MOTOR RACING

Early high school adventure reading led me to motor racing, particularly Formula One. My brother’s ROAD&TRACK magazines transported me to exotic tracks across Europe with drivers (a name alone could draw you in: Marquess Alfonso de Portago) risking fiery crashes and injuries. These stories were not covered in the U.S. news unless there was a huge tragedy such as the 1955 Le Mans crash killing 83 spectators or Wolfgang Von Trips dying in a 1961 crash while leading in the race for world champion that also killed 15 spectators.

Ernst Hemingway once said, “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing and mountaineering. The rest are merely games.” My only chance of seeing any of these sports was a nearby track called Lime Rock or local county fair races.

I was off to college in Rochester, New York in 1964 and realized the United States Grand Prix was 90 miles away in Watkins Glen. I was lucky that a classmate with a car was interested in seeing it. On a borrowed camera, I took two decent color shots of Jim Clark and John Surtees flying past. On the exit, I spotted Stirling Moss stuck in traffic driving a Mini-Cooper. He autographed my ticket stub, his hand still bandaged from his Goodwood crash.

The next year I wanted better access for taking photos. The local paper would not help with credentials. Living on a dorm floor with artists and photographers, we concocted the idea of a Press Pass. Using press-type, and a polaroid ID photo in a plastic sleeve, I headed down to Watkins with several borrowed cameras to sling around my neck as I owned only one.

Worked for me.

Incredibly, I breezed past guards and walked through the pits and onto the starting grid, rubbing elbows with my heroes. When I told an artist friend of my ruse, he was aghast. Having media contacts, he arranged for a real press pass from an auto magazine, which I used the following year.

After college I went on to legitimately cover many races during the Golden Age of America Racing which included F1, Can-Am and Trans-Am.

Though it was essential to get photos of the cars racing, usually with long telephoto lenses, editors knew my knack for catching pit action and personalities. Most often I used my favorite lens (35mm) on a Leica M-2 camera. I tried to carefully compose like the published works of my photo heroes. I looked to capture a key moment, well framed. My intent was not to take a journalistic photo but one transcending the subject into the realm of art.

If I had to use only one lens, it would be a 35mm. Examples of how that lens was used to cover racing can be seen at:

 https://alvisupitis.zenfolio.com/p948002428