John Edwin Mason: Racing Photography

Life Magazine, Interracial Love, and Drag Racing, 1965

[Note:  This is a cross-post from my documentary photography blog.]

Every now and then, the gods send you a moment of serendipity -- something unexpected that shoots a small shiver of delight up your spine -- whether you deserve it or not.  I had one of those moments, yesterday, when my friend Chuck Mathewes emailed me a link to a slideshow on the New York Times' website -- "The Case of Loving v. Bigotry".  The second photo in the series (that's it directly below) made me smile because what is says about the culture of drag racing.

Let me explain.

 

Grey Villet:  Richard and Mildred Loving watching drag races from the pit area, Sumerduck dragway, Sumerduck, Va., 1965.  {Click on the image to see a larger version.]

 

This photo wasn't intended to be about drag racing.  As far as Life magazine and its photographer, Grey Villet, were concerned, it was about an important episode in American history.

Villet made the image in 1965, while he was working on a story about Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple challenging the constitutionality of Virginia's law prohibiting marriage between partners of different races.  Here's how the Times' Julie Bosman tells the story:

In 1958, Richard and Mildred Loving were arrested in a nighttime raid in their bedroom by the sheriff of Caroline County, Va.  Their crime:  being married to each other.  The Lovings -- Mildred, who was of African-American and Native American descent, and Richard, a bricklayer with a blond buzz cut -- were ordered by a judge to leave Virginia for 25 years.  ...[The Lovings struggled] to return home after living in exile in Washington, where Mildred, gentle in person but persistent on paper, wrote pleading letters to Robert F. Kennedy and the A.C.L.U.  Two lawyers took their case to the Supreme Court, which struck down miscegenation laws in more than a dozen states.  The Lovings' belief in the simple rightness of their plea never wavered.

It's a tremendous story, no doubt about it.  But that's not what gave me a charge when I saw the photo.  The thrill comes from knowing that it makes perfect sense that the Lovings could relax at a drag strip.  The photo confirms an argument that I've been making about the strange and wonderful racial culture of drag racing.  All over the country, and even in the segregated South, drag racing has long been an oasis of racial tolerance.

My long-term documentary project, Democracy of Speed, explores the racial and gender cultures of drag racing.  While the project concentrates on Eastside Dragway, in Waynesboro, Virginia, I've spent quite a bit of time at Sumerduck Dragway, the drag strip in the photo above, which is still very much in operation.

Oddly enough, It was a little bit of bigotry -- my own bigotry -- that got me into the project.

When I first went to a drag race, seven or eight years ago, I had a pretty good idea what I was going to find -- great photo ops and a bunch of dumb rednecks.  I was right about the photos, but stunningly wrong about the people.

First of all, they're weren't dumb.  It takes a fair amount of smarts to be a successful racer.

Second, the racers weren't rednecks, some of them were women, and a many of them were black.  That's what drew me to the project -- easy, unselfconscious gender and racial integration in a place where I (and probably most people) least expected it, in a working-class Southern setting.

Over the years, I've made a lot of photos, conducted scores of interviews, and spent many hours pouring over old books, magazines, and newspapers trying to make sense of what I saw on that first day at the track.  I've discovered that drag racing is unique among motor sports in the way that, from the very beginning, it has accepted and often welcomed women racers and racers of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.  You can read more of what I have to say on the subject, here, and see a gallery of my photos, here.

* * *

Grey Villet's photo of the Lovings at Sumerduck Dragway eventually accompanied  "The Crime of Being Married:  A Virginia Couple Fights to Overturn an Old Law Against Miscegenation", which appeared in Life's 18 March 1966 edition.  You can read it and see more of his photos, here.  (At least you can if you're using Internet Explorer.  It doesn't seem to be displaying on Firefox, at the moment.)

It's a small irony that Villet, a white man, was born and raised in South Africa, a nation that modeled its laws against racially mixed marriages on America's.  Villet himself seems to have been a racial liberal.  He left South Africa for New York City, when he was in his twenties.  He soon found himself on the staff of Life, for which he sympathetically covered Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the crisis surrounding the integration of the schools, in Little Rock, Arkansas, among other major events.  He even shot a story on drag racing, in Moline, Illinois, which was never published.

You can see more of Villet's photography at the Monroe Gallery's website and browse through several thousand of his photos at Getty Images.

Last Dance at the Maxton Mile

I fell in love at the Maxton Mile, and, when it's gone, a piece of my heart will go, too.

Ok, that's putting it much too strongly, but it was the Maxton Mile that sparked my deep infatuation with land speed racing.  Besides drawing me back to Maxton repeatedly, it has lured me all the way out to the Bonnevile Salt Flats for Speed Week.  (But that's another story, for another time.)

Sadly, however, the Maxton Mile is coming to an end.  The East Coast Timing Association [ECTA] has been staging land speed races at the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport, in North Carolina, for over a decade.  Last year, it learned that it wouldn't be allowed to use the airport and its nearly two-mile-long runways after the 2011 season.  That season ends this coming weekend -- October 29th and 30th -- and, with it, a brief, largely unsung chapter in motor sports history.

 

Tim Hunter's '70 Plymouth GTS (converted into a replica of a legendary Nascar Superbirds) on the starting line at the Maxton Mile, 23 June 2011.  [Click on the image to see a larger version.]

Land speed racing has become my favorite motor sport for several different reasons.  For one thing, it's the purest form of racing you can possible imagine.  It's all about going faster than the other guys and gals -- in a straight line, over a measured course.  (At Maxton, the track is a mile long, as the name implies.)

It's also pure in the sense that it's not about money.   Racers aren't in it to get rich or famous.  There's no prize money to be won, few, if any, sponsorships to be had, and record setters won't get their picture on the cover of Sports Illustrated.  Oh, it costs plenty to build one of the very fastest cars or bikes, but a backyard mechanic who's both skilled and clever can create a machine that's competitive in its class without spending a lot of cash.

I also like land speed racing because of the people -- they tend to be smart, eccentric, and friendly -- and their machines -- which range from the sublime to the ridiculous, with every stop in between.  Needless to say, the people and their cars and bikes make land speed racing a lot of fun to shoot.

The ECTA has announced that it will hold its 2012 races at the Airpark, in Wilmington, Ohio.  It's a fine facility and the racing ought to be terrific.

This season, however, I'm saving the last dance for Maxton.

* * *

Find out more about the last running of the Maxton Mile by visiting the ECTA's website.

Professor Speed on the Salt: Robin Dripps at Bonneville, Speed Week, 2011

My story about Robin Dripp's attempt to set a new land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats appeared in the Charlottesville Daily Progress last Sunday.  The layout in the print edition looked terrific and the two-page spread included several of my photos.  The online version is less spectacular, but you can read the text, here, and see a slideshow of my photos of Robin and the Gibby and Dripps Racing Team, here.  (As an online bonus, the Progress added a slideshow of my photos that capture the scene at Bonneville more generally.  You can see it, here.)

 

Screen shot of my article about Robin Dripps.

 

This is how I begin the story:

The first thing you hear is static on the CB radio, telling you that there’s a car on the track. Then there’s nothing but the silence of sun, sky, distant mountains and salt.

When the car first appears, it’s a mirage. Five miles from the starting line, through binoculars or your camera’s telephoto lens, it shimmers motionless, a mere speck hovering over the surface of the salt.

The illusion evaporates as soon as it registers. Sound returns as a steady drone, turns into a wail and quickly becomes the anguished shriek of a race-tuned V8 engine being pushed almost to the breaking point.

The car itself is no longer a speck and hovering mirage. The speck has transformed itself into vintage hot rod, a jet-black roadster hurtling forward at an improbable speed.

As the car passes, the shriek subsides. A parachute blooms; the car slows and drifts out of sight, disappearing again below the curvature of the earth.

Welcome to Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats, the fastest place on earth.

As I mentioned, you can read the rest (and see many more photos) on the Progress's website.

***

Robin was one of over 500 racers who competed during the Southern California Timing Association's annual Speed Week races.  I've blogged about Speed Week 2011 a couple of times.  You can see a visual diary of my experiences at Bonneville, here, and a portfolio  of images that I made on the salt flats (a landscape of stark, other-worldly beauty), here.

* * *

In a blog post that I wrote about Robin several months ago, I called her Professor Speed.  She's got a heck of a story -- a former teenage hot rodder, who rediscovered speed when she was in her sixties.  In between, she became an architect with an international reputation and the T. David FitzGibbon Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia.  Pretty cool.

Bonneville Salt Flats, Speed Week, 2011: A Visual Diary

My first set of photos from Bonneville was all about the strange beauty of its landscape -- salt, sky, mountains, light, and vast, limitless space.  As I said in that post, it was my first trip to the Salt Flats, and I found the other-worldly landscape almost overwhelming.

This collection is different.  It's about the amazing cars and bikes that I saw and the cool people that I met at the Southern California Timing Association's [SCTA] Speed Week 2011.  As you'll see, however, the Bonneville's landscape never ceases to provide a gorgeous backdrop for photography.

 

 

Crew members push Fred Lobello's belly tank lakester toward an inspection station.  As the name implies, this purpose-built land speed racer was made (in 1969)  from the belly fuel tank of an airplane, in this case a US Air Force Convair B-58 bomber.  All competing cars and motorcycles undergo a rigorous inspection to ensure that all required safety equipment is present and that they comply with the rules for their classes.  Bonneville, August 2011.  Update, 2 September 2011:  Many thanks to Randy Chenowth for identifying himself and Jose Serrano as the team members in the photo.  Randy is on the left.   [Photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2011.  Click on any image to see a much larger version.]

 

 

An SCTA inspector gives the Heady Endeavors '34 Ford coupe the once-over.  The car holds the record in its class.  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

Jim Leininger's 750 Honda undergoes inspection.  Like the Heady Endeavors Ford, it holds the record in its class.  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

Bonner Denton talks to a Japanese television crew about Bonner's Bad Berkeley, a highly modified '59 Berkeley sports car, powered by a big ol' Donovan V8.  Bonner teaches chemistry at the University of Arizona, making him, by my count, one of two "Professor Speeds" at the event.  (The other is Robin Dripps, about whom I'm writing an article for the Charlottesville Daily Progress.)  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

SCTA volunteer (and land speed racer) Bob Sights directs traffic.  In the foreground is the Kilmer and Sons '31 Ford competition coupe.  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

No doubt about it, Bob Sights is as friendly and helpful as he looks in this picture.  He took pity on me, a Speed Week rookie, and showed me one or two of the ropes.  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

I didn't get this guy's name, but he claims that his homemade turbo hat, fashioned from a fiberglass sousaphone bell, really cools him off.  It probably builds the neck muscles, too.  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

The drivers' meeting takes place on Saturday morning, before any cars or bikes go down the track.  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

Carter Lloyd's  beautifully engineered front-wheel-drive '28 Ford roadster was the very first car to go down the long course at this year's event.  The man in the orange hat -- George Calloway, racer, photographer, and SCTA volunteer -- is another one of the people who made Speed Week such an enjoyable experience for me.  He was extremely generous in sharing his knowledge of land speed racing.

 

 

Believe is or not, folks, that bright red tube is a motorcycle.  Unfortunately, the Arrow Williams machine and the fellow inside -- who is lying flat on his back and peering out through a periscope --  are about to take a tumble, less than a mile down the track.  Luckily, the driver wasn't hurt.  Bonneville, August 2011.  [Remember, you can click on any photo to see a much larger version.]

 

 

Darold Cummings prepares to make a pass on his Gilera.  He eventually set a class record at 76.056 mph.  Not bad for a 125cc bike!  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

Riding his 1000cc Suzuki, Ralph Hudson (you'll see him again below) set a new record in his class, posting a top speed of 225.596 mph.  Most of the cars and bikes are so highly geared that they need a push (usually from a truck or SUV) to get going.  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

A unidentified roadster pops the 'chute to slow the car, before the driver applies the brakes.  The car is about five and a half miles from the starting line and has just entered the shut down area.  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

The Bean Bandits (a historic southern California land speed and drag racing team that's been around since 1949!) and Slappy's Garage combined to set a new class record 123.331 mph with this '50s Ford Mainline.  (No, I'd never heard of a Mainline, either.  Had to google it.)  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

As I was saying, everybody that I met at Bonneville really was as friendly as can be.  (Well, almost everybody.)  And I can personally confirm that an ice cream sandwich from the big yellow truck tastes awfully good after a long day of shooting.  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

Wendy Jeffries and King Kong.  Wendy, who edits the Bonneville Racing News, is one of the many people who helped my get my bearings during Speed Week.  Behind her is the SUV that serves as her mobile office.  The silver screen provides shade, a rare and precious commodity on the Salt.

 

 

It looks like sunset, but it's not.  The rosy glow comes from the rising sun.  That's Ralph Hudson, again, and he's about to set another class record.  Riding a 650cc Suzuki, he managed a top speed of 202.570 mph.  Bonneville, August 2011.

 

 

Crew members and spectators watch Ralph Hudson as he disappears from view -- over the curvature of the earth.  Yes, the Bonneville is one of the few places where the earth's curvature is easily visible to the naked eye.  Here, on Bonneville's eight-mile "long course," the neither the starting line nor the end of the course can be seen from the announcer's booth at the five-mile mark.

* * *

Note:  I'll post the photos that I made of Robin Dripps and the Gibby and Dripps racing team only after my article about them has run in the Daily Progress.

Bonneville Landscapes: Salt, Sky, Mountains, and Light

It's the strangest, the most other-worldly, and, in many ways, the most beautiful landscape I've ever seen.  Nothing but salt, sky, light, and sometimes mountains, as far as the eye can see.  Anything else is a temporary interloper, brought in by human hands and soon to depart, leaving no trace.

This is Bonneville -- the Bonneville Salt Flats, legendary home of land speed racing.  It affected me emotionally more than any place I've been to in a very long time.  As a photographer, I found myself responding as much to this astonishing physical space as to the people and cars within it.

 

 

A roadster on the Salt.  Bonneville, August 2011.  [All photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2011.  Click on any image to see a much larger version.]

In a few days, I'll be posting photos of land speed racers and their amazing machines.  (Update, 28 August 2011:  I've posted a "visual diary" of my week at Bonneville, with many photos of cool cars, bikes, and people, here.)  After all, I was at the Southern California Timing Association's [SCTA] Speed Week to shoot a story about Robin Dripps, a record-setting land speed racer, who is also a distinguished professor of architecture at the University of Virginia.

But, for now, I want to show you how I responded to the landscape.  Despite the presence of over 500 race cars and motorcycles and a few thousand drivers, crew members, officials, photographers, and spectators, what I saw was space -- gloriously empty, almost blinding space.

 

 

A hot rod on the Salt.  Bonneville, August 2011.

It's difficult to convey the size of the Salt Flats in words.  The salt covers 46 square miles, a hard number to grasp.  Let's just say that it's so vast that Bonneville is one of the few places on earth that the naked eye can easily see the curvature of the earth.

 

 

Spectators cruise past a viewing area.  Bonneville, August 2011.

A car on the starting line of the eight-mile-long temporary race track that the SCTA sets up every August for Speed Week can't been seen at the finish line.  The earth's curvature hides it from view.  Heck, it's three miles from the pits to the starting line.

 

 

Spectators ride past the sign marking the entrance to the impound area, where cars that have qualified to make record attempts must spend the night.  Bonneville, August 2011.

The disorientation that I felt for my first few days at Bonneville was certainly related to its overwhelming size.  But it also had to do with the salt underfoot.  The surface is salt, 90% pure and about the consistency of Kosher salt.  There's no grass, no dirt, no gravel, and no concrete or asphalt.  If you're upright, you're standing on salt.

Think about the yard outside your house, the grounds that surround your workplace, a shopping center, sports stadium, or any other race track.  The surfaces under your feet change every few steps.

 

 

A race car being pushed to the starting line.  Bonneville, August 2011.

Not at Bonneville.

If you were in the middle of the track, you'd have to travel a good five miles (maybe more) to find something other than salt to walk on.

 

 

Spectators and their mobile viewing stand.  Bonneville, August 2011.  [Remember, you can click on any image to see a larger version.]

Don't get me wrong.  It's true that Bonneville can seem vast and empty, despite the hundreds of cars and bikes and thousands of people on hand.  But you're never lonely.  Everyone I met was friendly, open, and happy to be there with you.  (In fact, many of the photos that I made are more heavily populated than these.)

 

 

A spectator at the starting line.  Bonneville, August 2011.

Still, I found myself so affected by the Salt Flats that I had to find a way to express my emotions visually.

 

 

A crew member at the boundary of the impound area.  Bonneville, August 2011.

And that meant that I was going to try to capture the vastness of the place.

 

 

A crew member begins to repack one of the parachutes that slow the cars after they make a pass.  Bonneville, August 2011.

And the way that Bonneville can make any human endeavor seem tiny and fragile.

 

 

Spectators watch a hot rod drive on the Salt.  Bonneville, August 2011.

There's nothing wrong with that, of course.  It's good to be reminded, from time to time, that the universe is much bigger than we are.

 

 

Spectators near the starting line.  Bonneville, August 2011.

And to be reminded of it in a place of such strange and staggering beauty.

 

 

Ice cream vendors on the Salt.  Bonneville, August 2011.

But, don't worry.  I'm not going to get all philosophical on you.

 

 

A race official at his station.  Bonneville, August 2011.

In fact, I'm going to shut up and let you see something of Bonneville's other-worldliness.

 

 

There's a class for almost every sort of vehicle, at Bonneville.  But I'm not sure you'll find Segways in the rule book.  Bonneville, August 2011.

And its odd moments of humor.

 

 

As the sun sets, a racer is towed back to the pits.  Bonneville, August 2011.