Jim Kelly, Drag Racing Photographer

I haven't had much luck contacting any 1960's photographers, but I thought I'd give it another try. Does anyone know how to reach Jim Kelly? I hear he's still around. **** Towers with Match Race Madness was selling his stuff, but **** p***ed away in Oct 2009, and I don't think his son is carrying on the business. If anyone knows anything more, please let me know. I'm basically trying to find guys that shot supercharged g***ers in SoCal in the late 60's. I had some luck with Steve Reyes and a few others, but most of their stuff is from Fremont. I'm looking for more g***er stuff from Lions, Irwindale, OCIR, etc... Mostly 66-69 time frame. Any help is appreciated.

Mark

 

I can put you in touch with John Durand if you PM me.

 

bump...

 

Photo's by Jere, Shanks, McClurg, Earman, West, Hart to name a few from the Southern Calif. tracks. Towers had collected negatives not only from Kelly but many others. Perhaps in time Richard might continue with his dad's dream. Don Montgomery, Hart, McClurg, Reyes all have excellent books related to the g***er scene

 

Might try Tim Marshall, he was the photog at Irwindale, etc., good guy, must have shot a lot of g***ers, somebody on this site might know how to reach him, think he has been to some nostalgia events recently??

 

Jim Kelly is still around but did sell his entire collection to **** Towers. I would try Jere Alhadeff. Tim Marshall lives in Las Vegas and still shoots a couple of the nostalgia events but I'm pretty sure that he does not have many of his old negs anymore.

Bob McClurg lives in Hawaii and still has his collection. Tom West also has all of his images and is still living in southern California.

 

I have contact info for Bob McClurg. Just talked to him a couple of nights ago.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I've tried a lot of the well known guys, but they just don't want to dig for anything. Most of them just don't have their stuff catalogued well enough to find stuff in a reasonable period of time. It's so frustrating, because I know some of these guys have what I'm looking for, but they just won't take the time to find it. It's a shame, because one day, all these guys that shot in the 60s will be gone, and only a small portion of their work will ever be shared. Not to mention all the drag racing history that will be lost forever. Unless these guys have family members that want to continue sharing their work, most of it just gets thrown away.

 

have you found out anything about jim kelly since your post from 2011? i have a pic from him of my dad (john wenderski/black beauty dragster aa/fd) i am looking for more info/pictuers/etc. about my father.

 

I almost forgot im also looking to connect with steve reyes. Harry Hibler (track manager at san fernando) told me to give him a try. any help would be great! www.blackbeautyracing.com

 

I have a friend who bought a sit load of negatives from a photographer all national events from the 60's

 

are you willing to share? would love to see what you have!

 

I just checked out your dad's website, you must be a proud son!

 

No, unfortunately I haven't found anything. Steve Reyes is pretty easy to get a hold of though. He's on E-bay. I think his store is "Hot Rods to Hell". Just do a search for drag racing pictures, and you'll find a lot of his for sale.

 

I know where Jim Kelly is. I bought his house here in Texas in 2008. If you are interested drop me an email. I don't know if he's like me to post his address online...//Loren

 

OOPS... my email is lorenew@yahoo.com