When I first pitched the idea of doing a photo essay of this years' Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas for my colleagues at Texas Highways magazine, I didn't realize the World Endurance Championship wouldn't be returning to Austin in the foreseeable future. Which I won't lie is a bit of a bummer.

I also didn't realize that there wouldn't be any evening racing, and I'd really hoped to capture the track at night. Double whammy!

But capture the event I did, and I'm really glad I had the opportunity. It was a really neat experience and its a shame that more people didn't attend. The amount of access to the cars, the teams, the drivers, and parts of the facility were truly amazing. And while having media credentials did allow me to shoot trackside which I couldn't have done otherwise, I didn't need it to get up close to the paddock area, the garages, anything really.

These are just a handful of the images, you can view the whole gallery over at Texas Highways.