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An original 5x4" 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
This vintage motor racing photograph shows Indy 500 stars Duke Nalon, Rex Mays, and Jimmy (Jim) Jenkins seated together in casual jackets and open-collar shirts, smiling toward the camera in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway paddock during the late 1940s. The trio of championship-level American open-wheel drivers, captured in a relaxed moment away from their race cars, reflects the camaraderie of the golden age of AAA Championship racing and the Indianapolis 500. The image comes directly from the Marty Himes Racing Museum Collection, preserving a candid scene of three important figures from pre-NASCAR big-car and Indy car history.
Rex Mays was a two-time AAA National Champion and four-time Indianapolis 500 pole winner, widely considered one of the greatest drivers never to win the 500, while Duke Nalon became famous for his fearless qualifying runs and multiple front-row starts at Indy. Jimmy Jenkins was a noted mechanic and driver in Midwestern big-car competition, part of the fabric that made up the powerful Indy 500 garage area of the era. Authentic period prints of these three figures together are scarce, and serious open-wheel and Indianapolis 500 collectors know how quickly one-of-a-kind Himes Collection pieces disappear, so securing this photo now will lock in a significant slice of American racing history before it is gone.
Text Present
Front, lower center: "MAYS, NALON & JENKINS"
Front, lower right corner: "H295"
Back (faint paper stock mark, diagonally): "VELOX"
Print analysis:
Single-weight glossy photo paper with a faint diagonal "VELOX" watermark indicates a darkroom print on Kodak Velox paper, commonly used for original photographic prints in the 1940s-1950s. The clarity, surface, and period handwriting style on the front match contemporary Type 1 racing photos from the Himes collection. Given the clothing, subjects, and paper stock, this is best classified as a Type 1 original photograph printed within a few years of the image being taken, likely c1940s.
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.
