PaddockTalk Photographer Tom Link Picks His 2007 Fab Photos

Here are the five I chose. No Pulitzer winners, but here they are....

The first one is of Dario's final lap pass of Dixon at Chicagoland. I knew that I wanted to get this shot and put myself in position to get it. I didn't think that Dario was going to be able to overtake, but when Dixon went low on fuel, Dario was able to make the pass.

When it first happened, I thought that Dario pulled some extra horsepower out of his rear end like Sam Hornish Jr did on Marco Andretti on the last lap at Indy in 2006. Dario wins the 2007 championship with this pass and it was an exciting conclusion to his great season.

The second pic is Dario in the pits. I think the pit shots can be cool because of the coordination of all of the crew and the efforts of the entire team to give their driver a chance to win. Many times, it is hard to get into a good position to get a good shot in the pits due to pit rules and all of the people in the way. This picture is also from Chicagoland.

The third one is of Danica Patrick and her Crew Chief. This shot shows some of the human element of the competition and I thought it captured some of the emotion prior to a race at Nashville.

The fourth one is of Dario in his car just prior to the beginning of the race at Nashville. It's always nice when the driver cooperates and looks right at you for the shot. It makes for a much better picture when you catch their eyes looking right at you.

Another one shows Danica gearing up at Nashville.

The last one is of Sam Hornish Jr after an impact with the wall at Kentucky. Crash pictures are very difficult to get and obliviously, I caught this one after impact. You've got to have you head on a swivel and the camera ready to have a chance at a high impact shot. Notice the part of the rear suspension flying away from the car. I don't really like to think about that when I out there taking shots near the track.