Motorsports Racing Photographer New England Mid Atlantic
Michael ONeill Photographer Writer Motorcyclist Adventurer
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Motorsports Racing Photographer New England Mid Atlantic

A cool shot of a Top Fuel Harley performing a burnout. Let’s go to Wikipedia for the official definition of the burnout: "A burnout is the practice of keeping a vehicle stationary and spinning its wheels, causing the tires to heat up and smoke due to friction…The origins of burnouts can be traced to drag racing, where they have a practical purpose: drag racing tires perform better at higher temperatures, and a burnout is the quickest way to raise tire temperature immediately prior to a race. They also clean the tire of any debris and lay down a layer of rubber by the starting line for better traction. Drag race tracks sometimes use a specially-reserved wet-surface area known as the "water box," namely this because water is poured onto a certain area to reduce the friction to initiate the "burnout," for this purpose". That might all be true but I think it’s real purpose is to allow racing photographers like myself to get really cool pictures that convey the raw power of these machines. A Top Fuel Harley, like the one pictured here, produces over 1,000 HP from it’s two cylinder V-Twin engine that is burning nitro methane for fuel. Their riders are fearless. They travel from zero to over two hundred miles per hour in just over six seconds, often with their front wheel in the air the whole time, while straddled on top of these virtual bombs. No roll cage. No seat belts. No fear! I was fortunate enough to be covering this event on assignment from the largest single motorcycle publishing group in the world. The event was the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series New England Nationals held at New England Dragway in Epping New Hampshire. The following week I traveled down to Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ for the NHRA Summernationals event at that legendary racing venue. Though the Top Fuel Harleys weren’t running at that event the Pro Stock Motorcycle class was. The Pro Stock motorcycles don’t burn the same nitro methane fuel that the Top Fuel Harleys do. Therefore they "only" make about 600 HP and are ever so slightly slower. Drag racing cars and motorcycles are not all that I photograph. Take a look around my web site and you will see how versatile a motorsports photographer I am. I have captured monster trucks in The Monster Energy Monster Jam Series, sports cars in both The Pirelli World Challenge and The IMSA WeatherTech and Continental Tire Series races. Switch back to two wheels and you’ll find me experienced in motorcycle road racing photography having covered The Loudon Road Racing Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) and both The Championship Cup Series (CCS) and MotoAmerica at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP). I’m your go to guy for great motorsports images in the northeast US. Call me.