2012 Recap: Eric Gearhart’s View Behind The Lens

2012 was a great year with a lot of events across the west coast. I got some great opportunities to shoot some amazing automotive events as well as meet some amazing people along the way.  This is a brief recap of the events I made it to in 2012, looking forward to an amazing 2013!

March 6th: Made the trek down to Formula Drift Long Beach!  Great way to start the season.

March 15th: Decided to go AutoX with Bremerton Sports Car Club.  Work assignment = Photographer! Beats shagging cones!

March 23rd: Went out for SCCA AutoX in Bremerton.  450hp Miata? Yeah… it’s a little closer to not being a chick car.

May 4th: One of my favorite events, Oregon Trail Rally!

May 14th: A day at Dirt Fish Rally School with the Summit Rally Team!

May 20th: Griots Garage SVT Mustang show rain or rain, its Washington, the show goes on!

May 30th: I had to go check out Niagra Falls on my way to Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally

June 1st: STPR Rally in the woods of Pennsylvania!

June 24th: It was back to Washington for the yearly Mud Bog competition put on by Mudslingers4x4 down in Ethel, Washington!

June 29th: XGames Los Angles!  Okay I was here to see Greg do the double loop, but had to check out Global Rally Cross since they were in town.

June 30th: For those of you that didn’t catch it, Greg Trachy and Tanner Foust entered  the Guinness Book of World Records for not 1 but 2 drivers inverting their cars in an 18.2m loop!

July 20th: Formula Drift Monroe! My home track.  Attending since 2006, photographing since 2007!

Ryan Tuerck and Vaughn Gittin Jr. after their podium positions. This year’s Formula Drift Monroe was a points changer for a lot of drivers!

July 29th: BSCC AutoX.  Racing on the old Bremerton Runway leaves room to catch planes landing a few hundred yards away.

August 4th: NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.  There are no words to accurately describe standing 10 feet away from a 5000+ hp Top fuel Car.

August 8th: Just before Pikes Peak I got to hangout with Greg Trachy and Rhys Millen with his new Formula-Cross Car!

August 8th: Pikes Peak Hillclimb, Race to the Clouds.  Its something everyone has to see at least once in life.

August 9th: Devils Playground bright and early for practice on Pikes Peak.  The road opens at 3:00 a.m. racing starts when the sun comes up.

Caught our favorite Stunt driver Greg Trachy racing up Pikes Peak on his Ducati Multistrada!

One of my famous shots of Pikes Peak, the  Jeremy Foley and Yuri Kouznetsov’s crash!

August 15th: On the way home from Pikes Peak they were running Speedweek at Bonneville Salt Flats, of course I took the scenic detour to check it out!

September 1st: Only on the nice days do we see the exotics out in force in Washington.  This was a cruise-in meet to Griots Garage from Redmond Town Centers

September 2nd: My first attempt at model photography!  I asked the car to be there for moral support.

September 9th: LeMay Museum hosted the Kirkland Concours D’Elegance

September 22nd: World Touring Car Championship comes to the US!  At Sears Point a.k.a. Infinion a.k.a. Race Sonoma.

September 22nd: Auto GP Running at Sonoma the same weekend as WTCC.

September 23rd: My reason for being at WTCC, because Maserati! Greg Trachy co-drove with Patrick Dempsey in the Maserati Corse

September 29th: My buddy won free tickets to GRC Las Vegas.  Only catch we had to get there.  So I embarked on a 4 week 3500 mile journey.

September 29th: My first NASCAR Event… Okay Truck series, still a pretty awesome Spectacle.

October 6th: Subiefest Pomona California.  3000+ subarus at one location!

September 7th: 86 Fest, being a toyota lover I had to go check out the first annual 86Fest at AutoClub Speedway in Fontana CA

September 13th: Formula Drift Irwindale! The final battle in the House of Drift!

September 21st: Back in Washington at XXX Rootbeer for a Volkswagen Gathering

September 30th: Well it was a nice drive home for the week.  But it was just a turn around trip to come back to Vegas for SEMA and the final round of Global Rally Cross

September 30th: After-hour parties at SEMA… its not always about Bars, Beers, Boothbabes and Business… Sometimes the after hour parties have Burnouts and Hooning!

December 8th: What a way to wrap up the year and spend a birthday weekend.  25Hours of Thunderhill!  My first Endurance race! I will defiantly be going back in the future.

So there you have it a little bit about My Life @ Speed.  I met a lot of people on my adventures as well as saw and stayed with friends all across the country.  2012 was an amazing year, I hope to continues in 2013! Stay tuned for more of My Life!