OFFICIAL 1970-1989 RACING PHOTO THREAD | FerrariChat

OFFICIAL 1970-1989 RACING PHOTO THREAD

Discussion in 'Other Racing' started by RP, Jan 21, 2008.

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  1. RP

    RP F1 World Champ

    Feb 9, 2005
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    Tone Def
    #1 RP, Jan 21, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Some of you know that I threw away some of my youth ( I was merely a pimply teenager ;} ) as an underpaid phototographer covering motor racing in North America during the 1970's and early 1980's. F1, NASCAR, USAC/CART, IMSA, F5000, CanAm, the real TranAm, etc. I worked for a group that sold to Road & Track Car & Driver, On Track, Grand Prix Magazine, etc. I did not ask many questions as I felt so lucky to be able to stand in the shadows of my racing heros. My assignment was race starts, pit lane, and victory circle/lane, whatever its called. At the end of the day, I was required to turn in 12 undeveloped color slide rolls, and 6 undeveloped B&W rolls. Then I drove home in time to shave and shower for my regular rent paying job. Sometimes I did not remember who won a race as all I cared about was that right photo. I managed to keep just a few photos, as that broke the rules. If something you saw in magazines closely looked like one of these photos, it was probably one of mine as I have no idea where and when they were published.

    I was so fortunate to meet the true heros of racing, nothing comes close to the drivers of the 1970's. Probably the most dangerous period in racing. Faster cars, no safety requirements. I would take photos hoping to see a particular driver the next race to get their autograph, but sadly, that did not always happen. Cevert, Revson, etc. I manage to get 90% of the drivers from the 70's to sit in their cars with helmets on, visors up, and then get 5 X 7's opr 8 X 10's autographed. I even had little signs in each drivers native language that I would show them asking to take their photos, and then I would flip the sign over to show a thank you. I am still looking for those photos in storage.

    Since we have nothing better to do until racing season begins, and for me that is in Daytona in February, might as well look at old photos.

    PLEASE POST ONLY PHOTOS FROM 1970-1989 ON THIS THREAD. If you are impressed with your photos from other periods, start another thread. If there is a story behind the photo, please tell everyone.

    All my photos are unretouched uncropped amatuer digital copies from slides, 64, 100, and 400 ASA. Vertical shots were intended to be cover or article lead photo shots. I am still looking for more, and will post when I find and get digitized.

    First are my Niki Lauda and James Hunt photos. First Lauda photo is just after his accident. When he autographed it, he signed his name right across his face. What would Dr. Phil say? Since I recently got burnt, I think about Lauda's strength to put up with the pain and to get back in a race car again. Six month's later, I still am on pain pills. Lauda is my hero.

    The overhead photo of Lauda's Ferrari in the rain is from Watkins Glen, uh, 1976?? They had a overhang near the start finish line that a few of us photog were allowed to use. One of my favorite photos.

    Hunt's photos are from Watkins Glen, he won the WDC that year. 1976?? Penthouse playmates were the grid race girls that year. After he won the race, he stopped, lit a cigarette, sat on his McLaren with the Penthouse Playmate we all knew he later took back to his hotel. Hunt is by far the Mr. Cool of F1 of all time. He blew the engine on Friday. One of the mechanics gave me a piston from that engine, Hunt autographed it for me on Saturday. It will only be available upon my demise.

    BTW, I do not want to see these photos appear anywhere else, they are mine copyrighted, and I have a friend named Vinnie the Face that does not believe in leaving behind any witnesses.

    Remember ONLY PHOTOS FROM THE 1970'S AND EARLY 1980'S on this thread.
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  2. Arvin Grajau

    Arvin Grajau Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    any shots of AJ.
     
  3. ferraridude615

    ferraridude615 F1 Veteran

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    Very cool idea for a thread, and great pics.
     
  4. RP

    RP F1 World Champ

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    #4 RP, Jan 21, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    These COPYRIGHTED photos are some of the ones I kept of Mario Andretti when he drove for Lotus and the ultimate in F1 team managers, Colin chapman.

    Forgive the redundancy as some of you already know this story. I was at Mosport on a lovely sunny Friday for the Canadian GP practice. The track had a dirt access road that followed the track all around for the corner workers. On Friday, they did mind if some of us photogs carrying 80 pound of 35mm equipment used the roadway to get one car shots (one car photos if shot in the right light with the correct sun angle are not always race day shots).

    Mario loses the Lotus and ends up in the shrubs. Track goes red. I packed my Nikon equipment, and am walking back to my maroon Monte Carlo. Ugly car. As I am walking, I feel the presence of someone next to me. It was Mario walking back to the garage. I told him my car had garage stickers, I would give him a ride. I did. I figured after writing off a car at 160 MPH, that last thing he needed was some stupid photog talking. I kept silent. I drove him into the garage area, he got out, said thank you.

    Fast forward to Long Beach and the mirror shot below. I was practicing a shot where I focused on the image in the rear view mirror and not the morror itself. So at Long Beach I thought I would try it on Mario. I leaned on the side pod of the Lotus and I could hear Chapman yelling get that f*****g phtographer off the car!!!! But then Mario waved everyone off, and let me take the photos. He remembered me. Holy fritolly!!! So when I finished I waved thank you at Mario. The other photogs tried to do the same thing and they were all castrated.

    Ronnie Peterson. Opposite of James Hunt, but just absolutely one really great driver. He always let me take his photo. Of course I had that little sign in his native language that he appreciated. When I watched the Monza race where he died, I am not afraid to admit I cried. That day and Cevert's death are the two worst for me.

    Please no copying of these photos.
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  5. RP

    RP F1 World Champ

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    #5 RP, Jan 21, 2008
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  6. wetpet

    wetpet F1 World Champ
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    Awesome ron! you're my new hero. love the name too! Ron Paul 08!
     
  7. RP

    RP F1 World Champ

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    #7 RP, Jan 21, 2008
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    There were 10 of us that were allowed on the outside of turn one at Michigan International for the start of every race back in the 1970's. I was one of them. Ten really stupid people. I was one of them. You know, young a really stupid.

    They let us hang our elbows over the railing. No little hole in the catch fence. Just 10 idiots thinking how cool this was. The corner workers knew us after a few years, so they let us get away with suicide. Well it was cool, but so incredibly dangerous.

    No concrete wall, just those flimsy metal guard rails and Indy cars dong the fastest they ever did at around 220+ MPH. I remember thinking how great it was that after 10 laps I would walk to my next race day position with the outline of my Nikon Photomic on my face. The littel bits of tire rubber forming a silouhette of my camera.

    Then one day I got thinking, if one of those Indy cars lost a wheel, I would never know what hit me. I nearly wet my pants when reality set in.

    But then I did it again the following year, but this time I had my will drawn. No joke.

    So Robert here is AJ, and you will find AJ in the red Chevelle in the NASCAR photo below. I believe that would be David Pearson leading, then Buddy Baker, Petty's STP Charger, Bobby Allison's Matador. If you have never been to a NASCAR race, you really can not criticize it, it is the most entertaining of all racing that exists, except maybe the BTCC.

    I have other AJ photos somewhere, he is one of the very best. My favorite AJ story is I was standing in his pits for first day Indy 500 qualifying, don't remember the year. I got to know Linda Vaughn, Miss Hurst Golden Shifter, so I was standing next to her. She kept yelling AJ, oh AJ, and he wouldn't look. We all knew something incredible was about to happen. Finally, she lifted her blouse, yelled oh AJ, and at that very moment he turned to look at her, and he turned a redder red than the Gilmore red. No bra, and friends, back then they did not have silcone impants. She was a real woman all the way. One of my all time racing heros, Linda that is. I have a photo of her in a t-shirt I had made that said Mario, World Champion. Problem was it was one year too early. But she agreed to wear it for the photo.

    Well, I handed her the t-shirt, and while we standing in the garage area at Watkins Glen, she removed the t-shirt she was wearing and put on the t-shirt I gave her. My jaw fell to the ground, she just laughed at me and told me to hurry and take the photo. You see, she did not like to wear bras. I knew that day there was a God and he did create women. And his image of women was Linda Vaughn. My knees buckled. Wonderful lady.

    The silence at that moment was deafening. The laughter shortly there after was never to be forgotten.

    Some years later, my former mechanic bother-in-law was burnt in an accident, and AJ personally wrote a letter to him along with an autograph of a photo I took of him next to his Cutlass during preseason practica at Daytona.
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  8. ferraridude615

    ferraridude615 F1 Veteran

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    How bout a story time with TifosiRon thread :D
     
  9. bernardo66

    bernardo66 The Crazy Cat Man
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  10. RP

    RP F1 World Champ

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    I am personally very boring. The most exciting memory I have outside of racing was one time I was in NYC for New Year's Eve. I was wearing my Joe Nameth fake long fur coat. As my date and two other couples were walking to Times Square, two lovely ladies of the evening asked me if I wanted a date.

    Being a bumpkin from Ohio, I politely responded, "no thank you, I have a date, but that was very nice of you to ask".

    What a dumb ass.

    Just then two of New York's finest pull up in a squad car. They get out and ask me for my ID. Then they are asking how long these ladies worked for me. What?? I am no pimp. My date, and my other two so called couple friends had already crossed the street and were waving at me and laughing.

    As I am sweating while telling the officers I never met these two women before, my "friends" are laughing. Finally they came back and told the police I was with them.

    I wanted to kill my friends but I had enough of the police for an evening. I still have that coat in storage, but I neve wore it again after that night.

    So that's all I have to tell.

    Wait, there was the one time with the stripper in Toledo..............
     
  11. RP

    RP F1 World Champ

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    EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!
     
  12. mpatrizio

    mpatrizio Formula Junior

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    The pictures of Mario are better than you described. I also love the picture of Lauda from the bridge.
     
  13. ferraridude615

    ferraridude615 F1 Veteran

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    Ya sure? Going to most auto races in the 70's and 80's seems pretty exciting.
     
  14. classic308

    classic308 F1 Veteran

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    Ron-thank you for the pics....bought back memories....those pics of Lauda, Gilles and Mario are awesome....from a time when the driver was still very valuable...

    As for Cevert, a few of the waiters from a restaurant my dad worked at went to the race at the Glen and were literally right there at the accident. Most never went to another race after that.
     
  15. Whisky

    Whisky Two Time F1 World Champ
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    The original Fernando
    12 rolls of slides ?
    6 rolls of B&W ??

    Jeez, when I was covering stuff, it was common for us to blow thru 50-200 rolls of K-Chrome....
    But secretly, I LOVED shooting on AgfaPan 25 or Pan-X, and I even tried shooting Technical Pan
    a few times, it's great stuff. As a rule, I didn't allow any film faster than PKR in my bag when shooting
    outside in daylight.

    80 lbs of equipment ?

    I didn't know they made 80 lbs of equipment back in the 70's..... ;)

    LOL, I carted around a 300/2 and 400 2.8 for 5 years in Detroit.

    And I used to walk from turn 1 to turn 13 and back - uphill both ways....

    I have tons of negs and slides, but I'm too lazy to find a good scanner, or one that is affordable anyway, not in the quality vs. price I want.
     
  16. classic308

    classic308 F1 Veteran

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    You mean the car that has more GP wins than Toyota???;)
     
  17. classic308

    classic308 F1 Veteran

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    That first pic of Mario is from 1976; the Long Beach pics are from the 1977 race which Mario won (started second), Lauda on pole, Jody led race with a brilliant start and it was a real battle between the three of them with some excellent dicing between Niki and Mario. Jody had a flat tire 2 or 3 laps from the end and Mario and Niki got by. I still remember watching the race on CBS like it was yesterday....
     
  18. 575Mike

    575Mike Formula 3

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    Ron, this has been one of the best, if not the best, threads I've read on Ferrari Chat. Great, great stuff. My dad used to take us to Elkhart Lake in the 70s and 80s. I have many fond memories of watching some of the all time great drivers pilot their cars in various series from Can Am to F5000 to IMSA to CART -- Revson, Redman, Stewart, Hulme, Cevert, Holbert, Tambay, Rahal, Ickx, Al Unser Sr., Rosberg, Andretti and many others.

    I saw A.J. crash in the early 90s at Turn 1. It was a terrible crash which broke both of his legs. The day before that my brother Jay got his picture taken with him. A.J. couldn't have been nicer.

    Thanks again Ron!
     
  19. RP

    RP F1 World Champ

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    There were anywhere from 6-8 of us working a race. If we were any good we were told, all we needed was one roll each. As for the 80 pounds, I carried three Nikon bodies, 10 lenses, plus filters, etc. Zooms just did not cut it, had to have lenses from 24mm to 500mm to get the best quality.
     
  20. Whisky

    Whisky Two Time F1 World Champ
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    When you do it for so long, or when you do it because you are thrust into it, it CAN be boring.

    I used to cover a lot of college football, and everyone thought it was awesome I was on the sidelines at all the games I went to, but it was pretty boring. I looked at it like it was at the time - a job. And it was.
    A great friend of mine - we started to mock all the other photogs: When you look at a game, you generally see all the photogs just hug the line of scrimmage and follow the ball up and down. We were no exception - for awhile. I said to him 'Let's have some fun. See how everyone just follows everyone else ? Well, everyone is shooting the SAME angle pic. Let's try something'.

    So we both split up, and went opposite of the crowd. The angles we shot were ours alone, because nobody followed us.
    The next week we did a whole game like that. Got some great pics, had a lot of our stuff published.
    The following week another guy followed us.
    Two weeks later 3-4 folks followed us.
    Three-four weeks later we had 10-12 other photogs following our lead, shooting from the corner of the end zone when a team was on the 40-50 yd line, and other odd angles, but few of them had a 600/4.
    We LOAO....

    This was in about 1982 or so.

    Now, had we ALL known what we were looking at when we saw Bruce in a McLaren, Mark in the Porsche, Sneva, Rutherford, Hunt, Sheckter, Lauda, Follmer, I'm sure ALL of us would have spent a fortune on camera gear, but who knew ?
    Nobody knew the sports we followed in their infancy would turn out to be like they are, not motorsports, not the NFL, not the NBA, not the good ol days of Pro Wrestling (think Baron Von Raschke), hell, who on earth thought Pro Fishing and Pro Poker would explode like it has ?
     
  21. RP

    RP F1 World Champ

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    Yellowbird, are these photos you actually took yourself? They are fantastic.

    I'd like to see this thread kept to photos taken by the person posting.
     
  22. Whisky

    Whisky Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Oh, I know what you meant.
    I was the same was as a race team: spares, spares, and more spares.
    I carried 6 bodies, 24/2, 35/2, 85 1/4, 105 2.5, 180 2.8, 300/2 and 400 2.8.
    I swapped between the 300/2 and the 600/4 depending on the sport.
    Today my longest lens is my 180 2.8, I don't shoot much of anything anymore, and I just can't force myself to go digital, and probably never will totally, although I might find a used Nikon digital body to use my old Nikkor's on, but I doubt I ever buy all new digital bodies AND lenses.
    In fact, I have not shot much of anything since about 1991 except Dirt Late Model pics (Moyer, Bloomquist, Moran, etc.) and I even stopped that about 7 years ago.

    In my neck o the woods, nobody appreciates good photography.
     
  23. Whisky

    Whisky Two Time F1 World Champ
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    I agree, those are great pieces of work. Neat to see decent work done with a 500 Cat..
    Yellowbird obviously likes Alain Prost.
    I will post some of my stuff in a day or two, I just don't have much scanned in.

    I didn't mean to go off-topic or hijack, sorry.
     
  24. RP

    RP F1 World Champ

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    Six bodies? You were either richer than me or better paid. After my expenses, gas, motel, food, I was lucky if I broke even. I had to trust "The Man" to be paid for photos used. Just being there was my payment. Meeting photogs like Cahier, and Harmeyer was good.

    I did team tennis in Phoenix for a while, got boring, even Nasty couldn't keep exciting. I still have all my 35mm in storage, I use an ordinary Sony digital for photos today.
     

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