Epic archives! Thank you for making these truly historical images accessable to those who can appreciate them. Top notch effort on your part Ryan!
Some more great time travel! You can feel the chill in the morning air in those foggy/cloud shots. Particularly like the random spectator parking with the “late models” Thanks again, Ryan!
59 Bonneville with dumps…GMC pickup…yaaas! The Unsers loved them some Pontiacs. Looking forward to some color shots of Louis winning in his 1960 Full Size.
That Pontiac is really a stand out in that group of photos along with the Continental push car. As usual just a great group of shots.
Brilliant colors for an overcast day. The machinery is, of course, quite healthy. Always felt that slide rule engineering, outdoes computerized utilization of raw materials. Anyhow Thank You Ryan, for bringing these gems to us. Really am grateful.
My favorites are these shot of Louis and Bobby Unser (I think that's them anyway): Reason being is purely nerdy... He's shooting in low light and opened up his lens. And whatever lens he was using was pretty damned fast... I'm guessing a 50mm Summicron. But it creates this dreamy softness that I love.
Wonderful pictures! It's especially interesting that the Unser family was still out racing hard after Jerry Unser had died in May of 1959 during qualifications for Indy. They sure had a need for speed. Oh and Bobby is the guy shaking hands with the official in this picture.
Treasures. Every one of 'em. It's probably been mentioned and I missed it, are these slides you're working with? Prints? Color negs? Whatever it is, your methods are stellar. Thank you.
I don’t have the negatives—or anything physical, for that matter. What I do have is the story behind how this whole thing landed in my lap. Ralph Whitworth was a good friend. He owned the Tom Cobbs roadster and, for a while, was working on a hot rod museum just outside Wendover. In the process, he got in touch with Tom Cobbs’ family, and they handed over the entire archive for the museum project. Ralph then sent the whole thing to Larry Stein—a guy who runs a photography business and occasionally takes on archive work. Larry’s job? Scan the entire collection. We’re talking hours upon hours of tedious, obsessive work. But before he could finish, Ralph got sick—and passed away. That left Larry in a strange spot. He had this massive archive, all this work already done, and no idea what to do with it. No clear path, no one to hand it off to. Years passed. Then, somehow, Larry found out about my connection to Ralph and reached out—asked if I’d be interested in bringing this thing to life, putting the images out into the world. The answer was obvious.
Pretty incredible footage...thanks for sharing these Ryan and to those who passed them on. Quite a well attended event with many movers and shakers...the need for speed and living on the edge...
I’m kind of glad to be through all the “Trip” directories—feels like a solid chapter closed—but now I’m staring at the rest of this beast and have no damn clue where to go next. There are so many folders, all with names cool enough to make your hands itch, and I can’t decide which one to crack open first. I’ll be in Hawaii for a big chunk of the summer, and this kind of content is tailor-made for that vibe—quiet nights, ocean air, and deep dives into forgotten film. So yeah, I’m definitely stashing some of the good stuff for then. Might even take a short break from the archive altogether… But hell—it’s hard to hold off. Real hard.
We'll be waiting...I've missed a couple of these entries and there's plenty to keep the dream alive in the meantime. Safe travels to the land of palms, stone funnels and damn cool Hotrod history.
Such great stuff!! I enjoy looking in the backgrounds of these photos. I addition to Louis Unser's Continental, I spotted a 59 Dodge Sweptside pickup and a 58 Buick Caballero wagon, both rare vehicles in the day.
As important as the photos are, the context is also valuable. Every part, car, location, date and person identified helps historic images become more useful as reference, not just visually interesting. I hope that the tidbits gathered in research remain with the images, which is a whole different level of collecting and collating. I get that just rushing through everything is enticing. Perhaps careful study and note taking for each image will be the drive to slow down and provide deeper context for future viewers.
Frankly, I’m way too fired up to slow down and research every car in every shot right now. Maybe down the line… but for now, I’m digging this organic approach. Tossing the photos out into the ether and discovering them right alongside the rest of you. And if there’s enough interest in digging deeper—really unraveling the history of each machine—then it becomes a crowd-sourced thing... Not just me squinting at grainy details with the same tools you’ve all got, trying to track down every car that hit the mountain. To me, it's far more organic if we do it as a community. Above everything else, I don't want to be a gatekeeper to history. I've made it pretty obvious how I feel about watermarks on vintage images the "owner" didn't take. I also get equally annoyed by people that stumble into an archive like this and then feel as though they have the right to control it. I don't own these photos. I wasn't even alive when they were taken. It's my job to make sure anyone that wants to see them, can see them... Research comes second.
My random thoughts... Somehow I feel like this was meant to be. You as the disseminator. So many things aligning. This would be an amazing slideshow. Like Warren Miller but old hotrod photos. And us all with laptops and able to real-time research and discover the layered info in each shot. It's kinda like that now.
Wow, now I have some more historical info to go with the photo you sent me of the sprinter in tow by the Continental. That makes my photo even more special to me. I will add that to the backside of my pic. Thanks.
No_6-23.jpg This Bobby Unser picture from Winners Circle is an example of the hat dance at Nascar races. All the sponsors, Mobil Oil, Champions Spark Plugs etc.. would get their chance to take pictures with the class winners while handing over contingency checks. In the photo his mom Mary is to the left, his first wife Barbara (Bobby Jr's mom) to the right and his dad is down below Jerry Unser in the red hat.
Amazing shot. Winners Circle was moved down to Devils Playground in 1959. Always more people there versus it being at the Summit. The 99 car was the Stock Car Winner Nick Sanborn. On top of the car was the new "Jerry Unser Memorial trophy" He passed away in May of 1959 after a practice accident for the Indy 500. His widow Jeannie Unser handed out the trophy. Someone in that crowd took the picture of the event. Amazing amount of cameras in this shot ! IMG_8438 by colorado_aircooled posted Apr 25, 2025 at 10:19 AM IMG_8439 by colorado_aircooled posted Apr 25, 2025 at 10:19 AM
The Dick Frezel Special driven by Slim Roberts. Dick had two cars at the 59 race. Bob Finny in #58 and Slim in #85. Both ran 341ci Lincolns with 4 Strombergs, and halibrand quick change rear ends running Ford "special" transmissions .Slim took second behind Bobby Unser . The Bob Finny car still survives and lurks somewhere in Denver Colorado.
I've often wondered, when looking at old race photograph's, why did the race teams/mechanics wear white? These guy's are around grease and oil all day!
I think it's gamesmanship and trying to promote car racing as a good guy sport. The first guys that did it made everyone else look scruffy, and if it wasn't a sanctioned pro sport, it would get lumped in with the hoodlums and scufflaws. Remember that the guy who came out and filled 'er up also could be wearing white and a bow tie! The grease monkeys in back not so much.
The Jalopy Journal
