Tot ziens, Oscar, dank je wel!

04. May 2011The round in Donington rang in a new era in European truck racing, the first year without Mr. Hoogendoorn. Mr. Hoogendoorn?, a lot of people will probably ask, because he is known to everybody as Oscar – Photography Oscar. Some 30 years ago, when in Europe the first truckers appeared at the circuits, the self-taught photographer Oscar arrived at the scene, too. Over the years the Dutchman became an institution. There is hardly any circuit, team or manufacturer Oscar has not taken photos for. Together with his friend and colleague Jonathan Reeves he partly organized the annual FIA Prize Giving Ceremony, and for years both men were responsible for the points calculations. As the longest serving representative of the media and press Oscar occupied an exceptional position – from which his colleagues benefitted, too. Whenever there was a problem, for instance in regard to the places for the photographers, Oscar and Jon always knew the respective contact person and dealt with the situation. When sometimes the opening hours of the one or other press centre were a bit short – Oscar took care of the matter and, as a rule, got a key. But in recent years the media scene changed severely. More and more frequently Oscar complained of lack of cooperativeness and dumping prices paid for media and news services which were hardly economically viable anymore. As a consequence he now informed several colleagues and many of his customers by e-mail that he’ll say goodbye to the truck racing business – at least in his capacity as a photo journalist. As he said, in future he would rather assist his wife in her shop – and play with his grandchildren. But upon request we could at least educe from Oscar that he could imagine to come to Jarama in October, provided he got an invitation for the Silver Jubilee of truck racing.

Tot ziens, Oscar

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