I Still Can’t Believe I’m the Motorsport Photographer Standing Here
By Biography Photography | Midwest short track motorsport photography
Some stories you plan. This one, I just kept saying yes to.
A couple of years ago, I was dreaming of being a motorsport photographer trying to get my work in front of the right audience and maybe have the opportunity to races for work, rather than a fan. Today, I'm the guy standing in Victory Lane at some of the biggest nights in Midwest short track racing, camera up, trying to remember to breathe. I still can't fully explain how I got here. But I can tell you where it got strange, and it got strange at Winchester Speedway.
It started with a few sample photos
In 2025, I met Billy Vanmeter at Owosso Speedway. We met on TikTok, I shot his race, handed him a few sample images, and went on with my night. That was it. No pitch, no big plan. Just a motorsport photographer doing what motorsport photographers do: showing the work.
A few days later, Billy invited me to work with him in the CRA Pro Late Model Series. The plan was a double header at Winchester Speedway in Indiana.
I said yes, because of course I did. Here's the part I'll admit now: I didn't know much about Winchester. I didn't know about the history of the track. I didn't know about the ASA Stars National Tour Winchester 400, one of those races people in this sport talk about in a lower voice. And I definitely didn't know what was waiting for us on Friday night.
The thing nobody told me
I found out once I got there. Billy was set up to clinch the CRA Pro Late Model championship by doing one simple thing: taking the green flag.
That's it. Show up, start the race, and the title is yours.
It sounds easy until you realize what it means to the people standing around that car. His dad had won the same championship in 2023. Now Billy was one green flag away from doing it himself, with his family right there beside him. One bun in the oven.
I was a guest in a story that had been building for years, and I got to photograph the ending. The clinch. The championship presentation. The family. The kind of images that end up on a wall in someone's house for the next fifty years.
I walked in not knowing any of it. I left knowing exactly how much a single photograph can matter.
Then Winchester happened again, the 2026 version
Fast forward a year. This time, the invite came from Chase Pinsonneault and his team: another Winchester double header, another championship on the line in the CRA Pro Late Model Series.
I'd like to say I was calm. I was more informed, at least. I knew the track. I knew the weight of that weekend. I knew what kind of moment could be waiting if everything went right.
It did. Chase took the green in the Winchester 100 and locked up the 2026 CRA Pro Late Model championship, the same title Billy had won the year before. A different driver and a different team, but the same unforgettable stretch of Indiana racing history.
Two years, two champions, one very lucky photographer.
The part where I try to explain how I got here
Winchester is only one chapter. In the meantime, working for tracks and series across the Midwest, I've been fortunate to photograph major race winners, track champions, and drivers sealing up their sprint car championships, right there in Victory Lane.
Every time, I get a familiar feeling. It's the same one you get when you realize the room you just walked into is a bigger room than you thought.
The gravity of these scenes is never lost on me. These are the biggest nights of a driver's season, sometimes their whole career. A crew that spent months building toward one moment. A family that has been hauling to the track for decades. And in the middle of it, there I am with a camera, trusted to get it right.
I don't take that lightly. If anything, the part I can't get over is not the scene itself. It's that I'm the one in the spot with the responsibility of capturing it.
What I've learned about short track motorsport photography
I don't have a secret formula. But here's what I can say after a short, wild run:
Show up and show the work. Those few sample images at Owosso opened a door I didn't know existed.
Say yes, then do your homework. I learned about Winchester by being there. The second time around, I went in ready.
The photo is never really about the photo. It's about the person in it, and the people standing behind them.
Gratitude is a good camera setting. Everything looks better when you remember how lucky you are to be there.
Thank you
To Billy, Chase, their families, their teams, and every track, series, and driver who has handed me a credential and a little bit of trust: thank you. I don't take a single frame for granted.
The Midwest short track scene is full of stories that most of the world will never see. I'm just happy to be one of the people who gets to.
If you're a driver, team, track, or series looking for a motorsport photographer who will show up, work hard, and care about the moment as much as you do, let's talk. You can see my work at biographyphotography.pixieset.com or reach me at mike@biojpg.com.
Who knows what the next green flag holds?
