Over the last few days, I've been rummaging through Google's Life magazine photo archives. I came across an absolutely stunning series of photographs that Grey Villet made at a small dragstrip in Illinois, sometime in the late 1950s. They're terrific, and, amazingly, they've never published.
The series offers a rare glimpse into the culture of drag racing at virtually the time of its birth. You can see many more of Villet's photos and learn a bit about hot rodding culture on my racing photography blog, here.
Grey Villet: Drag Racing In Moline , Ill. © Time Inc. (Click directly on the photo to see a much larger version of this wonderful image.)
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Yes, I've decided to separate my racing photography and writing from my documentary photography and musings about photo history. Documentary photography and photo history remain on this blog. You'll find most things related to racing on my new blog, John Edwin Mason: Racing Photography.
dear John- speaking for myself, I liked the combination of jazz history, south africa, the bad old days and drag racing. You contain the vast range. For the academic brethren, maybe it was too much, but for JEM it's another day's work. Keep the big mix!
Posted by: billemory | 13 March 2010 at 11:14 PM
@Bill
"Keep the big mix!"
I appreciate the sentiment. But the new blog seems to make sense, at least for the moment.
On the other hand, there will always be a mix, to one degree or another, on this blog.
Posted by: John Edwin Mason | 14 March 2010 at 12:22 AM
Did you say how to get to the Google/Life photos? Did I miss it?
Posted by: Alan | 06 January 2011 at 02:18 AM
@Alan
Good question. I talk about the Google/Life archive in the longer version of this post, on my racing site:
http://johnedwinmason.typepad.com/jem_racing_photography/2010/03/life-magazine-cordova-dragway.html
Posted by: John | 06 January 2011 at 09:52 AM