Thunder on the Beach 2005

On Saturday I had the opportunity to photograph the 2005 addition of "Thunder on the Beach" in Wildwood, NJ. It was an extremely bright, warm day. A far cry from last year when it was cold and rainy. The sponsers of the show liked the photos that I had submitted to them last year, so this year they sent me free tickets and gave me a pass to shoot anywhere on the race course during the event. I shot over 1000 pics in 2 days using my D2h with an 80-400 VR and a D50 with a 18-70 DX. We had a great time and David enjoyed the behind the scenes action and getting to meet the drivers. The other photographers covering the event were using Canon Digital Rebels. I felt a little better with my Nikon Gear. The 80-400 really did pretty good with focus speed but I found that I was shooting at the shorter range most of the time.
Here are a few of the photos all take with a D2h and 80-400 VR.

NIKON D2H    ---    105mm    f/8.0    1/800s    ISO 200

Thanks for looking and all comments are appreciated.

 

A few more photos........

Thanks for the comments. David had a blast. He even got a chance to ride in a Monster Truck and to do some announcing. :smile:
here are a few more shots.

NIKON D50    ---    46mm    f/10.0    1/400s   

Here is David riding in the truck :smile:

NIKON D2H    ---    80mm    f/9.5    1/350s    ISO 200

Here is some Quad action

NIKON D2H    ---    122mm    f/6.3    1/750s    ISO 200

Monsters at night

NIKON D50    ---    18mm    f/3.5    1/3s   

 

Frank, its a deal! We are looking at the first weekend in October next year for the show. I drank a lot of water that day. They wanted me to cover 2 more shows this weekend but I told them I was all "trucked" out. :frown:
Thanks for the comments.

 

Thank you very much Hans. David was so excited this weekend he could have burst. :smile:
I wish you all could have seen his smile riding in the back of the Truck. I would have taken a photo, but I was bouncing aroun so much I was afraid I would have broken my nose with the camera :smile:

 

Thanks Jim. The 80-400 VR is an amazing lens. It's pretty cool to be able to hand hold at 400mm.

 

Thanks Gale. I have to admit its a little intimidating to be 30 feet away from a 10 foot tall 12 foot wide 10,000 pound truck with 6' tall tires with a 560 ci 1,800 horse power engine flying 30 feet in the air!  
My wife Maureen was convinced that I was going to get squashed :redface:
I also am glad that I had two bodies. Having the D50 with the 18-70 as a second camera, sure beat having to change lens on the beach with the sand flying.