Visiting Bradenton Motorsports Park
By David Stenhouse, Data Mutz
Two Sunday afternoons in November in Bradenton, Florida, and I’m looking forward to heading back soon. This is a great track for an amateur motorsports photographer. The links at the bottom of this post will take the reader to my best shots.
Bradenton Motorsports Park is well-known to racers in the Southeast as a track hosting some of the best pro-modified, doorslammer, and big-money bracket racing events. While it is definitely a long haul to get to the complex if you are located anywhere but Central Florida, a visit is definitely worth it if you love the sport of drag racing.
On a recent Florida visit, I checked the track schedule and found consecutive Sundays hosting events: a “Run Day Sunday” Test ‘n Tune afternoon of “bring your car” on November 21st, and then The Birds Sportsman Finals on November 28th.
I had been to a test ‘n tune session at other tracks, however when I showed up at Bradenton the numbers of cars and people surprised me. The pits on both sides of the track were packed with trailers and cars filling a good portion of the staging lanes.
While the stands don’t offer the best photography shots close up, you can definitely get decent shots with a good super telephoto lens. I packed along my Nikkor 200mm-500mm zoom lens (and others), capturing what I wanted just fine.
The best part for this amateur photographer is the staging lanes come up to the starting area opposite each other. This allowed me to stay on one side and capture the drivers and their cars across the area with the large zoom lens. I don’t particularly enjoy walking up to cars and people, snapping photos right in their personal area. A good zoom allows me to park on my portable stool at a distance, snapping shots as the people and cars move around. It also keeps me away from any professionals working events, as I do understand that is their revenue source—they should have the best angles and proximity to the action.
PHOTO GALLERY 1 - November 21, 2021 Run Day Sunday
PHOTO GALLERY 2 - November 28, 2021 The Birds Sportsman Finals
I truly enjoyed the atmosphere at the track during my visits and look forward to heading back in the Spring.
Carrying around a camera since childhood, David Stenhouse has a love for capturing and writing about machines, people, and the U.S.A. He is now so blessed to spend each day running a business with his best friend, high school sweetheart, and wife, Shay.