That's One Shell of A Turtle

Always get excited about checking out The Coca-Cola 600 race on Memorial Day weekend.

In 1997, I was photographing practice at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Dale Earnhardt Sr. asked me if I could send pictures to The Associated Press. I told him I could and he invited me out to his truck. His daughter, Taylor, had found a turtle on their farm the night before that had multiple number 3s on its shell.

Earnhardt told Taylor he would try to get it published so everyone could see it.

He pulled the turtle out of big bag in the back of his truck and I made a few pictures of it walking around in the bed of the truck. We ran the picture in The Herald the next day and papers around the country ran the photo via AP.

The next day I was walking from the garage towards Turn 4 to the tower outside the track (which was a hike). Earnhardt was leaving after practice, stopped and rolled down the window and told me thanks for getting the picture out to the media. He asked me where I was headed and gave me a ride to the tower.

We mostly talked about how he ran several races in Lancaster in the 70s and also he had eaten fried squash from The Wagon Wheel a few times over the years. NASCAR was a fun sport to cover because the drivers were much more accessible than other sports.

Close Enough For A High Five - Warbirds in Ninety Six SC

Editor of the magazine says, "Travis, you ok going up in an 80-year-old WW2 plane for us to make pictures of another WW2 plane?"

I said sure. I'm not afraid of heights and I had heard of the operation in Ninety Six, SC that flies the planes. Good people.

I get there and the pilot goes over safety guidelines, including how to open the canopy for photography during the flight and use the parachute if needed.

What no one told me is that after we took off, the other plane, at left, was going to fly up beside us and be close enough for me to toss the pilot a sausage biscuit.

I yelled out to the pilot in front me "Whoooooooa Dude! Is this supposed be happening? He's close enough to give us a high five."

He said it was perfectly normal. "We're good!" he said.

Thank God cause I though I was about to go break bread with Moses. (Photo by Travis Bell)

Interesting Note: The previous owner of the airstrip was a retired stuntman for James Bond movies. No joke. Right in little ol' Ninety Six.