Carlos Avina of C&C Race Photos, passed away early Sunday morning on the 18th of September, 2011, while struggling to recover from an apparent heart attack he suffered earlier that week. The community that is District 38 Desert Racing has, in this, suffered an enormous loss.

There are those among us who most people may know, but who are just there. Carlos wasn't like that. Carlos was a presence. He began taking pictures with his wife, Carol, as a hobby in 1986, according to his web site, but some remember it being much earlier. One thing led to another, and he had soon started his own small business taking pictures of racing events around the county. And so it has been ever since.

Every race weekend he'd be there, driving up and down pit row the day before the race, offering the pictures he'd taken the race before, running over a few bushes and red cones as he went. He had a keen ability to remember names and rider numbers, even year to year when they would sometimes change. And faces, in spite of the fact that he couldn't see them while you were racing, he would somehow know who you were walking around without your helmet. His work was good, and the price he'd ask for the 3x5's always seemed so low that I usually gave him a little extra. I had the feeling he had given me something, not sold me something.

He'd take his big red 4x4 out around the course the day before to scout a couple of places to shoot from, and Kyle McDaniels recalls wondering how in the world he got to some of the places he would show up at. He spent so many years shooting at these races that he could sometimes look at a course layout on paper and know from the map where he wanted to shoot, and his ability to get from one part of the course to another before you got there was sometimes uncanny. It was as if we were racing in his back yard.

Warren Marlay once said that whenever he spotted Carlos he knew he needed to slow down a little because it meant "something exciting was about to happen". Jeff Hoskins recalls that Carlos has been taking pictures of him since he was 12, and he's now riding the Vet Quad class. Jason from Dusty Lens Photo dealt directly with Carlos for a very long time, and called him "the Godfather of offroad racing photography".

Kyle also remembers, as most of us do, that Carlos could always track down wherever the free food was. If anyone was serving up anything, Carlos would be there, and it's no small measure of his character that he was always welcomed by whoever was serving.

If anyone can be said to have been a fixture at D38 races Carlos is the prototype. It seemed like he was always there, and always a welcome companion around the campfire. His passing creates a void that will never be entirely filled. He was respected and loved by everyone, just as I know he cared for all of us. We were a part of his family to him, and he was part of ours. We will all miss him for a long time to come.

God speed, Carlos Avina. Our hearts go with you.