Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Dressed for NASCAR

Who'd have ever thought that I would get dressed up to go to a NASCAR event.

Chris Dressed up


But I did just that today as Governor Mike Easley, NEXTEL and Lowe's Motor Speedway brought racecars and racecar drivers to Raleigh today to get the politicians of the state to support keeping NASCAR in North Carolina.

Governor on 48 Car

Or better stated, to make sure it doesn't meander away from Caron the state as NASCAR continues to grow, spread and diversify.

Nascar Raleigh

My planning for this event started Monday afternoon when the word came to me that I needed to leave for Raleigh by 8:30 am the next morning.

"You will be going into the Legislative Joint Session", I was told by the assignment manager.

I've been lucky for years to rarely pull Legislative duty but I knew immediately that the assignment meant coat and tie.

And since I can be found dressed in a coat and tie so rarely that some would say there is a better chance of being struck by lightening than seeing me like that I had to go home and make sure my Sunday bests were still good.


Bolt of Lightening


I went from casual phojo on Monday, covering a high rise fire in High Point.....


Chris Weaver Casual

..to spiffed up, spit and shine photojournalist on Tuesday.

Chris Dressed2

My esteemed and equally, yet always, well dressed colleauge Eric White and I had a great time mixing it up with the Governor and all of his NASCAR Friends, a lot of whom are friends of mine too. We interviewed Governor Easley, NASCAR Team Owner Richard Childress and 'Humpy' Wheeler of Lowe's Motor Speedway, who really liked my race flag tie.


Governor Mike Easley NC

But not all of the Photogs covering the event were dressed up. Some were not to going inside the Legislative building, while other's like WRAL's Don Ingle told me he got the call too late to break out the suit and tie this morning. He was able to gracefully decline the dressy indoor duty.

Don Ingle WRAL

The unfortunate part of this whole episode part was that we never made it into the Legislative session. They were running late getting started and we had to make the 1 and a half hour drive back to High Point to put together our story for the 6 o'clock news.

Nextel All Star Challenge Show Car

For me there's always next time. NAH!!! Back to casual phojo tommorrow. I re-vacuum sealing my suit.


Photo Credits....Photos 1, 6 Eric White----2,5,7 Caron Myers----3,4,8,9 Chris Weaver

5 comments:

Rob Alan said...

Oh you poor thing. Stuck shoomzing with the Gov and in a suit/tie!

Anonymous said...

Hey you looked good in the suit. I also liked your racing flag tie. Thanks for the mention and the pic.

Don
WRAL

Kenneth said...

I miss working in the capital city. I miss working with Don Ingle even more. Don is a great photog and an even better guy. Thanks for keeping me updated on the happenings in my old DMA Chris.

The Colonel

Unknown said...

Thanks for the comments. It's great to be able to get out of town and cover something like that. And that's the second trip for me to Raleigh in less than a week. I was also over there on Friday. Weaver

Anonymous said...

i feel like a loser. my job is not cool any more. you did look good in the suit. But where's Caron???
kel