At one point in time, San Marino resident Richard George was among the premiere photographers in the world of auto racing, counting as friends the likes of Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti and Al Unser.
One of George’s assignments in 1968 took him (under an assumed name) to an obscure race track in Holtville located just a few steps from the Mexican border, where he was retained by Porsche to get a photograph of Steve McQueen behind the wheel of their 908 model “under race conditions.”
As usual, George “got the shot.”
“That went well so he entered a bigger event at Phoenix International Raceway in Arizona,” George recalls. “I was dispatched with the assignment to get a photo of McQueen that the Phoenix daily newspaper would run on the front page of the Sports section. Using technology not common in those days, George mounted a remote-operated camera behind the steering wheel of McQueen’s car – with the racer-actor’s permission – and was able to snap an iconic photograph that went far beyond the newspaper’s influence.
For the full story, see the print edition of the San Marino Tribune, or download the e-edition.
