That’ll Be A Dollar: Remembering Roger Richards
A couple weeks ago, I had a thought about starting a series of features focusing on the unique individuals who work behind the scenes in drag racing. Their stories are often just as interesting, if not more interesting, than the stories of the big-name racers and high-profile crew chiefs that typically dominate the headlines. The first person that came to mind for this series was photographer Roger Richards.
Like so many others who counted Roger as a friend, I was shocked to learn of his passing on Tuesday, June 25. Just a few weeks ago, Roger was out shooting the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, and I was looking forward to seeing him at an upcoming PDRA race and possibly interviewing him for a feature story. While not the story I originally planned, I decided to join many others in the drag racing community in sharing how Roger made an impact in the sport and in my corner of it.
When I was a young boy scouring the internet for anything I could find about drag racing, photos with Roger Richards’ watermark were often the first I’d find. Six-time IHRA Top Fuel world champion Clay Millican was my John Force when I got into the sport, and Roger was there to photograph many, if not all, of Clay’s rear-wing celebrations and winner’s circles along the IHRA tour. That became obvious several years later when Roger sent me gigabytes worth of old photos to use for my Clay Millican cover story in 2017.
When I started going to my local NHRA national event at Summit Motorsports Park, Roger immediately stood out as he manned his post along the retaining walls capturing photos. With his iconic mustache and flat cap, he was unmistakable. When I met him several years later at a test session at South Georgia Motorsports Park, it was like meeting a celebrity. By this point, I’d followed him on Facebook for years and admired his photos not just from the racetrack, but also his travels between events. It was obvious this wasn’t just a job for Roger. He loved what he did and took every opportunity to appreciate everything that came along with the role.
When I showed up at the Texas Motorplex for the third race of the 2016 PDRA season to fill in for Ian Tocher, who had been covering the series since its inception in 2014, Roger was one of the first photographers I encountered. Knowing that Ian also took photos to go with his race reports, and that I was no photographer, Roger offered to send me any photos I needed that weekend. It was a standing offer, and one I took him up on many times over the past nine seasons. Each time I requested photos, whether face-to-face in the media center or via email at 2 a.m., he’d respond: “That’ll be a dollar.” Need to plug your charger into Roger’s power strip tower? “That’ll be a dollar.” Of course, he never intended to collect.
While I can no longer ask Roger the questions I intended to ask, I can find some of the answers in this 2017 CompetitionPlusTV video where videographer Jake Simmons profiled Roger at the NHRA U.S. Nationals. It opens with Roger’s classically dry sense of humor.
“My name is Roger Richards. I’ve been doing photography since Thomas Edison and I invented the camera, but I’ve only been doing drag racing since around the turn of the century,” he says.
Roger was introduced to drag racing by a stranger he met on the internet named Bobby Bennett. Roger, who went by the screenname “Geezer,” was a wedding and portrait photographer living near Greer Dragway outside Spartanburg, South Carolina, while Bobby was the father of a Jr. Dragster driver. They struck up a friendship in AOL chatrooms, and eventually Bobby asked Roger to take some portrait photos of his son in his fire suit. That led to an outing to Greer Dragway, Roger’s first exposure to the sport. When Bobby launched CompetitionPlus.com in the fall of 1999, Roger signed on as employee #2 and shot his first national event, the IHRA Fall Nationals at Rockingham Dragway. It was an experience Roger vividly recalled 20 years later.
“I was standing beside Paul Romine on the starting line, the first time I watched a Top Fueler launch,” he begins. “In Rockingham, you can stand pretty darn close behind the wall. He took off. My hat went somewhere. It wasn’t from the exhaust or wind or anything. It was just the sound percussion knocked my hat right off my head. I’ve still not found that picture. You get the big cars taking off and it starts in your heart, all the vibration, and it works its way out.”
Roger quickly realized he found his new calling. After photographing around 3,000 weddings, Roger started to phase out weddings and portraiture in favor of drag racing events. It was a dramatic switch in subject matter.
“I don’t have to tell a car to smile or anything,” he says. “Three thousand weddings…that’s 6,000 mother-in-laws. I don’t have to put up with that in drag racing. And I’ve never seen a bride do a burnout down the aisle and burst into flames at the altar. This is a lot more interesting. And it’s new every time we come. It’s the same, but every race is different. Every venue is different.”
The Army veteran eventually started traveling outside the Southeast to cover events. He’d often plan road trips with fellow photographers, stopping off at whatever looked interesting or planning detours to visit major attractions. He put tens of thousands of miles on his Mercedes Sprinter van known as “MoJo.”
“I used to fly everywhere to go to the races, then people asked me, ‘What does Pomona look like?’ I’d say, ‘Well, it’s about a quarter-mile long and it’s got stands on each side.’ ‘What does Epping look like?’ ‘Well, it’s about a quarter-mile long, stands on each side.’ Everything looked the same. So I started driving. Now, 15 or 16 years down the road driving, I get to visit all the great places, all the national parks, in between these events.”
Chris Graves photo
Roger was proud of the fact that he was there to witness many of the “firsts” in the sport. He’d point out that he wasn’t there for Kenny Bernstein’s first 300-mph pass or other iconic milestones in the sport. But he was there for the first-ever Southeast Gassers Association race when the series was formed by Quain Stott, who Roger met at his first IHRA race when Quain earned his first Pro Mod win. He was there to photograph the first victories of many racers he befriended over the years. Roger was also at the first Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod in Denver and the first World Doorslammer Nationals in Orlando. He relished his role in documenting drag racing history.
“A lot of people think that I was here when the first car went down the track in fifty-something, but drag racing, except for watching a little bit of Wide World of Sports on TV, didn’t exist in my life until ’99,” Roger points out in Simmons’ video. “I don’t have all that history. All this is new to me. A lot of people talk about the good old days. This is the good old days for me.”
Roger befriended racers, crew chiefs, crew members, team owners, race officials, fellow media members, and the family and friends of racers who looked to Roger for photos and updates from the races. The drag racing community embraced him, just as he embraced it.
“The cars and the speed and the numbers, that’s all impressive. But it’s the people that make it,” Roger says. “Somebody asked me at one point in time, what’s the best part of all this. I said I make more friends than I make pictures. That’s the great thing about all this.”
Roger’s impact on the drag racing community was obvious as news of his passing spread online. Friends and fans shared favorite memories and photos of Roger. I’ve gathered a few of those tributes from fellow media members here. The first comes from Bobby Bennett’s tribute on CompetitionPlus.com, which I’d encourage you to read here.
“I know Heaven gained an awesome angel today,” Bennett said. “He will be easy to spot in the chorus. Roger will be the angel with the backward hat and a camera hanging off his shoulder. He’ll be spouting terrible puns and, even worse, Dad jokes. And his fellow angels will cringe and laugh out of sympathy, but they will love him like we all did down here. Where he’s at, there’s no more pain or heartbreak. Best of all, there’s drag racing and chicken livers every day. Thank you for believing in me when I wasn’t worth believing in. It was just you being you.”
“Fourteen years ago, Roger Richards invited me on the road with him for three weeks to cover pre-season testing in Phoenix and Las Vegas for Competition Plus,” said Chris Graves, who was a photographer before launching Funny Car Chaos and Nitro Chaos. “It was an absolute blast as you can imagine! Roger never had an issue making people laugh. Since then, we became sushi buddies, he was one of the only people Tera would let give her a kiss on the cheek, we made many more memories in the years to come. He was also there for Tera’s Funny Car license passes and captured images we will cherish forever.”
“Lost another friend this morning, this one a surprise,” said Dave Kommel. “Spent a lot of time with Roger in various media centers and shooting at dozens of race tracks. He was a good friend with a quirky sense of humor and he was the photo backbone of competitionplus.com. RIP My Friend! You will be missed!”
“Devastated to hear that our friend and media family Roger Richards has passed,” said Tara Bowker, who shared the wall with Roger at dozens of PDRA events. “They broke the mold with him. He was such a mentor and jokester to us all. I will certainly miss you, Roger.”
“When I began covering NHRA for Dodge Garage, the photog area near the starting line was territorial, cliquey, and somewhat intimidating for a new shooter like me,” said David Hakim. “Having been chewed-up and spat out by the auto industry, I had to take up a new profession to feed my family, so I bought a camera and off I went. Initially, there were nasty glances and stares by some of the more established photographers, but it was Roger Richards that welcomed me into this new world. He made me feel that I belonged and helped out by showing me many tricks of the trade in getting the ‘Money Shot.’ Me and many others will miss his southern charm and funny observations about life and drag racing. Farewell, old friend.”
“To my dear friend, Roger Richards…,” started Diane Kubicke. “I am blessed to have you as my friend for the past 16 years. We made great memories and you always made me laugh. I will remember our conversations along the wall and at our annual dinner at Shady Maple during the Maple Grove Raceway National Events over the years. Thank you for helping with my photography and being there for me when I needed someone to talk to. I still have ‘the rock’ we kicked down the return road during an oil down at Maple Grove Raceway. You are a genuine person with a heart of gold. Thank you for capturing photos of me and the thousands of other racers and people whose lives you touched. Thank you for your service to our Country. Most of all thank you for being you…you’re one-of-a-kind and an icon in your own right. You will always be in my heart, Roger. I love you and miss you. Godspeed.”
“Man… gutted to hear the news,” said Brennan Shortall. “So many stories, so many selfies, so many discussions on my love for burnouts.. I could go on and on! Rest easy sir… you will be missed. I hope heaven has a Tim Hortons!”
“Going to miss you brother,” said Dwayne Culpepper. “I’ve shared the wall, table, stories and paid my dollar to share the bench with one of greatest in the business for the past 15 or so years. A true friend that I held a lot of respect for and learned so much from. Love you Roger Richards, Godspeed.”
“We lost a good one today,” said James Sisk. “Roger Richards was an outstanding human being, great photographer, friend, comedian, and prolific nap taker. We will miss you my friend. Rest easy Geezer.”
Roger with fellow photographer Joe McHugh. Tara Bowker photo
Roger would probably blush upon hearing all of the compliments that friends have shared over the last week or so. He took his work seriously, but he never took himself too seriously. He was often the first to arrive at the track’s media center and the last to leave. Through his actions and attitude, he reminded everyone around him that this drag racing stuff is supposed to be fun. Rain or shine, early or late, Roger always enjoyed himself and made sure those around him did the same.
“I don’t consider myself the best one out here,” Roger said. “There are tons of people out here who can take better pictures and do better than I, but there’s not anyone who has more fun than me.
“I retired in ’92 from the corporate world. I haven’t used an alarm clock since 1992,” he points out in the CPTV video. “Not many people can say that. It’s been a heck of a career.”
This story was originally published on July 3, 2024.
The post That’ll Be A Dollar: Remembering Roger Richards first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
