If someone requested me to try to grab a photo under certain conditions, like Porkpie said above, I would be glad to try and get the shot but the car owner would have to be willing to help with a little coordination to make it happen.
As mentioned, there are only a couple of us who actively try and shoot the cars at speed on the course.
Another photographer who actively shoots out there on the course from time to time is Zane McNary.
I usually hang out near mid course somewhere near the 2.5 -3 mile point of the course where the cars are going nearly full speed. Occassionaly I will move down a bit farther but Porkpie usually has that well covered down near the traps. At the mid point on the course I am about 1000 - 1500 ft from the car when I trip the shutter. That of course requires a high end camera and lens to get a usable picture.
For an automated camera system you would have some major outlays and logistics issues.
The physical camera, an enclosure to protect it, trigger system to fire the camera for a start.
Also cooperation from the timing stand, course watchers to get clearance to set the camera up and maintain it.
Depending on the quality of image you wanted from the system that hardware outlay for a single course would be several thousand dollars. For a good digital SLR camara, body and lens alone would run about $2000 - $3000 minimum to well into the $10,000+ for a high end high speed remotely triggered camera system. For each course plus a set of replacement spares for the equipment.
The trigger system would have to be independent of the timing lights to avoid any hint or suggestion that it might interfere with accurate timing, so you'd have a second set of trigger lights, cable runs and cost of replacement when the trigger lights or camera gets wiped out by a spin or car off course. Or some means to remotely trigger the camera manually.
Then you would need a camera system baby sitter who would keep an eye on the equipment, get it set up, verify it was working and then cull through the 500- 2000 images taken each day on each course to pull the image of a specific car, and get a print to the owner.
Yes it "could be done", the capital cost would be significant depending on the quality of the images people would want.
As Porkpie mentioned above, I have spent well north of $10,000 or camera equipment (camera bodies, lenses, tripods, laptops, memory cards, ladders and scaffold gear etc.) plus the physical over head to get out to Bonneville 2 times a year for speed week and the shoot out.
The few prints I sell don't even cover the gasoline cost to get out there each year.
I do it because I love Bonneville the cars and the people and the challenge of trying to get once in a life time shots of cars moving 220+ mph as they go by me. On the streamliners like Speed Demon, It is all I can do to keep the car in the view finder with a 500 mm telephoto lens as he screams by at 400-460 mph during the shoot out.
For a single car shot there are some logistical problems for a live photographer that the car owner would have to understand.
At a drag strip you can stand down near the traps and take a picture of a pair of cars every 60 seconds or so all day long. For them it is simply a numbers game, take 500 pictures get 12 requests for prints.
Out at Bonneville, the delays between cars are much longer and the photographer needs to know the specific car is on the course at least 30 seconds before the car gets to his/her photo location. Also if a photographer commits to waiting for a specific shot, they are giving up all other photo opportunities on the salt during that time period that cannot be shot from that same photo location.
There are a couple of cars that I have spent 2-3 years trying to get a single good shot of the car at speed simply due to these logistics issues. Some cars will hot lap for 2 or 3 days and others will only make 2 or 3 runs before they break something. Some years you wait all day for 2 or 3 days for a certain car to run and it never gets past the 2 mile due to turn outs and mechanical problems. Other times I have waited hours for a certain car to run, only to have it go by while I was grabbing a soda pop out of the cooler during what I thought was a course hold, because the radio announcer never mentioned the course was active again, and a car was on the course until he was a half mile past my location.
Any car owner who wants a shot of their car only needs to ask us to try and get the shot they want, but it is not a point and shoot problem it takes timing and planning to be at the right place at the right time for a certain car.
Larry
