Gate Guards - NASCAR Cup Series - Martinsville Speedway - 1975

This is the obstacle that faced those that wanted to get closer to the sport and to what goes on in the pit area where there is access to the drivers, teams and the action, up close. There are ways through that gate, becoming a crew member, a sponsor, car owner, writer/journalist and credentialed photographer. My first access was by working in the concession stand at Langley Speedway. Sneaking in on these guys was possible, but unlikely. Getting a pit pass to get through that gate became the holy grail to many with aspirations to be involved in racing or those that were just huge fans.

Darrell Waltrip - The Way It Was - NASCAR Cup Series - Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway - 1978

Friday afternoon at the Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway 1978 Capital City 400 Winston Cup race weekend. Darrell Waltrip relaxes in the pit area of his DiGard Gatorade Racing Team. This is the state of the sport in 1978. All you needed was a lawn chair, umbrella, a toolbox on the ground with some boxes of spark plugs beside it and a wagon holding a set of tires. For success, just add a driver who would win the pole and race that weekend. And then finish the year with six wins, two poles and be third in the Winston Cup points. A far cry from the massive pit rigs and fancy garages team's work from at the track today. This photo led the Sports page of the Saturday afternoon September 9, 1978, edition of the Richmond News Leader. This photo also appeared in the book, "50 First Victories - Nascar Drivers' Breakthrough Wins," by Al Pearce and Mike Hembree.

Grey Ghost #28 - Bobby Allison - Daytona 500 Pole Winner - NASCAR Cup Series - Daytona International Speedway - 1981

A picture in a picture. Bobby Allison's Tuf-Lon Harry Ranier Pontiac in the garage at Daytona International Speedway at the 1981 Daytona 500 with the crew working on a competitors car reflected in the chrome number. The car was called by many the "Grey Ghost." Allsion put the car on the pole with a speed of 194.624 mph. He led 117 of the races 200 laps and finished second to Richard Petty. Buddy Baker drove the record-setting No. 28 Ranier Racing Gray Ghost from 1979 to 1980. Bobby Allison was behind the wheel of the car in 1981. Because of the gray paint scheme on the hood the car would blend in with the surface of the racetrack, so competitors had difficulty seeing the Grey Ghost coming from behind until it passed them for position.

Robert Yates - Bobby Allison - NASCAR Cup Series - Richmond Raceway - 1985

Robert Yates, age 41, oversees the work on the engine in Bobby Allison's DiGard Buick at the 1985 February race at Richmond. This would be a tough year for Allison as his relationship with team owner Bill Gardner deteriorated to the point that mid-season, he left the team that he had won the Winston Cup Championship with in 1983. This image gives a good look into how the teams added the weight to a car especially on the left side. Teams built the cars as light as they could so they could add weight where it would best help handling and have the cars meet NASCAR's rules for right and left side weight. It also looks like they were making a rear-gear change.

Dave Marcis - Wingtips - NASCAR Cup Series - Daytona International Speedway - 1978

There were two things that you could usually count on when you saw Dave Marcis, the Goodyear hat and leather wingtips that were his version of driving shoes.

A J Foyt - NASCAR Cup Series - Charlotte Motor Speedway

Here a smiling A J Foyt is at a fall NASCAR race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Foyt had good reasons to smile when he ran NASCAR. He made 128 NASCAR Cup Series starts over 30 years, including at least three races every season from 1963-90. He won seven races and finished in the top 10 36 times, a 28% rate. He had three wins at Daytona, twice in the Firecracker summer race and in the 1972 Daytona 500 driving for the Wood Brothers. He also won twice with the Wood Brothers at the Ontario Motor Speedway which was a copy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He had a NASCAR road course win at Riverside and collected a win at Atlanta, again with the Wood Brothers in 1971. This photo appeared in the book, "50 First Victories - Nascar Drivers' Breakthrough Wins," by Al Pearce and Mike Hembree.

A. J. Foyt - NASCAR Cup Series - Daytona 500 - Daytona International Speedway - 1981

During the week of the 1981 Daytona 500 I was roaming the garage and came upon the A. J. Foyt team and noticed the nice grouping of the Goodyear tires by to his car. I stood around for a while hoping an interesting composition would appear especially with A. J. in it, but he was just hanging with his crew at the front of the car. The longer I waited I began to see the ideal way the photograph could look if he just came over between the tires and the car. Realizing that the chances of that just happening were slim I just walked over and simply asked him if he would help me out with a picture. He asked where I would like him to stand and walked right over where I pointed out. He couldn't have been more friendly or helpful, not the typical A. J. Foyt story you hear. This photo appeared in the book, "50 First Victories - Nascar Drivers' Breakthrough Wins," by Al Pearce and Mike Hembree.

Caution - NASCAR Cup Series - Daytona 500 - Daytona International Speedway - 1981

The flagman waves the yellow flag and points to turn two for Bruce Hill's crash in the 1981 Daytona 500. Polesitter Bobby Allison leads Dale Earnhardt, Neil Bonnett, Benny Parsons, Ricky Rudd and eventual winner Richard Petty to the caution on lap 57 of the 200-lap race. This photo appeared in the books "Unseen Earnhart - The Man Behind the Mask," and "Dale vs Daytona: The Intimidator's Quest to Win the Great American Race," by Rick Houston.

Impressionistic NASCAR - NASCAR Cup Series - Daytona 500 - Daytona International Speedway - 1990

Richard Petty leads a draft that includes Darrell Waltrip, Mark Martin and Ken Schrader into the tri-oval in the 1990 Daytona 500.

Cale Yarborough - Richard Petty - NASCAR Cup Series -Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway - 1979

Cale Yarborough drops low into turn three as Richard Petty is on a hot lap, in the Friday afternoon practice for the September 1979 Capital City 400 at the Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway. This year Petty would win his seventh and final Winston Cup Championship. Yarborough had won the title the previous three years. They would finish fifth and sixth in this weekend's race. The planks on the old wooden board fence would move like piano keys as the cars blasted by moving the air at speeds just over 92 miles per hour. The green spots you see on the fence are vines that are growing behind it seeking sunlight. With Richmond being my "home" track I had learned that in the late afternoon at the Richmond fall race the sun dropping in the west would shine in and light up the drivers in the cockpit as they came down the backstretch.

David Pearson - NASCAR Cup Series - Daytona 500 - Daytona International Speedway - 1977

David Pearson was more comfortable in the shadows of the garage than out in the crowd. Here at the 1977 Daytona 500 he contemplates the needs of his Wood Brothers # 21 Mercury for the race. He had won it the year before in the spectacular finish with Richard Petty when they wrecked heading for the checkered flag. This year he would start fifth but only finish twenty-first after losing an engine 135 laps into the race. He would only lead two laps that day. This photo appeared in the book, "Richard Petty: Images of the King," by Ben Blake and Dick Conway.

Terry Labonte - Dale Inman - NASCAR Cup Series - Daytona 500 - Daytona International Speedway - 1984

Terry Labonte and crew chief Dale Inman, in their second year together, during practice for the 1984 Daytona 500. They would go on to win the first of Labonte's two Winston Cup Series Championships that year. Inman, had been crew chief for his cousin Richard Petty for most of his wins and all of his seven Winston Cup Championships. Here in this photo, he seems to be confidently preparing Labonte for the championship challenge ahead. As Randy Hallman wrote about Inman in the book AutoRacing/USA -1984/The Year in Review, "Nobody is better prepared to prepare a driver to win, and nobody is better when it comes to assessing the competition. When Inman talks, Labonte listens." This photo appeared in the books "Richard Petty - Images of the King," by Ben Blake and Dick Conway and "AutoRacing/ USA -1984/The Year in Review."

Alan Kulwicki - First Pole - NASCAR Cup Series - Richmond International Raceway - 1987

Alan Kulwicki is greeted in the media center in 1987 at the Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway after winning the first Winston Cup Pole of his career. With him are his PR man Tom Roberts and writer Jack Flowers. In the background on the phone is Bob Kelly who represented Ford in the Cup Series. This photo appeared in the book, "50 First Victories - Nascar Drivers' Breakthrough Wins," by Al Pearce and Mike Hembree.

Richard Petty - NASCAR Cup Series - First Failure To Qualify - Richmond International Raceway - 1989

Richard Petty contemplates the crumpled rear fender of his car and his failure to qualify at Richmond in March of 1989, ending a then-record streak of 513 consecutive races. In those days there were two rounds of qualifying and in the second round he had hit the wall leaving him with a time too slow to make the race. Other teams offered to let him drive their car so he could keep the streak alive, but he declined. Richard Petty, for the first time in his career loaded up the car and went home the day before the race. This photo appeared in the books "Richard Petty Images of the King," by Ben Blake and Dick Conway, and "AutoRacing/USA - 1989 The Year in Review."

Leonard Wood - Surgeon Mechanic - NASCAR Cup Series - Charlotte Motor Speedway - 1979

Leonard Wood looking like a surgeon as he studies the motor in the Wood Brothers's famed # 21 Purolator Mercury for the 1979 World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He and the team were under a lot of pressure as they had released longtime driver David Pearson five races earlier after Darlington. Pearson and the Wood's had won the Cup pole at Charlotte the previous ten races, all the way back to the fall race of 1973. At this World 600 Neil Bonnett would be behind the wheel of the # 21. Was it Pearson or the Woods who were responsible for the results? Bonnett came through that day and made it eleven in a row for the Woods and then capped it off by winning the pole again at the next Charlotte race in October.

Tim Richmond - Book Cover - NASCAR Cup Series - Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway - 1986

This photograph was at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway in 1986. Tim Richmond won seven Winston Cup races that year, including the one that week at Richmond. I knew the first time I saw this image at the camera shop after the film had been developed it was destined to be used significantly sometime in the future. It sat in my archives over the years, waiting. At the 2004 Daytona 500, I ran into Lynnette Bogard, a book editor with Sports Publishing, outside the media center in the infield. I had become acquainted with her when I had supplied a large number of photographs to them for books published in 2003 and 2004, on Bobby Allison and Mark Martin. She asked if I could help her get in through security to meet with David Poole, a reporter for the Charlotte Observer. "He's doing a book on Tim Richmond for me," she said. I told her as I took her in that I had the cover photo for the book, and it had been waiting to be used for many years. When I sent it to her, she and Sports Publishing agreed. Nineteen years after that photo was made at Richmond it became the cover photo for Poole's book, "Tim Richmond - The Fast Life and Remarkable Times of NASCAR'S Top Gun," published in 2005. In addition, it is seen on "Tim Richmond - To The Limit," part of the series of award-winning documentary films, 30 For 30, that aired on ESPN, which is available on a DVD.

Workingman's Hands - Dale Earnhardt Sr - NASCAR Cup Series - Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway - 1987

Workingman's hands are evident on this workingman's driver. Dale Earnhardt Sr just before the 1987 NASCAR Cup spring race on the old Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway half-mile track. He would win starting from third and lead 235 of the races 400 laps. It was the second of the eleven races he would win that year on the way to his third NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship. This photograph appeared in the book "Unseen Earnhardt - The Man Behind the Mask," and on the cover of the book "AutoRacing USA -1987/The Year in Review."

Slingshot - Benny Parsons - Terry Labonte - Daytona 500 - NASCAR Cup Series - Daytona International Speedway - 1984

At Daytona in 1984, I decided that I wanted to try to capture a still photo that showed a "Slingshot" during the Daytona 500. Obviously, it had to happen at the end of the backstretch so I would use the crowded grandstand that was then outside the track as the backdrop. I needed to be there when the light was right. I had to come up with a shutter speed that would be slow enough that when I was panning on the first car it would be open long enough that you could see the movement of the second car making the pass or slingshot, at 200 miles per hour. I went out to turn two for the start of the race. At that time, you could walk all the way down the 3,000-foot-long backstretch on the dirt berm that was between the track and Lake Lloyd. As I walked down the backstraight, I watched how the cars would close up on each other to make the slingshot before entering the high bank in turn three. By the time I got there I had a good feel for which cars heading down to me would be making the move I was trying to capture. Shooting with film in those days you had to do some educated guessing, hope for the best and you wouldn't know if you succeeded until a few days later after you had your film processed. This photo was run on two full pages "double truck" in the book "AutoRacing USA -1984/The Year in Review."

Junior Johnson - Last American Hero - World 600 - NASCAR Cup Series - Charlotte Motor Speedway - 1978

Junior Johnson sitting on the pit rail during qualifying for the 1978 World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. His driver Cale Yarborough would start second and finish fourth in the race. Cale would win the third of his Winston Cup Championships that year. The other two had come in the two previous years, 1976 and 1977. This photo appeared in the book, "50 First Victories - Nascar Drivers' Breakthrough Wins," by Al Pearce and Mike Hembree.

Jeff Gordon - Jimmie Johnson - Martinsville Discussion - Richmond International Raceway - 2007

Jeff Gordon, discussing with Jimmie Johnson what had happened on the last corner of the last lap at the spring 2007 Martinsville Cup race a few days earlier. They were at a Richmond International Raceway test session talking intensely for the first time since then. Johnson had withstood his teammate's 53-lap challenge at the end of the race and held him off to win with a .065 second margin of victory. Gordon had raced him clean in the closing laps, but on the last corner Gordon made contact with Johnson and got his car out of shape. This gave Gordon a final chance to win as they headed to the checkered flag, but he couldn't make the pass. According to a Sports Illustrated report, "The normally even-keeled Gordon was furious that he had lost. He cursed, he kicked a water bottle, and he ignored fans asking for autographs. For a moment the rarely seen intensity of a driver who has won 75 Cup races and four titles was on display. Second place clearly wasn't good enough for Gordon that day. The uncharacteristic behavior could have been because Johnson had won for the 26th time in his career, his third of the last six races and extended Gordon's winless streak to 24, keeping him one victory short of tying the late Dale Earnhardt for sixth on NASCAR's career list with 76."

Juan Pablo Montoya - NASCAR Cup Series - Richmond International Raceway - 2007

Jaun Pablo Montoya has a special driving resume in motorsports. He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2019. His race wins include the Indianapolis 500 twice, the Monaco Grand Prix and six other Formula One Grand Prix races, the 24 Hours of Daytona three times and two NASCAR Cup Series races. Montoya joins Mario Andretti and Dan Gurney by winning races in Indy cars, Formula One cars and NASCAR Cup cars.

Changing of the Guard - Richard Petty - Dale Earnhardt, Sr - NASCAR Cup Series - Charlotte Motor Speedway - 1979

A changing of the guard is beginning between Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, Sr in 1979. Here at the World 600, they would run together much of the race with Petty finishing second and Earnhardt third. Petty had already won two races of the five he would win that year and Earnhardt had just won his first Winston Cup race a month earlier at Bristol. Petty would capture the last of his seven Winston Cup championships in 1979 and Earnhardt would win the first of his seven Winston Cup championships the next year, in 1980. This photo appeared in the books "Richard Petty: Images of the King," by Ben Blake and Dick Conway and "Unseen Earnhardt - The Man Behind the Mask."

Bobby Allison - Driver/Mechanic/Car Owner - Matador - Daytona International Speedway - 1977

Bobby Allison in a flannel shirt working as driver, mechanic and team owner on his Matador at the Daytona 500 in 1977. The previous year he had driven for the pressed shirt Penske team where he had no wins but finished in the Top Five fifteen times to go along with three poles. For 1977 in the self-owned Matador, he would only finish one race on the lead lap and have just five Top Five finishes. But Allision was a hard man to keep down. The next year in 1978, he would be found celebrating winning the Daytona 500 with the Bud Moore team in victory lane. This photo appeared in the books, "Bobby Allison: A Racer's Racer," by Bobby Allison with Tim Packman and "50 First Victories - Nascar Drivers' Breakthrough Wins," by Al Pearce and Mike Hembree.