Last year, daredevil stuntman Rocky Hardcore, whose death-defying car crashes have made him a star at Lebanon Valley Speedway’s “Eve of Destruction” stunt shows, contacted me about photographing his show at the upcoming Orange County Fair Speedway’s “Eve of Destruction” event.
I said I would do it. I mean, I’ve photographed him for three consecutive years at Lebanon Valley, so I know what to expect.
And then remembered something about the Orange County Fair Speedway from the last time I photographed an event there.
The Speedway has a clay track.
And that clay track turns into a sticky mud track if it rains.
The forecast for Saturday night? Lots of rain. The last time I went to Orange County to photograph a stunt show, I came back looking like I spent six days at Woodstock ’94.
Still, a promise is a promise. It would also give me a chance to test out my Nikon Df camera’s ability to capture action in low light situations. Trust me. At night, Orange County Fair Speedway looks like it was lit by miners’ helmets.
Although it was raining like the middle chapters of Genesis when I left Albany for downstate, I kept hoping that the rain would dissipate by the time I reached downstate.
No such luck. It was still spitting and drizzling by the time I hit Middletown.
Okay. I’ll shoot with the Df, but I wrapped the camera chassis in a plastic shopping bag just for safety’s sake.
Meanwhile, since the event was going to be a “rain or shine” event (the majority of the grandstands had a covering roof), the show must go on.
But the slippery, muddy track wreaked havoc with the drivers and the stunt crew. The opening stunt was supposed to be a flying barrel roll… but when you lose at least 15 miles per hour of speed heading toward the ramp… you get this instead.
After that came an “enduro” race, in which the last driver still able to control his ride around the track would win the race. Remember what I said about the track being coated with mud and slime?
And of course, when you’ve got mud clogging up your tires and your engine intake and everything else…
Then it was time for Rocky to do his first stunt. He would set himself on fire, walk around the track a while, and then lay down while the safety crew tried to put him out. Normally I would photograph this with my Nikon gear, but it was still kinda drizzling out…
So I called an audible. BlackBerry Q10 camera, here’s your turn to shine. And you actually get to see Rocky Hardcore survive getting roasted.
Trust me. If I tried to do this stunt, there would be a bevy of people lining up with graham crackers and marshmallows.
So anyways…
The rain finally let up. And sure enough, if you’re lucky and you can find the opportunity…
There’s a rainbow.
You can pick up a rainbow. And I did.
Since i had a few extra moments between stunts… and even though I know the Times Union’s social media strategist would have a fit if I did it…
I took a rainbow-background selfie.
Nyah.
Okay, time for the next Rocky Hardcore stunt. This time, I’m armed with the Nikon Df. Let’s shoot this.
Rocky has to drive a car through a camping trailer. I’ve seen people do this before, including Rocky himself. Let’s get ready for the fun.
Rocky revs up. He guns the motor on the stunt car. Mud and dirt flies out from behind the tires. Speed is generated. And off he goes. And off he goes through –
– and I mean THROUGH the camper trailer. Nice.
I shot a few other things while waiting for the next stunt. I should note that all the photographers in the pit area were using Nikon gear. I notice things like this.
I also noticed that the mud and clay on the track caused several of the other attractions to go sour. A “rollover” contest, in which cars hit an inclined ramp and try to barrel roll as many times as possible, didn’t work. Cars either went up on their side wheels and came right down, or they flipped one-half turn and landed on their roof.
So now Rocky has to take out for propped-up cars as part of a “steel wall.” It’s almost like using your car as a bowling ball and the cars are your pins.
So how did Rocky do? He revved up his stunt car, did a couple of laps around the track… and then headed down the pit lane to hit the steel wall.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something. Rocky wasn’t going straight at the steel wall. With all the mud and gunk on the track, Rocky’s stunt car hit a small divot in the pit lane. His car’s front end bounced up and down. No way to stop now. He hit the throttle and gunned every precious drop of speed out of the stunt car.
Well, here’s the initial impact.
He knocked down three of the cars – the vehicle in the back right stayed upright. He backed up and hammered his car at the standing minivan, taking it out for a spare.
All in all, another fun night at the Orange County Fair Speedway, and another chance to see Rocky Hardcore cheat death three more times.
Of course, now I have a stunt of my own.
Walking back to my car, I discovered that my sneakers had picked up at least two pounds apiece of mud and wet clay. All I needed was for some gangsters to tie me up and toss me in the Hudson River. Looks like I’ve got some footwear to clean when I get home…
Nothing I can’t handle. Especially if it means getting shots like the ones I got on Saturday night.
Chuck The Writer 
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