This is an amazing small archive of original Type I Snapshot photographs and a few pages of racing related newspaper clippings.
I have not been able to ID the photographer, but the negatives of these photos are digitally housed in the online repository of the Bruce R. Craig Photograph Collection at Revs Insitutue. As such, I've been able to ID many of the drivers in the images. These are the original photographs from the 1940s, and all appear to have been taken at Oakland Speedway, possibly 1947. As an example, the last picture in the listing photographs depicts an
online screen capture of the Rajo Jack digitized negative, at the Revs
Institute web page.
There are 20 individual snapshot photographs. Drivers include:
Rajo Jack, born Dewey Gatson (mid race) - One of the first African American Racers in America
Wild Bill Anderson - cockpit shot, big cars (deceased 1950)
Buck Whitmer - cockpit shot, big cars (deceased 1949)
Bob Frame - cockpit shot, big cars (deceased 1947)
Leonard Lowe
Jack Menser
"Fat" Mario
Billy Frank
Frank Meeks
Joe Rand
Cecil Burnaugh
Mack Hellings
3 remain unidentified by me, and then there are 5 in action snapshots.
The photographs are likely all from Oakland Speedway during the same race. The newspaper clippings are from unrelated speedways and tracks but of the same timeline. These were all together as one archive.
Each photograph measures approx. 3" x 4" - they are lightly glued to the back of each scrapbook page. I have not tried to remove the photos but it may be possible if you should so desire.
They are wonderful images that depict early racing, with some true legends of the sport depicted.
More than happy to send you direct links to the web-page where I've identified each driver, just message if you'd like those links - I cannot post links in a listing.
Blue watermarks are a digital creation and not on the physical listing.
Any questions just ask. Will ship with extra care.
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Dewey Gatson, better known as Rajo Jack or his pseudonym Jack DeSoto, (July 28, 1905 – February 28, 1956) was an American racecar driver. He is known as one of the first African American racers in America. He won races up and down the West Coast of the United States in stock cars, midgets, big cars and motorcycles. Rajo Jack was inducted in the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2003 and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2007.
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In 1931 the Oakland Speedway was built near Oakland, but actually was located between Oakland and nearby Hayward, California, on the site of what is now Bayfair Mall in San Leandro, California.
Annually each fall the track hosted the "Oakland 500" race. Many of the local East Bay races were exhibited by the Bay Cities Racing Association. In 1948 local East Bay driver Bob Barkhimer quit racing to become the business manager for the racing association. In 1949 Barkhimer took over San Jose Speedway and also started his own association, and in 1954 he co-founded west coast NASCAR.
Among top drivers who were killed at the Oakland Speedway was Clyde Rea Bray, who had held second place in the A.R.A.[clarification needed] points in 1939, behind champion Wally Schock. Bray had come in 5th in the Oakland "500" that year. Two years later, on Labor Day, 1941, during the Oakland Speedway 500 race, on the 356th lap, Bray was fatally injured after being thrown from his car, after it sailed over the south fence.
Among legendary top race drivers who got their start at the Oakland Speedway was Bob Sweikert, the 1955 Indianapolis 500 winner. On Memorial Day, May 26, 1947 at the Oakland Speedway, Sweikert drove his own handbuilt track roadster in his debut race for prize money, and finished second.
Championship motorcycle races were also held at the Oakland Speedway. The American Motorcycle Association sanctioned 200-mile nationals for 1935, 1938, 1939, 1940 and 1941. They were won, respectively, by Jimmy Young, Sam Arena, Jack Cottrell/Armando Magri, Louis Guanella and Ernie Holbrook. All winners rode Harley-Davidsons, except Holbrook, who won on an Indian.
But for motorcycles, the track was notoriously unsafe. It was full of sand that flew up into your face, and little chunks of clotted, oiled dirt were missing along the straightaways. On warm afternoons, the top of the banked curves would sweat oil, which oozed down onto the track’s lower sections, making some parts slippery while others buckled-up. "You had to find the right groove, and stay in it," said Armando Magri's brother Ernie, who rode practice laps but did not compete. "It was flat-out dangerous," said Magri.
The Oakland Speedway claimed scores of injuries, and ultimately, the lives of four motorcycle racers. The first was Dick Ince, the millionaire son of Hollywood Director Thomas Ince, in 1938. Tommy Hayes and June McCall died in a multi-rider accident in 1940, and Gus Hunter died in October 1941. After that race, Oakland Tribune columnist Alan Ward called for the end of motorcycle racing on the track. But two months later, there would be no more racing at all. Oakland Speedway lost its lease just as America entered World War II.
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The Bruce R. Craig photographs, 1902-1998 consist of a total of 27,927 images. There are 21,724 black-and-white negatives, 6,181 glass negatives, and 22 color negatives. Included in the Bruce R. Craig photographs, 1902-1998 are the archives of photographers Ted Wilson and Vincente Alvarez, as well as other photographers’ images, such as C.V. Haschel, Kirkpatrick, and Jack Fox. These images cover oval track racing; open wheel racing, including Indy cars, sprints and midgets; modified race cars; early NASCAR contests; early hill climb contests; souvenir images of race car drivers; track architecture; wrecks; pits and paddocks; and crowd scenes.