1972 Chicago Auto Show-17

This one caught my eye. As a 20+ years drag racer back in the day we attended the Specialty Equipment Manufactures / Retailers event in Las Vegas every year. I like the scene here as it brings back fond memories.
A very good friend of mine, Leroy Chadderton, was the first AA/FA in the 7's and later the first into the 6's. His car was called The Magnificent 7.....as we ran in the NHRA Division 7 here in So Cal.
I ran in the Pro Gas class with a 77 Vega and a best time of 9.70 ET @ 140 MPH in the quarter mile.

A few years before this was shot, I could be found at various drag races around southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois..and at the F1 races in Elkhart Lake. Ah, the smell of oil and smoking rubber.....

I did the historic races at Elkhart a few years in the 80s. No B/W shots, but some nice color snaps. Auggie Pabst especially!

Long time photographer / film processing company North Coast Photographic Services (Great American Photo Lab) owner, Richard Shute, is a renowned well known NHRA photographer in So Cal. He had many images in the usual car magazines and at the time the weekly drag racing newspaper Drag News.

I had a Ricoh back then (late 60s)--my first SLR. I shot a lot of F1 stuff but lost track of my negs from that time. I remember watching Jimmy Clark drive his Lotus--that was something!