting set up throughout the room, making it possible to get a nice variety of shots.
In 2011, in an effort to keep more involved in the media day process, I decided to give myself a little extra self-assignment. I though it might be interesting to focus in on the drivers' eyes. After all, these were the eyes that would soon be gazing through sandblasted windshields as the sped around Daytona, looking for holes to shoot and opportunities to pass at 200 miles per hour.
I'm not sure if I discovered any clues as to what makes one driver quicker than another hidden in their eyes, but I feel the experiment produced a study of youth, age, wisdom, excitement and cunning that lay behind the gazes of some of NASCAR's top pilots of this bygone era.
It is also interesting to contemplate how quickly these careers pass by us on the NASCAR stage, as so few of the pictured drivers in the gallery is still active in
NASCAR today!
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