• That’s no ordinary limousine

• She fried a what?

• Sub Zero Ice Cream

• Mechanic injured in garage fire

• Last F-16 leaves Springfield airport

• Day after the CWLP plant explosion

• State trooper funeral

• Gun buyback results unveiled

• Cops get pied in the face

• An inside look at Dallman 4 construction

• Overturned semi

• Ursuline Academy named an endangered property

• Anti-war protest in downtown Springfield

• Puppy stolen from the APL

• Carpenter Street fire

While covering the Illinois State Fair this year, I was offered a chance to ride in the starting gate car prior to one of the races.

The car — a mobile start gate — basically is a modified white limousine with two front ends that has an automated starting gate on it. The men inside the car activate the gates at the appropriate time, and they swing out on either side of the car. The racers then line up in their designated spots behind the gate, and the limo takes off with the horses following. The limo speeds up and gets out of the way of the horses just as they cross the start line.

But that’s not the end of it. The car continues on around the track along with the harness racers. Inside the car are two patrol judges who monitor the racing to make sure no infractions take place. A driver at the other end of the car drives it around the track.

I used the Flip video cam to film the one-mile race from inside the car.

Norma Bowers of Dallas shows how to make a deep-fried hot fudge sundae at the ever-popular Fried What! stand, which is inside the Main Gate on Main Street across from Ethnic Village at the Illinois State Fair.

I shot this video of the folks at Sub Zero Ice Cream demonstrating how they use liquid nitrogen to freeze ice cream before customers’ eyes. The company , based in Utah, was at the 2009 Illinois State Fair.

A mechanic suffered severe burns in this fire, which happened the morning of April 21, 2009, when he dropped a fuel tank he was changing out on a truck and the fuel ignited.

The last F-16 assigned to Springfield’s 183rd Tactical Fighter Wing thundered into the air Sept. 23, 2008, and then circled back over the base to make a final pass. With the plane’s departure at 9:36 a.m., the unit’s 60-year tradition of flying fighters out of Springfield ended.

Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin and City Water, Light and Power general manager Todd Renfrow talk about the power plant explosion the day after it happened. The explosion was Nov. 10, 2007; this news conference was convened Nov. 11, 2007.

I covered the funeral of Illinois State Police trooper Brian McMillen, who was killed in an early morning crash east of Springfield. The funeral was in Taylorville on Oct. 31, 2007. I shot video, and SJ-R photographers Justin Fowler and T.J. Salsman shot stills. The result was this touching tribute.

City officials show off the hundreds of firearms turned in during a gun-buyback program. Oct. 29, 2007.

Springfield-area police officers take a pie in the face as part of the annual Badges for Life summer blood drive. Sept. 5, 2007.

A truck hauling large pieces of concrete overturns at Veterans and J. David Jones parkways in Springfield.

A group of men and women protest on the five-year anniversary of the war in Iraq.

Sue Pilger from the Animal Protective League talks about a break-in at the shelter in March 2008, during which a sick puppy was stolen.

House fire on Carpenter Street on Jan. 9, 2008.