(Words and photos by Tommy Lee Byrd) – I love a good excuse to recap my year, as it really puts my career into perspective and makes me thankful that I can make a living by doing what I love. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever slow down, but doing these year end photo highlight deals shows me exactly what I would’ve missed if I had spent any of those Saturday afternoons cutting the grass.

An overgrown yard isn’t the only downside to being at a car show, drag race or cruise night every weekend, but I’m blessed to have included my young daughter and my very understanding wife in a bunch of my car guy activities. My day job as staff photographer (among other things) at Coker Tire sends me across the country on all sorts of adventures, and I stay busy on the weekends with my own adventures. That doesn’t leave much time to work on my project cars, but I guess those can wait. Here’s my list of highlights—I hope you enjoy them because I know I did!

ONTO THE PHOTOS!

My year started with a trip to Southern California for the MPMC (Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council) Media Trade Conference. The trip also included the grand opening of the So-Cal branch of the Coker Group, as well as a trip to the Grand National Roadster Show. If I would’ve carried my tripod on the plane, this would’ve been an epic shot, but handholding at 1/13-second shutter speed and coming out with a mostly OK photo is a win for me.

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Alright, so this isn’t an amazing picture, but it’s one of my favorite moments. I help organize the Chattanooga Cruise In, and this photo is from the roof of the Coker Tire building during the spring event. We were overwhelmed with more than 1,000 cars on hand—it was a cool moment when I got to the roof and saw just how many cars were in attendance.

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Road racing really isn’t my thing, but I can definitely appreciate it, especially when it comes to vintage stuff. I spent a day at Road Atlanta during the Classic Motorsports “Mitty” event, and got to see lots of killer vintage road racers in action.

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It’s not often I have the privilege of photographing 12 real AC Cobras, but 2014 was the year for me. A group of Cobra owners visited Coker Tire during a driving tour, and it was beyond awesome. 289’s, 427’s, Halibrand wheels—yeah, it was great.

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That’s my ’64 Corvette and yes, that’s a real ’55 Chevy nosed into the ground and used as a billboard. This was the beginning of my sketchy road trip to Bowling Green, Kentucky for the Hot Rod Reunion. It was sketchy because it rained the entire trip, and I was too dumb to swap the slicks for street tires.

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While at the Hot Rod Reunion, I witnessed the greatest cruise night of all time. The Holiday Inn parking lot was packed with awesomeness, and I am still speechless about the activities that took place that night. This rat rod flame thrower made for a cool photo.

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The burnout party at the Bowling Green Holiday Inn was mind blowing. My wife and I stood in amazement while people lined the street to watch hundreds of burnouts. It was illegal and dangerous, but definitely one of my favorite moments of 2014.

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As soon as I got home from Bowling Green, I hopped on a plane and ended up in Ogunquit, Maine for the start of the 2014 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty. For a media guy, this event is a two-week marathon, but some of the sketchy moments provide great shooting material. This Hudson is a nice example.

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One of the greatest things about this year was bringing my young daughter along with me. She has no choice but to love this stuff, and she always loves playing with my camera when I get down to her level for a shoot.

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The Chevrolet Nomad Association chose Chattanooga, Tennessee as the host city of its annual convention, and the group visited Coker Tire during parts of its event. These guys had excellent parking skills…seriously.

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It might not be my greatest photo of all time, but this car means a lot to me. My dad’s best friend owned this Kellison funny car for about 10 years during the ‘70s and ‘80s, and we had the opportunity to buy it this year. The car sat untouched for nearly 30 years, but my dad and I plan to get it running again soon.

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You may remember seeing this crusty Maverick several times here on BangShift, and this might be the last picture you see of the turbocharged sleeper. The owner sold it to fund a new project, but this is a cool shot of the car’s Power Tour setup when Josh hauled his wife and three kids to Charlotte, North Carolina.

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I love scoping out cool cruise nights, and there is a great one in Louisville, Kentucky during the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in August. Lots of drag cars come out to play, and invade a vacant parking lot for the night. Good stuff.

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It’s a pretty rare moment when I try to talk a guy out of doing a burnout, but it happened on this day. He didn’t listen and it left black marks that can be seen from outer space. It was one of the smokiest burnout/donuts I’ve ever seen in person.

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I photograph lots of cars, between shoots for Coker Tire marketing uses and magazine features, but this year I took on another project—a calendar. Local automotive paint supplier, Byrd’s Automotive (no relation) hired me to photograph customer vehicles for a cool 2015 calendar. This is one of my favorite shots, taken in front of Honest Charley Speed Shop.

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Coker Tire hosts a local vintage car rally in Chattanooga every fall called the Coker Tire Challenge, and I handle all of the photography for the event. While most cars are pre-WWII classics, it’s cool to see some muscle cars, like this ’67 Chevelle in the mix.

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Another shot from the Coker Tire Challenge shows Chad and Jennie Caldwell driving a stunning 1931 Auburn in the mountains of Tennessee.

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Paradise Drag Strip is one of my favorite drag strips, and it hosts several nostalgia-themed races every year. The fall 2014 event had lots of good stuff on hand, including Josh Flammer’s killer front engine dragster, which can be seen here hiking the front wheels.

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One of my favorite burnout shots of the year is Travis Burney carrying a lot of speed through the uphill burnout box at Paradise Drag Strip in Calhoun, Georgia. A lot of smoke, a lot of speed and a lot of counter steer make for an exciting burnout.

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My daughter is seen here showing off dad’s newest toy. It’s a Henry J drag car that is local to my hometown of Dayton, Tennessee, and it’s been sitting in a field for as long as I can remember. This thing has a ridiculous amount of engine setback and lots of cool stories attached to it. That’s my other Henry J in the background.

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While there are lots of cool things to photograph at the SEMA Show, the drift course offers the coolest photo opportunities in my opinion. Vaughn Gittin Jr. is seen here blazing the tires in his flared Mustang concept car.

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The SEMA Ignited event was pretty cool and my favorite car on hand was this ’55 Chevy gasser. With the front axle shoved forward a couple inches, velocity stacks poking through the hood and cheater slicks, this is my type of car.

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The day after I returned from SEMA, I hopped in the Corvette and met up with a bunch of folks to tackle the Tail of the Dragon. The fall colors were vibrant and the weather was perfect for a drive through the mountains. Fontana Dam and the surrounding areas, just across the state line in North Carolina offered great scenery for photo shoots during our Tail of the Dragon road trip in the Corvette.

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I finished off 2014 with the Draggin’ for Toys charity race at Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip. The combination of cool temperatures and a well-prepped track made for a display of wheelstands that I’ll never forget!