When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
An original 6.5x4.5" vintage photo from the Marty Himes estate.
Provenance: This photograph comes directly from the Marty Himes Racing Museum Collection, assembled over decades by Marty Himes - racer, restorer, and lifelong archivist of American racing. Every piece he preserved tells part of the story of motorsport’s rise from dirt tracks to the spectacle of the Indy 500. We acquired the majority of his photo collection after his passing. Many of his photos are extremely rare or even one of a kind. Professionally packaged in a rigid mailer for safe delivery.
Photo Overview
Vern Le Fevre poses in victory lane with his jubilant crew after winning the stock car feature race at Lawrenceburg Speedway in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, on the night of June 14, 1978, the group gathered around the trophy and Vern still in his driving suit with their race car just visible behind them, captured in a candid celebration directly from the Marty Himes Racing Museum Collection.
Lawrenceburg Speedway is one of the Midwest's classic dirt ovals, a longtime home to stock cars and sprint cars that helped launch and sustain countless regional racing careers through the 1960s and 1970s. Vern Le Fevre was a successful local short track racer in this era, part of the vibrant Cincinnati and southeastern Indiana racing scene that fed talent and technology into larger national series. Original oval track victory lane photographs from this period rarely survive with exact dates, track identification, driver name, and photographer attribution, so this is the perfect time to secure a documented piece of Midwestern short track history before another collector does.
Print analysis:
Kodak watermarked photo paper and period-consistent processing indicate this is a darkroom print, not a later lithographic reproduction. The precise race date 6-14-78 is written on the back and matches the late-1970s attire, hairstyles, and trophy style seen in the image. The presence of photographer John "Chip" Butler's address label suggests it came directly from the original photographer's file. Taken together, this strongly supports a Type 1 original photograph, printed from the original negative within a few years of the event, almost certainly in 1978 or shortly thereafter.
Condition: Please see scans of the image we have provided for the most accurate and complete state of the photo. Many of the photos in this collection are very old and have age related wear, chips, creases, curling, etc. Others are remarkably well maintained.
