The 2023 season was bittersweet for 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace. Bitter because of the numerous times his errors and pit crew issues failed him and sweet because he made his first career playoff appearance this year. All things considered, it was a pretty pleasant season for the Alabama native.
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Back in 2020, when the world resorted to locking themselves up in their homes as the brutal fangs of COVID-19 struck anyone in its way, the racing fandom got a sneak peek into Bubba Wallace’s biggest hobby.
While talking to Fox Sports reporter Lindsay Czarniak, Bubba Wallace revealed that he loved the art of photography. Whenever he has a camera in his hands, Wallace just transcends into another world. And it all started back in 2010 at Greenville Pickens Speedway.
Bubba Wallace was with Rev Racing then. “We were at a test session when I was with Revolution Racing,” said Bubba Wallace. “Greenville Pickens, a fun race track, I ran a couple times there in late models, I was gonna come up through the ranks and my dad had his old Nikon in the backseat of his truck and I grabbed it. That was 2010 and maybe that camera was from 2005.”
Bubba Wallace didn’t know a lot about cameras and photography at that time but was confident that he would figure it out somehow. And so his journey started. “I was like, I’m gonna figure it out, I didn’t really know what I was doing,” he laughed.
It was only later on that year when Bubba Wallace went to Bristol Motor Speedway and went out to get a camera for himself. Although super fun, Bubba Wallace feels like the art of photography is challenging indeed.
Wallace’s love for photography is so intense that, after he retires from racing, Bubba Wallace just wants to do two things: travel the world and capture cool photographs.
“I kind of went a little bit of a hiatus there a couple years ago and it’s kind of sparked back up where I want to travel and after I’m done racing and hopefully make a good living for myself… Just travel the world and take really cool pictures,” he added.
Bubba Wallace’s funny photoshoot story
NASCAR drivers often need to appear before the camera for photoshoots and commercials. Bubba Wallace too, is no exception. This speedster has even been featured in a 6-part Netflix docuseries, Race: Bubba Wallace. So people would naturally think that posing in front of a camera should be a forte for him.
Interestingly, that’s not the case. Portrait photography is Wallace’s strong suit, but Bubba has always been on the lens side. And that’s where the problem lies.
Bubba Wallace gets distracted by the lens that the photographers bring in. “It’s always funny because I’m always eyeballing their equipment…that’s a nice lens, oh that’s 70/200… Oh, that’s 1635, like alright nice!” And then, he forgets to pose.
