Leslie Lovette
Although he never drove or turned a wrench on a race car, in an esteemed 30-year career, Leslie Lovette touched as many lives as anyone in the world of drag racing. As a drag racing photographer, he had no peer in skill or enthusiasm. Although he began his career photographing local circle track and drag racing events in Arkansas and Oklahoma, his obvious talent soon carried him to the staff of Super Stock and Drag Illustrated magazines where he attracted national attention with his innovative way of capturing the action-filled sport he loved on film. In 1968, he convinced Wally Parks that NHRA needed a full-time photographer and spent the last 28 years of his life as photo editor of National Dragster. Although he was considered the dean of drag racing photographers, he was always willing to share his skills with the novice. He treated every racer, whether the lowest ranked sportsman racer or the Top Fuel World Champion, as an important person, a friend, and someone he was proud to know. He constantly developed new ways of photographing drag racing, while always in search of his elusive greatest photo. Although he passed on well before he was finished, the great body of work he left behind will stand the test of time to record the history of drag racing and as a living monument to Leslie Lovette.