Gary’s gong

Gary Reid, who regularly supplies us with Dirt Track and Speedway photographs, has been selected as the 2017/2018 Speedway Australia Photographer of the Year. Gary was presented with his award at a ceremony in Brisbane in June. The award looks at creativity and clarity, with a particular focus on capturing the action and depicting the story of the moment. Each of the dozens of aspirants to the award was required to submit a portfolio of six shots. Gary began photographing oval track action back in 1963 using a basic Box Brownie camera, graduating to Nikon equipment and attending Short Circuits like the old Amaroo Park track. It was at Amaroo where he met doyen of the game Bill Meyer, who invited him to try his hand at the Sydney Showground Speedway.

ABOVE Gary Reid’s superb image of Geoff Curtis in full flight at the 1973 Australian Short Circuit Championships at Granite Park, Seymour, Victoria. BELOW LEFT One of Gary’s winning portfolio of six images.