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[quote=Steve Snoddy]   I was blessed to be born in Indianapolis.  I am sure that in May of 1949 I heard the sounds of the race cars while I was in my mother's womb.  She and my father never missed a qualifying or weekend practice day at the Speedway.  I was born in September of that year.  My earliest memories of the Speedway come from 1952 sitting with my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles on a practice day in early May in the old wooden stands along the pits just south of the old pagoda.  I distinctly remember the #99 Belanger Special that day.  It was so sleek in its dark blue livery.  In a harbinger of things to come,  I asked My Uncle Charlie if I could use his binoculars to take a picture.  At the age of two I had no clue it was not a camera. 
     My parents continued to take me to practice and qualifying each May and finally in 1956, at age six, they took me to see my first Indianapolis 500.  We had seats in the old wooden stand in the south short chute which is now the South Vista stand.  I have not missed one since, not even the ones delayed for days by rain.  That 1956 race was very special to me as I used an old Brownie Hawkeye camera to make some black and white photos.  My most vivid memory of that first race was hearing a tire blow on Paul Russo's Novi and seeing cars spinning everywhere in Turn One. 
     At about age nine, I recall sitting high above the first turn in the upper deck of Grandstand E and watching all the photographers go down into the first turn to make images of the cars as they were about to go out for practice.  I thought that it must be really cool to be a photographer and to be able get close to the race cars. 
     Throughout high school I made sure that I spent as much time at the Speedway as I possibly could.  I carried a Kodak Instamatic with me and took lots of photos.  When I entered Indiana University in 1967, the race was still on May 30 at that time.  When registering for my spring semester classes in January of each year, I would look at the  final exam schedule for the end of the semester.  If any class had a final scheduled for May 30, I would wait to take that class another year. 
     In 1970, I recieved a gift that would change my life at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway forever.  It was a Pentax 35mm camera and it included a 200mm lens.  I was so hooked on the race and making photos of it, that I spent every penny I had buying film and getting it developed.  In 1972 I was able to photograph the race with race day credentials for the first time.  That helped me decide to become a professional auto racing photographer.  I have been lucky enough to have photographed every Indianapolis 500 since that 1972 race. 
    By 1981, I was blessed to be invited to join the Indianapolis Motor Speedway photography department by Ron McQueeney.  Ron is still my boss to this day.   My work now includes shooting a  portion of the Indianapolis 500  in front of the South Vista stand in the same area I saw my first race in 1956.  Interesting how life takes you in full circles. 
    While my cameras have changed throughout the years, my passion for the Speedway has not.  I cannot imagine my life without the Speedway in the month of May.  All of my heroes in racing from my father and my Uncle Charlie, to Tom Carnegie, Tony George, and Helio Castroneves have left their footprints at the Speedway and in my life.  I am truly honored and blessed to be able to walk in the footprints all my racing heroes have made there.[/quote]

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