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An Interview with Legendary NASCAR Photographer Brian Cleary - Part Three

An Opinion



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January 16, 2010

By Rebecca Gladden

Rebecca Gladden


To read part one
To read part two



It's easy to lose track of time browsing the NASCAR files on photographer Brian Cleary's website. Many of his classic racing photos have achieved icon status in the stock car world, while others show simple slice-of-life scenes seldom seen by those outside the garage.

If you've been enjoying Cleary's amazing photos as much as I have, you'll be happy to know that there's much more to come. Brian has hundreds, perhaps thousands of NASCAR photos not yet posted on his website. "I feel my collection is a small resource that can be used as a tiny part of the visual history of NASCAR as a whole," he told me. "I continue to work on archiving all of my old negatives and am currently focused on the 1980s, which is about 50 percent complete. After that, I'll start on my 1990s photos, so I've still got a lot of work ahead of me."


When you stop to think about the glory days of the sport in the 1990s, you can imagine how many wonderful photos await our viewing pleasure.

Though I've highlighted some of Cleary's historic photos in this interview series, it's worth noting that he is still an active photographer, shooting NASCAR as well as other sports and topics. He recently covered the ARCA test at Daytona, snapping this shot (one of several) of Danica Patrick:

"When it was first announced that Danica was coming over to NASCAR, I was not overly impressed," Cleary said. "But, having seen her in action at the recent Daytona ARCA test, I became much more impressed. She is obviously very focused and very motivated to learn and improve. She will be in good equipment. It will be very interesting to see Danica and Dale Jr., two of the biggest marketing entities in all of sports, work together. There was a small number of fans given access to Danica during the Daytona test and I was surprised and impressed by how enthusiastic and supportive they were, and also equally surprised and impressed by how well she interacted with them. I think she will be very good for NASCAR and would not be surprised to see her succeed."

Having followed NASCAR since childhood, Cleary remains passionate about the sport, but acknowledges that there are concerns. "Like almost everyone else, I think that NASCAR has some major challenges ahead. Many of their problems relate to oversaturation. There is a huge demand for NASCAR information, and that demand is being met in many ways. NASCAR is on satellite radio 24/7, there are races on almost 40 weekends a year, the races last sometimes four to five hours or more, and there is virtually no off-season.


I'm a huge NFL fan and I know from the time the Super Bowl ends until the time the regular season starts in September, we football fans have seven months to work ourselves into a frenzy about the coming season. I don't see that in NASCAR and I think there may be a lesson to be learned there - although I'm sure it's easier said than done."

Along with his NASCAR images, Cleary's website features photos of other sports, travel, wildlife, space shuttle launches, and much more. One of his personal favorites is this cool action shot of his dog:

"We have an Australian Cattle Dog who, in her younger days, was an absolute Frisbee freak. One day, I got the idea that, if I stood there with a Frisbee in one hand and a camera in the other, I might get a pretty cool shot by flicking the Frisbee to her and snapping a close-up picture at the same time. In theory, it should have been pretty easy. Over the course of several days and several hundred photos, I ended up with only one that was really sort of what I had envisioned, and it is one of my all-time personal favorites."


Given his remarkable collection of NASCAR photos, I couldn't resist asking Brian whether he's considered putting them out in a book. But, true to form, Cleary responded modestly. "I'm kind of proud of the collection of NASCAR photography that I've amassed over the years, but I don't see it as particularly different or better than many other photographers have. Maybe some day, in the future, with the added perspective of looking backwards, I'll see a book looking out at me and think about it then. But, for now, I'm more focused on just getting the archiving done and creating an online photo resource to publishers, writers , editors, etc., who have a current need for historic NASCAR photography."

And, with photos like this one of Dale Earnhardt, and so many more yet to be posted, what a resource it is!

Note: Brian Cleary's website is www.bcpix.com and his blog is www.bcpix.com/photostories/photostories.php. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/bcpix and on Facebook by searching BCPix.com.

All photos courtesy of Brian Cleary

Follow Rebecca on Twitter: @nscrwriter




You can contact Rebecca at.. Insider Racing News



You Can Read Other Articles By Rebecca

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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