VAN GO!

SYDNEY-BASED PHOTOGRAPHER JON VAN DAAL CELEBRATES HIS 50TH YEAR OF SHOOTING DRAG RACING THIS YEAR, WITH 1000 MEETINGS AND A MILLION IMAGES UNDER HIS BELT

- JON VAN DAAL

JON Van Daal is a rarity in the magazine business, having been a major player on both the creative and commercial sides of the game.

As a photographer and journalist, Jon has contributed to countless magazines, including Australian Hot Rod, Street Machine, Performance Street Car, Street & Strip, Dragster and Drag News. He also edited both National Drag Racer and The Drag Racing Yearbook. In 2014, Jon was awarded an Australian Nostalgia Fuel Association Pioneer Award. As an ad guy, Jon led the commercial charge during the golden era of HOT4s and Auto Salon. He has also penned three books: The History of the Summernats, Traction Action and The Boss: The Brett Stevens Story. Jon is currently working on a biography of his father. We sat him down to spill the beans on a crazy career.

What was your first exposure to drag racing?

In 1970 I was on school holidays from Sydney up in Brisbane. My brother-in-law took me to Surfers to see US Top Fuel racer Steve Carbone. I had my dad’s Kodak 126 camera and took some not-very-good photos. But it really fired up my interest.

What was your first published image?

That was a shot of John Lumb’s ‘Panic’ Torana Funny Car at Castlereagh in December 1974. A mate lent me a Nikon F2. The windshield posts on the Torana broke and the roof collapsed down over the roll cage. It was published in some Aussie mags and it won a photo competition with Car Craft in the US. I thought: “This is a piece of piss!” and bought my own camera. And the Torana did the same thing the very next meeting!