Most drag racing fans who are familiar with my story, know that I worked as a photographer for many years before my own racing career finally got underway in 1986. Once I started racing, I put away my cameras and focused (pun intended) solely on my career. All of my past work was no longer important to me. But even though I no longer cared about my past, I did manage to lug around 11 big plastic bins of negatives and transparencies from the mid eighties all over the country. They've been stored in numerous storage units, moved from Atlanta to Indy back in 1994, stacked up in the not-so-dry 1932 era basement of my first house, and most recently, stored in the garage next to all of my and my family's cycling and ski equipment out here in Oregon. How I kept them, and why, I am not sure, but, boy, am I glad I did. I kept all of my camera equipment too, for the most part, although I did sell my 500mm lens to noted photographer and fellow Super Stock Magazine contributor Francis Butler after we had blown something up in the funny car in 1990. I last did a professional shoot (for WInston) in 1989 to raise some quick money when Gary Evans and I formed our own team, Bazemore Evans Racing. I next shot our car in 1996 for the cover of National Dragster. That was it until 2005 when my son Dashiell was born. In 15 years, I had picked up a camera exactly one time.

A week after Dash was born I returned home from Gainesville and shot of few rolls of B&W film of our little joy, only to find it impossible to get the film processed in Indianapolis! Times had changed.

Fast forward to now, and I am back into photography, although not making a living at it the way I once did. I enjoy it in ways that I never did before though, and I do shoot professional cycling races several times a year. I shoot my kids, and I am trying to do more landscape fine art, as well. But one of the most fun, and satisfying, projects has been going through some of my old stuff and getting a handful of images scanned and reprocessed. I can spend hours in Lightroom doing post processing work. Editing the images has brought me back to a time in the sport when things were different, and dare I say, better. The cars looked like cars and the drivers could be who they were, not some sponsor kissing drones. The tracks were full and there was genuine excitement in the air every day of every race. I may be jaded (in fact, I know I am!) but I think some of my images tell the story of that difference.

Each photo is presented on its own, there is not an order to them, or a continuous theme. They should stand alone for what they are.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed re-editing them and going back a few years in time.  ---Whit Bazemore

LINDA VAUGHN 1984 - There is no better way to start off the new year than with Linda Vaughn circa 1984. Linda is such a sweetheart. I remember once when I was about 14 or 15 years old, I posed for a picture with her in front of the War Eagle truck and when she put her leg across mine in some sort of modeling pose, I innocently (but not really) put my hand on her thigh. Wrong move. She slapped my hand, pretty firmly if I remember, all the while smiling sweetly for the picture. My face was beat red and in the ensuing photo, my hands are tightly pressed against my sides, looking very much like the young teenage nerd I was. One of life's lessons for sure. Of course, later, as I got to know Linda better, I realized how much respect she has in the racing community and how she is loved by racers and fans alike. She is cool. This transparency has faded and is in bad shape, but for obvious reasons, I had to include it.

BRUCE IVERSON 1983 - This happened at Orange County at the World Finals in 1983 I believe, It doesn't look too terribly bad here (not too good, either!) but because of the era, with steel brakes which couldn't stop a Pinto, this fire grew into a bad one. With today's carbon brakes, and a good driver, this is the kinda of fire you want to have if you have to have one! Chute out with a smoke free cockpit means nothing is too serious yet, and if you managed to get it stopped half way on time, you could maybe down play the whole thing with a Don Prudhomme sort of coolness. I loved going to Orange County for the 'Finals and am ever more grateful that I was able to experience a part of our sport's history before it sadly went away. 

TIM RICHARDS 1983 - As far as photos go, this one is not my best ever. But I like it because it does have a much younger Tim Richards proving once and for all, to me at least, that his reputation as "The General" was much over rated.

Make no mistake, Tim showed up at the races to win, and he liked perfection. My time working for him was unfortunately very short lived, just a year and a half, but it was an experience that is really a highlight of my career.

In 1999, with the help of several friends, I was able put together a few last minute sponsorship deals to take to Chuck Etchells which made it possible for me to race that year. I actually got a real paycheck for the first time in my racing career, and I had Tim Richards as my crew chief! At the time I didn't think it could get much better, and as it turned out, it really couldn't.

Many of my friends have heard this story before, but it needs repeating here.

Up until driving for "The General," I was always part of the decision making process on my own race cars. Granted, my input was small, but I did have input and I enjoyed working with my crew chiefs at the time, Rob Flynn and Chris Cunningham. I enjoyed being part of a team, and being close to the car and the guys. I needed to know what changes we were making and what we were trying to accomplish with the tuneup.

My first few days on the job with Tim and Kim Richards, at the pre-season Phoenix test sessions, were a shock, to put it mildly. First, not much was said. By anyone. Just serious, focused work. Which was very cool by me. But later in the day, I was leaning on the car watching Kim do the clutch, when she turned around and said, "what the f--- do you need to watch me for?" "Ahh, I don't." Still cool by me, 'cause these were people I could win a championship with, so what ever. When we warmed up the car for the first time, I realized the oil pressure gauge was missing - there wasn't one. I asked Tim where it was. "Up here," he replied, nodding to the front to the engine. I asked how I was supposed to make decisions when I didn't have a gauge? " That is not your decision and why do you care if it has oil pressure," he asked? Good point. I didn't care, because the few times in prior years when it had low, or no, oil pressure (the 3rd round against Worsham at '92 Memphis comes to mind) I had said 'F--- it," and staged anyway. Not once that I can remember had I ever shut off because of what that gauge said. Tim said, " I don't want you to think about an F-ing thing except driving. That is it, understand." So we got through the first day and I tried to do exactly as Tim said... "go to the 330 this time," he would say, and I would try to lift RIGHT at the cone. Towing back, I would be blabbering on and on about how it felt, "it tried to go left a little and I really don't think it unloaded at all when I corrected," or, "it picked up the left front an inch or so way out there, but don't put any weight on it, 'cause it felt good." Tim would just look out the window for the most part. I think he was used to Chuck Etchells cracking open a beer at that point, and didn't quite know what to make of me.

For day two, I arrived nice and early, before the rest of the team, and when the guys arrived, I asked my good friend and engine builder Chris Forton if they (Tim and Kim) had offered any feedback back on the job I was doing so far. "Yeah, they said that you are a big pain in the ass. You're always in the way. And you ask too many f-ing questions." Man, was I deflated, because truthfully, I had made a big effort to be as inconspicuous as possible. So during the remainder of the test session, I made myself totally invisible, hanging out in the lounge. Tim would yell up, " Ok, we're ready," when it was time to warm it, and "this time I want you to go to the finish line," when it was time to go to the lanes. I just tried to do my job as perfectly as possible, and stayed very quiet. "Yes sir, no sir." I would still offer my thoughts about the run, but I quickly learned to speak as concisely as possible. "It was perfect," or, "it felt a little rich a few hundred feet before the lights." Stuff like that. Then I would disappear out of sight until the next warm up.

Near the end of the third day, out of the blue,  Tim said, "Kim and I want to take you to dinner tomorrow night." Cool. I was nervous and excited at the same time. So we went to this little steak house somewhere in Phoenix, and they really opened up, relaxed, and we had a great time. They told me about the team, what needed improving, what was good, and their approach to racing. All kinds of stuff. From that moment, I knew they had accepted me, and we had a great working relationship, and a strong friendship which still exists to this day.

The General and Kim are people who command respect and get the best out of you. They are the kinds of people who you do not want to disappoint. I always tried to be as perfect and as mistake free as possible, and God knows I hated to lose, but with Tim and Kim, I think maybe it was more important than at any other time. I guess I felt like I had to prove myself to them, over and over, day after day, and for me, that was a very good thing.

KENNY BERNSTEIN 1984 - Gainesville, 1984, was a magic weekend as both Joe Amato in Top Fuel and Kenny Bernstein in Funny Car broke the 260 mph barrier. It had been 9 long years since Garlits had first broken the 250 mph barrier, so 260 was a big deal at the time, especially for a Funny Car. This car was way ahead of everyone's at the time, with an "aero package" to borrow F1 speak, plus  bigger mags and of course, the first lock up clutch.

By 1984, I was pretty well established and this was my favorite style of shot... long lens, down track in the "danger zone" trying to capture the raw power and speed which had me in awe of the sport, the mechanics, the cars, and the people who drove them.

JOHN FORCE 1982 - This is from a set of black & white negatives I came across from Gainesville in 1982. I like this shot of Force, although I had a similar shot of Tom Hoover which was better and ran in Super Stock magazine. I no longer have the negative to the Hoover shot, which makes me wonder how many other cool shots I don't have anymore. I can't worry about it now, instead I am grateful for all the ones I DO have!

Force is someone who I have a lot of opinions about, both good and bad, because I have seen both sides of the guy. Most, but certainly not all, fans see Force only through rose colored glasses, but believe me, like all of us,  there are things about the guy that are definitely NOT rose colored! One thing everyone has to admire about the guy though, is how he came up and how he paid his dues. Force is a drag racer, no question about that, and I think he will race as long as he is physically able to climb into the car - or - as long as someone is willing to pay him!

Force is addicted to the adulation he enjoys from the fans... take that away and I think he would be in a world of hurt. Once, in the mid 90's, we were all at the Richmond airport, not in the dead of winter mind you, and there was John standing in the middle of a concourse wearing one of those loud, tacky leather jackets with his name on it as big as it could be. He couldn't have shouted his name any louder! While most of us liked to travel as incognito as possible, not John. He wants the spotlight 24 -7. It is all part of the circus that is John Force. That he has turned that circus into a lot of money says a lot about his understanding of the game and his savvy. I am looking forward to seeing how he responds this season to the 2012 beating he got from Team Schumacher. Might be worth tuning into a few races to have a look!

JIM HEAD 1984 - INDY, 1984 was a pretty good day for Jim Head, seen here with Miss Winstons Becky Marshall (right) and Mindy Canada after winning. I like Head and the fact his independence has always allowed him to speak his mind (and, importantly, get away with it,) and race however he wants to. Even today, I think the way Jim races is reminiscent of a by-gone era, when people raced for fun and no one had any real pressure on them to perform.

My last winning round in a Funny Car came against Jim in the semis at INDY in '06. It was probably a pretty exciting race to watch from the outside... 'cause it certainly was from the inside! Our car smoked the tires before 300 feet and I got it to hook back up for a moment, only for it to blow the tires off again. After that, it would not recover at all. Sometimes that happens, and it is frustrating to say the least. But Jim never passed me, so given that, I knew we had won the round, even though we were not even at half track yet! It was my experience that it was always quicker to just leg the thing to the finish line smoking the tires (after half track) as opposed to peddling it repeatedly 100 times, and that is what I did. Our car was a handful, but still, Jim had had not passed us in the other lane, so I kept my foot planted. In fact, our car got VERY sideways near the finish line, (which, if you are in the right frame of mind, can be very fun. Or scary, if you in over your head.) But then, all of a sudden, just before the finish line (literally within feet,) he passed us. Right there. I was so dejected, getting beat in the semis at Indy... thinking we had won, then losing at the last possible moment, in a peddle fest no less. I thought I had driven the car beyond my best ability, yet he had done a better job, so it was an unglamorous end to my Funny Car career. I think I congratulated him, but I was most dejected, for sure. Then came the word that he had nicked the cone at the finish line and was DQed and we were reinstated! I still think Jim did a great job that day and probably deserved the round win... after all, he had smoked the tires too and had been able to get his car to recover. But I did a better  job of staying in our lane, so it worked out in our favor.

Such are the emotions of winning and losing... a lot happens in those few seconds. We had gone from for-sure winning, to for-sure getting beat, then for-sure winning again! All the while driving on the ragged edge of control. In the final, Robert Hight left first by a few thousandths and we got out run by another few thousands to miss out on my 3rd Indy win. It would have a great win, maybe the best of my career, and huge for up and coming tuners Todd Okuhara and Phil Schuler, but we just didn't get it done.

Winning INDY is so special... better than anywhere else. You can see it in Jim Head's expression! Having Mindy and Becky hanging all over you will put a smile on your face too, but winning INDY is what our sport is all about.

RICK HOUSER 1985 - Pomona was always one of my favorite places to shoot (and race, although I never won there.) From a photographers perspective, it is near perfect light wise, especially in the late afternoon. I loved it, and the fact that the sun is low in the late winter sky during the Winternationals makes it possibly the best opportunity for 'chute shots all year.

As for racing there, during the Winternationals, everyone is always fired up and ready to go for a new season, and at the World Finals, it is pretty much the opposite, everyone is tired and grateful that the season is almost over!

BILL "GRUMPY" JENKINS 1985 - This shot of "Da Grump" from the mid eighties is pretty much accurate I would say. Only it isn't. Because, the few times I met "Da Grump" he was anything but.

The first time was the most memorable. It was in the Commerce, Ga., Holiday Inn bar across the freeway from the track. I think the day had rained out, and despite the fact I lived about an hour away, I had a room there. I also had my high school sweetheart with me, who happened to be, maybe, 16 at the time. (Please remember that I was all of 18 or 19 myself!) Anyway, we were in the bar, and I had to leave for a short period to meet the Winston guys. So I left my girlfriend in the bar, and when I returned about an hour later, who is she hanging out with, but Bill Jenkins. Now, I was in awe of Jenkins, after all, he was the man, but I  had never really met him. He was pretty well lit (on straight vodka, I believe,) playing backgammon with my sweetheart, who by now was also very lit on the same vodkas! Holy crap, my innocent little sweetheart is drinking vodka and playing backgammon with Bill F-ing Jenkins! Whoa. This is cool. That she had no idea who he was, and could not of cared less anyway even if she had, just made it cooler. The thing I remember most about that encounter is how much he flirted with her and how friendly and funny he was.

I learned a lesson that one should never "hero worship" one's heroes, because at the end of the day, they are probably human too and will be themselves if you let them. We spent the next few hours drinking and playing backgammon with Bill, and as everyone who knew him will tell you, he could be as friendly and as funny as anyone. And man, when it came to the cocktails, he was beyond pro. I remember being totally trashed and practically worthless for the next several days...

Grumpy was a giant of the sport and is missed by all who knew him - or those just lucky enough to have had a drink or two with him.

RAHN TOBLER, SHIRLEY MULDOWNEY 1984 - This is one I really like as it tells a story, which all good photographs should do. Every photographer develops a style, and I was no different. Most drag racing photographers from this era including Shute and Kommel from Auto Imagery, Les Lovett, Jon Asher and several of the other "big names" often used medium format with fill flash, which certainly had its advantages, along with some disadvantages.

For me, I liked shooting my action stuff with 35mm using mostly available light. I felt (and still do) that it gives a scene a more real look, even if some elements of the image are flawed, as is the case here. Photography is about a lot of different things, but two of the most important are composition and the proper use of light. In this example, the composition is strong, while the use of light (on Tobler's and Shirley's faces) is somewhat compromised.

An assistant with a reflector (a-la current day photo superstar, Mark Rebilas) would have helped this, but then Shirley wouldn't been able to see what Rahn was pointing out and the shot probably would not have happened, at least not the way it did. For all its flaws, I still think it is strong.

MERT LITTLEFIELD 1984 - Being from the east coast, I never lost the excitement of going west and seeing all the west coast racers. This is Mert Littlefield using up a few parts at the end of the year in Pomona. Back then, of course, there were so many "local" racers. Easily thirty plus fuel cars at Pomona alone; guys like Pisano, Densham, Littlefield, John Martin, Sherm Gunn, etc, etc. It was a very cool scene. Fuel cars were everywhere!

CAN'T GET ENOUGFH BAZEMORE FILES? - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

All articles and photography published in CompetitionPlus.com are protected by United States of America and International copyright laws unless mentioned otherwise. The content on this website is intended for the private use of the reader and may not be published or reposted in any form without the prior written consent of CompetitionPlus.com.