Wild, Wild West

 

The best thing about the story you're about to read is the fact that a confluence of technical realities and seized opportunities prevented these rare images from being lost. Or, more accurately, never taken in the first place. In the first half of the 1970s, the Pacific Coast was a powerhouse of Pro Stock action, and not just in terms of national events. A ton of tracks regularly attracted local pros to just about any event that exceeded a weekly bracket outing in importance.

At the same time, some shooters were figuring out that they might actually make at least a partial living shooting top-level doorslammers. One of them was Dave Kommel of San Dimas, California, who started out with basic press access around 1970 and soon found himself traveling the West, banging off as many monochrome Kodak frames as he could, of anything that leaped off a starting line. That's how some of these slightly obscure Pro Stocks--in some cases, Dave's are the only images of them known to exist--got shot at all. Practice makes perfect. In some instances, pertinent specifics about the cars and their drivers remain elusive.