For the seventh consecutive year, I gave it my all in an attempt to make a living as a freelance photographer, while continuing to feed my nitro addiction as a part time crew member on a fuel team. Since 2003, I have been involved with the Mitch King Motorsports team out of Galveston.

Mitch called over the winter and gave me the scoop for 2009. A young driver out of California, named Del Cox Jr, was to license and rent Mitch's Top Fuel Dragster, after the most successful season in the team's history in which Spencer Massey won the IHRA Top Fuel Championship, then quickly went on to bigger and better things, leaving the seat open for rent.

So we packed up the arsenal and headed for Las Vegas Motor Speedway, to license Cox prior to the NHRA Winternationals. After an incredibly successful licensing, which required only two runs and were completed in the first day, we found ourselves done before planned.

This allowed time for me to bust out the camera gear and enjoy some bench racing with two big name figures in our sport. Seen here, Kenny Youngblood and Paul Smith, no further explanation needed.