These pictures were taken 03/25/05 through 03/27/05 at the California Speedway in Fontana, CA. The race is the Auto Club 500. Click on any thumbnail and a new window will open with a larger version so you can see the details.
These pictures were taken with our Panasonic Lumix FZ20, 5 mega pixel, 12 power optical zoom camera.
 |
Friday morning 1st practice - Ryan ran a few laps and headed back for adjustments. |
 |
Dale Jarrett was in an out of the pits a lot! |
 |
Dave Blaney in his new Jack Daniels ride. |
 |
Mike Bliss takes over the NetZero car. |
 |
Jeff Green needs some adjustments. |
 |
Jeremy Mayfield stops for a tire check. |
 |
Casey Mears is off to the garage for adjustments. |
 |
I like when the drivers go by with the net down and their helmet offso you can see them. |
 |
Jimmie Johnson works his way to the attention of his crew. |
 |
All day long I kept calling this car Robby Gordon's and had to keep correcting myself to say Jeff Burton! |
 |
I rather like Kasey Kahne's black and green paint scheme. |
 |
Ken Schrader heads for the garage. Meanwhile "Bootie" Barker sits on the edge of pit road timing Mike Bliss's run. |
 |
The crew pushes Kasey back to the garage for a little more work. |
 |
Matt Kenseth had a different paint scheme this weekend. |
 |
Bobby waits while the Goodyear technicians check his tire temps. If you look real close you can just make out his helmet. |
 |
Here come Dale Earnhardt, Jr. |
 |
Scott Wimmer takes the "Cat" car back to the team. |
 |
Casey Mears dropped the net to get a little air on his way to the garage. |
 |
Things haven't been going very well for poor Michael. |
 |
Jeff Gordon hasn't shown a lot of speed so far in practice. |
 |
Travis Kvapil took his helmet off while he was getting his tire temps checked. |
 |
Carl Edwards got a new sponsor for this race. |
 |
Mark Martin doesn't know it but he's gonna have a pretty good weekend. |
 |
Jamie McMurray is hoping to do the Dodge teams proud. |
 |
At least Bobby isn't in that jinxed Welbrutron car! He needs to make up a lot of ground after blowing up on Lap 15 of the Daytona 500. |
 |
Ricky Rudd's crew hussles to meet him back in the garage. |
 |
Joe Nemechek hopes for a more consistent 2005. |
 |
Matt is off to the garage again |
 |
Greg Biffle stopped for a tire check and climbed out to walk back to the garage. He's in his Busch uniform but has his Cup hat on. |
 |
Practice is winding down as Rusty heads to the garage. |
 |
Kevin will go talk to the crew about how to set up for "Final Practice". |
 |
What an ugly paint scheme on Kyle Busch's car. Terry's car was always so cute! |
 |
DJ waits for his tire sheet. |
 |
Brian Vickers gives a little ware as he gets his tire temps checked. |
 |
Travis Kvapil looks so serious. |
 |
I saw Dave Blaney walking along with his crew chief so I real quick grabbed "his" card out of my book. |
 |
As he got to where I was standing I called out "DAVE". |
 |
He came right over and took the card and sharpie from me. |
 |
Can you see the "What the heck?!" look on Dave's face - I had given him a Greg Biffle card. He said "That's not my hard" and handed in back to me. Everybody around me laughed as he stalked away. Sorry Dave - I didn't mean to insult you. |
 |
Elliott Sadler walked by explaining how the car was handling to his crew chief. |
 |
Sunday morning - Terry and Rusty walk out for driver introductions. |
 |
The scoring tower shows the starting line up. |
 |
Mark Martin looks like a child standing next to Magic Johnson. |
 |
Terry also looks pretty small. |
 |
Elliott talks to crew and the press while waiting for things to get started. Dave Blaney is by the back of the car talking to some visitors. He's in a backup car cause he crashed the primary in qualifying. Michael said it was my fault for insulting him on Friday. |
 |
Dale Jr leans against the car doing a TV interview. |
 |
Kyle Petty is sitting on the pit wall just biding his time. |
 |
Nice fly over. |
 |
Arnold Schwarzenegger is gonna waive the green flag. |
 |
Pace laps - almost time to go racin'! |
 |
Arnold waves the green flag and they're off! |
 |
Lap 26: Caution is out as Bill Elliott's car has spun and come to a stop against the wall. Everybody pits. |
 |
Bill's crumpled up car gets towed to the garage- he's done for the day. |
 |
Lap 38: Dale Earnhardt Jr. making unscheduled stop to repair a flat left front tire. He will go at least a lap down. |
 |
Dale Jr had all kinds of problems.He was in the pits way to often. |
 |
Terry made a scheduled pit stop and then the darn caution came out trapping he a lap down. |
 |
Greg Biffle makes a quick pit stop. |
 |
Rusty's crew is rushing to get him tires and gas. |
 |
OUCH!! Lap 160: Caution out for Kasey Kahne crash. Ryan Newman gets the Lucky Dog pass. |
 |
Kasey takes his battered machine to the garage. |
 |
Lap 161: Jimmie Johnson takes the lead with a gas-and-go stop. Nemechek takes two tires. Mark Martin takes four tires. Rusty Wallace comes off pit road in third. |
 |
Lap 203: Caution out for Michael Waltrip's blown engine - off he goes to the garage. |
 |
Poor Dave Blaney's car is a little worse for the wear. He crashed back on Lap 143. |
 |
Kevin Harvick had a pretty good pitstop. |
 |
Terry came in for a normal pitstop but then the rear gear broke. |
 |
He'll join Nemechek, Leffler, Waltrip, Kahne, Rudd, LaJoie and Elliott in the garage. |
 |
Lap 234: Matt Kenseth cuts a right front tire. Race stays green. Look at the damage to his right front fenders. |
 |
Jeff Gordon makes an unscheduled pit stop and the crew goes under the hood. Looks like another Hendrick engine problem. |
 |
Lap 238: Jeff Gordon is slowing down. Gets black-flagged. Off he goes to the garage - he'll finish 30th. |
 |
And the winner Greg Biffle does Victory donuts in the grass! |
 |
The other top finishers are stopped on pit road for inspection. |
 |
Scoring tower has the finish order. |
 |
Although we have great seats just off the Start/Finish line I had to "borrow" the last two pictures. |
 |
Much to my disgust California Speedway has moved Victory Circle from the Start/Finish line to the back end of the Pit Suites - pretty STUPID! |
Official Race Results Auto Club 500 | California Speedway February 27, 2005 | Race 2 of 36 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||