(Photos by Tommy Lee Byrd) – It’s the end of the year, and for me, it’s hard to remember all the places I’ve been in the past 12 months. Drag strips, car shows, trade shows, road trips and shop visits all seem to run together. I’m on the road a lot for my day job (photographer for Coker Tire Company) and do a great deal of freelance work for magazines, while also contributing to BangShift, writing books and occasionally finding time to work on my own project cars. With that said, I take a lot of pictures for many different purposes. Here are my top photos of 2013.

I love being at the right place, at the right time for a wheelstand shot. This one doesn’t look particularly spectacular, but it was exciting from my vantage point. Smaller tracks offer a whole different level of excitement in moments like this. 

I shot a bunch of photos at the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky, including some fun nighttime stuff at the host hotel. The Larkness Monster, a crazy Studebaker Lark gasser, was one of my favorite cars, and I happened to snag a cool shot of it rumbling past me.

A wild moment at historic Paradise Drag Strip in Calhoun, Georgia, as Lee McMichen goes skyward in a front engine dragster. This was the car’s first pass with the blown and injected combination.

Burnouts at the drag strip are no big deal, right? That’s what I thought until I attended the 2013 Draggin’ for Toys charity race. The event got rained out, but the track crew decided to have a burnout contest to break in the brand new concrete racing surface. This photo was taken at half track.

I get lots of practice doing car-to-car driving shots, as I am the photographer for the Great Race and travel along with the route every year. This is one of those shots where all of the planets aligned, and even the sun aligned exactly where I wanted it. 

Another shot from the 2013 Great Race, taken in La Crosse, Wisconsin after a big storm passed through. It was basically dark, but I had a tiny bit of sunset lighting to work with, so I stopped down to 1/30shutter speed, which is nearly impossible for a full speed driving shot. Somehow, it all worked out, and the shot of this vintage Kenworth turned out awesome.

I love this Bob Glidden tribute Thunderbird. Too bad it has a Chevy engine. 

This is just a random parking lot photo, but it almost looks like I meant for it to happen. Firestone lettering in the right place, nice evening lighting and a downright cool car.

Yay, another burnout shot! The Hot Rod Reunion provides plenty of opportunities for great burnout photos, especially when the gassers and altereds pull up to the line.

My day job at Coker Tire required me to follow along with the Street Rodder Road Tour build, which took place at Honest Charley Garage. This is the finished product, just days before it left for its 20,000-mile road trip. It’s a ’51 Ford custom with a Ford EcoBoost twin turbo V6.

2013 was a great year for my BFF Josh and his crusty Maverick. He made big ET gains at the track, and only managed to break an input shaft all year long. The car still has a lot working against it, but managed to run a best of 6.60 at 106 miles per hour in the eighth mile. 

Yep, I saved the best for last. Ron Lane getting pretty aggressive with the nitrous on his Chevy-powered 240Z, resulting in my all-time greatest wheelstand photo.