Final Story

San Antonio Raceway
Have you ever been to a place where you can spend time with family and friends while being blown away by cars that are traveling at high speeds down a ¼ mile track? If you have not, then I think you should try visiting the San Antonio Raceway on an event night. The San Antonio Raceway is a multi-million dollar state of the art National Event ¼ mile drag racing facility. The raceway is filled with fun and excitement with plenty of interesting cars to see.
I’ve heard of a race track in San Antonio for drag racing before but never thought of going to see what exactly goes on there. I had the pleasure of being invited by my boyfriend, seeing as he is a racer himself, he wanted me to see how he spends his Saturday evening during the racing season. His excitement excited me, even though I had no idea of what to expect. During the weeks before the big event, I learned a few things about this hobby/sport. It is a very expensive hobby and it takes a lot of time, hard work, care and dedication for the race car. One aspect I learned is that this hobby or sport is not just a hobby for one person but it is one for family and friends to all enjoy. As I watched them prepare for the event I wondered just how many other families were doing the same thing, because at the time it seemed as though drag racing was a small event were a few hundred people got together to share their hobby, I was wrong.
Let me start by introducing the Montoya Racing Crew, whom I had the pleasure of experiencing the drag racing world with. My boyfriends name is Joe Anthony Montoya Jr.; he is the driver of a 1970 Dodge Challenger. Joe is the son of Jose Montoya, the driver of a 1973 Dodge Challenger. Joe’s is also the nephew of Mike Montoya, the driver of a 1970 Dodge Challenger. These three men are the start of the Montoya Racing Crew. Later, this crew will grow with a few other racing friends and Joe’s younger brother, Daniel Montoya. Daniel’s car is in the process of becoming a race car. Daniel will soon be driving a 1983 Ford Mustang. For now he is a crew member, helping with maintenance on the cars between races. Joe, Jose and Mike know a lot about cars which makes it easier for them to handle issues with the mechanics, while Daniel is still learning. The race is a half a day event, and with all that excitement and work it is easy to get hungry. Maria Montoya is the mother of Joe, she is usually on the grill cooking up some great food, and while the guys are fueling up their cars she is preparing fuel for the guys. She also helps to load and unload the truck with all the essential tools needed for the races. Her most important job as a crew member is just being there to support her guys. Mike’s wife, Adriana Montoya, is also there with their two sons and daughter, supporting Mike. The boys are always thrilled to watch their dad race down the track.
Then of course there are spectators like me and Daniel’s girlfriend, Victory Escobedo. We help out where we can, but we are mostly there to enjoy the race and cheer on the Montoya’s.
Now for those of you, who were like me before I knew anything about drag racing, let me give you a brief on how it all goes down the track. A drag race is a speed race between two vehicles from a starting point that’s measured over a quarter-mile distance. The drag racing is between two vehicles in an elimination style. The losing driver is eliminated, while the winning driver proceeds to the next driver, till there is one driver remaining. Before the races start there is a burn out, this is always fun to watch. “The point of a burn out is to heat up the tires, which gets the tires sticky and this creates more traction,” said by Joe. “The more traction the faster your car goes”. Now these races are not started the way you’ve seen them in movies, with a young woman in the center of the two cars ready to flag down a flowing scarf indicating “go”. The races begin with an electronic device called a Christmas tree, because it has multicolored lights. Each side has seven lights descending on each side. There are two small amber lights at the top followed by three large amber lights leading down towards a large green bulb and then a large red bulb. Two lights beam across the starting line area, which are wired to the Christmas tree and to electronic timers in the control tower. These lights help the racers set for the race and begin the timers upon take off. When the first beam is broken by the vehicles front tires this is called the prestage, which indicates that the starting line is close, once the drivers both set up to the second beam the vehicles are fully staged, indicating its time to race. The stage light will activate the tree, and the drivers must focus on their side of the tree. The three amber lights will flash simultaneously five-tenths of a second apart, followed five-tenths later by a green light. And while green does mean go, Mr. Jose Montoya says “the idea is to get as close to a perfect light as possible for a better run, so the reaction times is a little sooner than the green light”. The first one to cross the finish line wins, right? Not exactly, there might be some disqualifications to consider, every driver must post a dial-in time, which is their consistent best run time. As the driver races down the track he or she can not beat their own time at the same time they must beat their opponent to the finish line. And the driver must be careful to not cross the starting line too soon, which is called red light, hints the red light on the tree.
Now for the place where these dedicated race car drivers are to meet, the San Antonio Raceway which is owned and operated by the Zampese Family of San Antonio. It was completed in January 2000. The raceway is located on interstate 10, 15 miles east of loop 410. The raceway is an International Hot Rod Association approved drag racing facility. It is the home of the Amalie Texas Nationals. The track will host events such as the Junior Dragsters Nationals, division 4 bracket finals and many other events. The IHRA events will draw about 100,000 race fans, so much for a few hundred people I had previously mentioned. The divisional and junior dragsters attract about 35,000 to 50,000 people to the track. The division 4 bracket finals usually have over 500 race cars plus crewmembers, families and fans. The racetrack also host big money bracket races every month, which include different types of cars such as, Top Fuel Dragsters, Nitro Funny Cars, Motorcycles and giant wheelstanding vehicles, and much more. The Raceway also supports the youth by providing the junior dragster racing. “Midnight Madness” is an event the San Antonio Raceway holds on a monthly basis on Saturday s, this is to encourage racing to hold in a safe place rather than illegally on the streets. So they are doing their part by getting the kids off the local streets.
The Raceway has a VP Racing Fuel sponsored fuel station. They also have fully equipped EMT vehicle and fire truck on site, which is comforting to know, because as much fun as all of this is, it is still very dangerous. The raceway has a Bob’s Burgers’ Concession stand. And so you won’t leave empty handed you can always stop by the souvenir trailer and get San Antonio Raceway merchandise and IHRA stuff too. “The San Antonio Raceway is a great place for family, you might not think so at first, but what is better than spending the day with your family while you enjoy something good to eat and a great show”, states Adriana Montoya. Trust me, once you visit the San Antonio Raceway and see all the excitement there is no way you can go home with nothing. I have only been there a few times, but I can’t wait to go again.

Visual Art: San Antonio Museum of Art

Visual Arts: San Antonio Art Museum

For this assignment I took a trip to the San Antonio Museum of Art. I saw many pieces of work but I did find the two that I was interested in writing about. These two works of art both happen to be oil canvas but they were from two different collections.

The first piece of art work I noticed was familiar to me because one of my class mates actually discussed this in class for the gazing and grazing assignments, I chose to write about Passing Storm Over The Sierra Nevadas by Albert Bierstadt. This painting is from the American Art Collection. This canvas just caught my attention. I read a little about the painting. Bierstadt was best known for large panoramic landscapes. And the American Art collection is actually older than the San Antonio Museum itself. It was said that after the civil was bierstadt would actually paint these images of beautiful landscapes without native Americans and take them back home to inspire expansion and to inspire a new begging.
The focal point of this painting follows the rays of light from the ground all the way up to the sun shining through the storm clouds. I get an uplifting feeling when I look at this painting. I wonder if Bierstadt did this on purpose, because it feels uplifting, your eyes are being LIFTED by the rays of light. It looks as if the mountain in the distance travels into the clouds, as if it’s really a staircase to heaven. After researching the painting some more I think the purpose of this painting is to get people to want to travel into this area. It seems like a place I would want to be. I do get a sense of hope from this painting, like there are better days to come. The painting looks very realistic.
There are a few important features of this painting. The first one I want to discuss is going to be line. I feel that without the artistic elements of line in this painting the focal point would not have been the same. As I mentioned before the rays of sunlight create lines from the ground to the sky. Value is another element that is in this painting as well. There are a lot of light and dark areas, I see that a lot of the ground area is dark, but is also just different shades of the browns the sky also makes different shades of blue. I see that the painting does have some form of balance. I don’t know if I would say its symmetrical balance, but it does not seem asymmetrical. This piece of art is very beautiful.

The next piece of art I found was from the European Art Collection. Its titled Admiration by William Adolphe Bouguereau (French). This painting is also an oil canvas.
I researched this painting as well and read that this painting is a prime example of the nineteenth century academic painting. It was also the highest honored in the Salon of 1899.
I love this painting. First of all I think that any persons body is beautiful just the way that it is, I know that there are some people who would disagree with displaying a painting like this, but I feel that its real and only natural. The focal point of this painting is the young angel in the center of the painting. The women around the angel have all their attention on the young angel there isn’t one looking anywhere else. I feel that the focal point is important because the purpose of this painting is how the women admire the youth and beauty of this young angel, which also has a play on the title of the piece; Admiration.
The purpose of this painting is basic and simple but very real and important to any woman or man. The two women in the front are bare, and exposed, while the woman behind them are mostly covered, hiding what could be judged or looked down upon. All of these women are focused on the beauty of the young angel. Even the body language and movement of the angel just shows confidence, however the movement from the women around seems to be closed into themselves as if they are afraid to stand and be open, as the angel is. I think this painting is realistic, I know there might not be sighting of angels caught on pictures or on t.v., but I don feel like the theme of this painting is realistic.
The important elements of this painting are colors. The colors all seem to be pure and warm. The value adds lightness to the painting. The lines in this painting come from the direction of the eyes from the women. Their line of sight leads directly to the angel in the center. This painting appears to have symmetrical balance. I would say that the virtuosity of this painting is the women and the angel. Just being able to paint these women so beautifully and making their skin look surreal is what I think was hard about this painting.