SPEEDWAY, Ind. — On Race Day, it's the drivers who get all the glory, but what about those capturing the Indy 500's greatest moments?
“You know that these images you’re about to capture are some of the most iconic and historic photographs in car racing," said Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Manager of Photo of Operations Chris Owens. "That’s a pretty intense moment for myself.”
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway photographers have been working behind the lens for over a century. The photo archive holds every bit of its history.
“We guess that we probably have about 4 million negatives here in the archive," said IMS archivist Joe Skibinski. "We’ve got the Indy 500, Brickyard, IndyCar. All that stuff.”
To those tasked with capturing those moments, it’s not a responsibility taken lightly.
“Just to be a photographer here, at the greatest spectacle in racing, it really is a dream come true," Owens said.
But there’s not much dreaming going on for these photographers the night before Sunday’s race.
“You know about the level of responsibility and all the people and all the energy and nerves from the day of that I just honestly kind of lay there for five or six hours and my mind and my mind never stops racing and as soon as that alarm goes off, you’re so thankful because you’ve been waiting to get up the whole time," Owens said.