Job Number: 0001

I’ve been a motorhead since I began to remember things. I was nuts about anything related to muscle cars, hot rods and racing from a very early age. While the rest of my elementary school classmates were learning to read with Dick and Jane, I was using the latest issue of Hot Rod Magazine (seriously). While they presented their book reports on famous role models like George Washington, Abe Lincoln and Martin Luther King, I did mine on AJ Foyt. Throughout junior high school I designed and drew cars in the style of Ratfink and planned my first hot rod build. In high school, Dad brought home a tired and weathered 1949 Chevy for a father/son project (more on that in another post). It would’ve been poetic if I were born in the front seat of our family’s Pontiac Catalina, but I have no evidence of that.

Location Shoot #1: Making sure the body is in compliance with NASCAR specs.

So perhaps it was fitting that iMed Design’s very first project was for the Kodak NASCAR Racing Team. A fellow racing enthusiast and good friend, Steve, who worked for Kodak’s national ad agency at the time, brought me in to produce the extensive video content for the Team’s digital media kit for the upcoming 2003 racing season. The plan was to spend several days at Morgan-McClure Racing (Kodak’s team) near Bristol, Tennessee, documenting the creation of a NASCAR race car from raw materials coming in the back door to the final race-ready vehicle being loaded onto the big rig, heading off to Daytona, when all the teams are there for track testing before the season begins.

I hired Roger, a grip friend who turned out to be an even bigger NASCAR fan than either Steve or me. And off to Bristol we went. We had an aggressive schedule, shooting every aspect of car construction, spec compliance, engine building, dyno testing, paint, and more. We interviewed the owners, the techs, the wrench guys, the pit crew, the rig driver, and the driver, Mike Skinner, who was very friendly with us. While we got a lot of footage in the can, there were a few major topics we weren’t able to cover, like pit crew practice and track testing.

On the last day of shooting, as I was explaining to the owners and agency reps what we weren’t able to acquire, Skinner steps up and says that, in his mind, the only way to get that footage is to follow the team to Daytona for that week of testing. He turns to the owners and says, “Why don’t we bring these guys along?” Before they could answer, he turns to me and asks, “Would that work?” I turn around to Steve and Roger, standing behind me, whose eyes are now the size of saucers and mouths agape, like they’d just witnessed proof that Santa does exist, rendering them unable to respond. Without asking, I turn back around and say, “Yeah, we can do that.”

First day of shooting Location #2 - an early start.

The paddock at Daytona.

A few weeks later, we find ourselves at Daytona International Speedway with unrestricted, all-access passes to the track, the paddock, the media areas, the towers, the big rigs and, of course, inside MM/Kodak’s garage stalls. I had a job to do, so I pretty much took in stride all the world-famous drivers, teams and international press around me. Steve was a little more star-struck, occasionally pinching himself to make sure this was all real. We completely lost Roger a few times. During lulls he’d ask if I needed him, then he’d run off somewhere only to return with a Cheshire Cat grin from ear to ear. The only celebrity gawk-worthy thing I said I’d do was that if I ran into Joe Gibbs, who’d retired from coaching the Redskins to focus full-time on Gibbs Racing, I’d beg him to come back to DC and rescue us Skins fans from a declining franchise and bring back our glory. Well… I did actually run into him. But I chickened out. 

Track testing.

Upon arrival in the paddock on the first day, it was explained to me that I had to be somewhat careful because of the jittery nature of all the teams and owners. During this week, they’re constantly looking over their shoulder to see if any other team is spying on trade secrets and trying gain an advantage before the season starts. It was not uncommon, I was told, that the garages could be shut down to the press if any owner got spooked. But since I was technically working for a major sponsor, I shouldn’t have any problems. I’ll admit to a bit of “equipment-envy”. I was there among the crews from ABC, ESPN, Speed and others, with their big shoulder-mounted Betacam rigs, audio techs and full crews. I, with my DVCAM “rig” and the sometimes-absent Roger, was looked down upon as a tourist with a camcorder amongst professionals with “real” equipment.

That is, until some rumor started flowing, the owners got spooked and the garages were shut down to the press for a time. But not for me, with my little “camcorder” working for a sponsor, walking past those previously smirking crews with their high-falutin’ cameras… I got my shots - in more ways than one.

What “real” production equipment looks like. In 2003…

At the end of the week, we had acquired everything we needed and the final media kit/CD was a success. In a bit of irony, what had enabled me to do my job discreetly and successfully (namely, the digital revolution’s democratization of professional video acquisition) didn’t bode well for our client, Kodak. While there was some talk of more work like this, ultimately this first, incredibly rewarding project for Kodak Racing would also be my last. I’d go on to have equally rewarding projects, but there’s nothing like the feeling hitting a game-winning grand slam at your first at-bat in the majors. 

Part of my “trophy” case.