My First Time

I stumbled upon this picture the other day. You might call this picture, the one that started it all. It was taken back in 1986, at the first Molson Indy (now the Honda Indy Toronto), and my first race at a track. I can even remember taking it. It had been raining all weekend and the race was run in the rain. I was at the race with my buddy Tony and we could only afford general admission tickets being that we were only 16 years old at the time. As far as I can remember, we didn't seem to mind, just being that close as the cars sped by was cool enough for us.
When this shot was taken, I remember we were trying to get to the turn at the end of the straight on Lakeshore Blvd., when we ran right smack into racing legend Emmerson Fittipaldi who was getting a ride back to the pits after hitting the wall and ending his day early. I remember seeing Fittipaldi and standing there mesmerized for a second as I came face to face with one of my childhood hero's. I remember him smiling at us and giving us the thumbs up before hopping on the scooter. And then I remembered I had a camera and snapped this photo before he disappeared into the crowd.

Bobby Rahal went on to win the race and my love affair with auto racing and racing photography was born.