Warren is first photog to capture Squier-hall

On Friday night at the Charlotte Convention Center, the NASCAR Hall of Fame honored the late T. Taylor Warren, who became the first photojournalist to receive the Squier-hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence.

Warren began photographing race cars at the Milwaukee Fairgrounds in 1948, and it was his finish-line photo of the 1959 Daytona 500 that helped decided the winner of the inaugural Great American Race. Warren’s daughter Diana accepted the award on his behalf.

“While T. Taylor Warren was best known for his photo of the 1959 Daytona 500 finish, his photographs brought NASCAR to our fans for nearly six decades,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France. “Through his work for NASCAR, race tracks and countless motorsports outlets, his images were often the only way for fans to see the action from the race track. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and when it comes to NASCAR photography, no one was more prolific than T. Taylor.”

Warren was hired by Bill France Sr. to photograph the Daytona Beach Road Course in 1952. He went on to become the track photographer at Daytona, where he worked every Daytona 500 until his death in 2008.

In addition to his work for NASCAR and tracks, Warren shot photos for several racing magazines, most notably Southern Motoracing.

Warren has been honored with several prestigious awards. In 2006, he became the first photographer to win the International Motorsports Hall of Fame’s Henry T. Mclemore Award for achievement in journalism. He posthumously won the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Myers Brothers Award in 2008 for outstanding contributions to the sport of stock car racing. He was also inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame in January of 2009.

Long before instant replay, T. Taylor Warren’s famous photograph of the 1959 Daytona 500 finish helped determine the winner of the race.