Like father, like son. And son. And another son.

My beautiful bride and I had the incredible opportunity to make a road trip up to Stafford Speedway in Connecticut to photograph my daughter Zoie’s boyfriend, Jay, doing what he does best - driving a race car entirely too fast and making it look quite easy. My mission was simple: get behind the scenes in the pits, get to the end of the front straight, and capture the behind-the-scenes story from a perspective you don’t get from the grandstands. Of course, “photographing the race” somehow turned into me wandering around with my Nikon permanently attached to my face, sticking it into every possible corner of the pits and certainly getting much closer to my subjects than any sensible photographer should.

Alongside Jay was his brother Scott, who races right beside him. The two of them are quite the pair—two handsome, fearless speed demons who climb into high octane V8 machines and apparently consider throwing themselves around a track at ridiculous speeds a perfectly reasonable way to spend a weekend. Watching them prepare, compete, and work together was pretty special. Keeping it all moving was their dad, Brian - the team captain and a former driver and veteran himself of Stafford. There’s something pretty damn cool about watching a father who once raced on the same track now helping his two sons do the same. Wait. Did I say two? I mean three sons, but alas speed demon Matt was on his honeymoon during this race weekend. Meanwhile, I was doing my part by pointing a camera at all three of them, pretending I was contributing something important. Zo was also right in the middle of the action, supporting Jay while putting to good use all those hours she has spent working pit lane at way too many NASCAR races collecting data for her doctoral research… although I’m confident she was secretly plotting her next move to instrument Jay as her personal test specimen. And not to be forgotten was Sue, the ever-present silent force behind the whole operation - the supportive wife and mom who was there taking it all in while her husband and sons did what they love.

All of “the Clements” were fantastic company and incredibly patient with me as I followed them around all evening, like some sort of tag-along paparazzi clown. They put up with every lens change and every “hold that for a second” request. I’m thrilled to have captured a few keepers, but more importantly, my bride and I were able to spend a fantastic long weekend in New England with this beautiful and welcoming racing family sharing their passion with us. Not a bad way to spend a road trip - and best of all, nobody revoked my camera privileges.

#gogoclement!