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Sixty-something photojournalist Bob McClurg grew up in the 1950s in Southern California, where the sport of hot rodding, and particularly drag racing, was gaining a strong footing. Bob’s earliest automotive influences included hanging around the local Ford and Chevrolet dealers, which were located on Chapman Avenue in his hometown of Orange. Across the street from Selman Chevrolet’s OK Used Cars was Towne Barber Shop, where Bob earned pocket money sweeping up and shining shoes. Its magazine rack was always well stocked with copies of Hot Rod, Car Craft, and Motor Trend magazines, which the 10-year-old youngster constantly pored over between shoe shines. One of Bob’s customers was the future NHRA Competition Director, the late Jack Hart, who operated Hart Texaco and Hart Automotive one block over. He used to hang around Jack’s shop, and ask a lot of questions. Most of the time he was chased away by the help, but every now and then, Jack gave him a little encouragement!

McClurg wrote his first legitimate newspaper article on traffic safety while in the 5th grade at St. John’s Lutheran School, and brought it to the editor of the Orange Daily News. About the same time, Bob’s uncle Victor sent him his old Argus C3 35-mm camera. At first, he wasn’t sure about what to do with it. It was obvious to him that photography required basic math skills, and he didn’t regard math as a strong subject.

Meanwhile, Bob occupied himself by racing slot cars, and entering model car contests. He also worked part time for a man named Roger Clausen who owned Gish’s Toy Store.

He remembers Clausen talking nonstop about a guy named Garlits. One Saturday afternoon in 1963 Clausen finally took him to Lions Associated Drag Strip. “Big Daddy” Don Garlits was appearing in a four-way Top Fuel match race against Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, “TV” Tommy Ivo, and (as he remembers) Kenny Safford. The sights; the sounds; the smells—all sensations you never experience by just reading a car magazine—were absolutely incredible to young McClurg.

It took another year or so, but once McClurg became the yearbook photographer at Villa Park High School, things, if you’ll excuse the pun, began to click. One Saturday night in 1964, Bob snuck out on the Lions Associated Drag Strip starting line with the yearbook’s Yashica LM 2¼-inch camera in hand, and from then on, he spent Saturdays and Sundays going to Lions, Irwindale, and sometimes Carlsbad Raceway. Then, in August 1968, Orange County International Raceway opened its doors.

With all the publicity generated by the opening of the nation’s first Super Strip, breaking drag racing into the local newspapers became much easier. Then a sponsored trip to the 1968 United States Nationals at Indianapolis, shooting ad photos for the Fram Corporation, changed everything. In April 1969, Super Stock & Drag Illustrated came calling, so 20-year-old Bob packed up his Nikons and Hasselblads and headed for the East Coast.

Eastern drag racing was a different ball game. You could go to the races practically every night of the week. Capitol Raceway, Budd’s Creek, Aquasco, Cecil County, Suffolk Raceway, York U.S. 30—you name it, and there was always something going on somewhere. Between those races and the national events, it made for an exciting summer!

In the fall of 1969, McClurg headed back to the West Coast to pursue his education, but arrived just in time to take in the AHRA and NHRA Winter events, which provided him with some outstanding photos. Apparently, Hot Rod magazine editor Don Evans thought so too, because Bob enjoyed a string of “HRM Racing Galleries” published in 1970–1971. Eventually that led to a full-time position as photo editor at Petersen Specialty Publications (1976), which launched him into the photo editor’s job at Hot Rod magazine in 1977.

As the 1970s closed, Bob made his living freelancing. Then in the early 1980s, Bob was coaxed to come back to Petersen Publishing Company, and eventually assumed the editorship at Petersen’s Kit Car magazine. This was followed by a 14-year stint as the editor for McMullen & Yee’s Mustang Illustrated and Ford High Performance magazines.

Of the nine books Bob McClurg has authored, five have been for CarTech, Inc./SA Design Books: Diggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds; Drag Racing’s Golden Era; How to Build Supercharged and Turbocharged Small-Block Fords; Fire, Nitro, Rubber and Smoke: Bob McClurg’s Drag Racing Memories; Yenko: The Man, The Machine, The Legend; plus this one.