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He is still photographing hot rods and dragsters, and he spends his time working on his website and cataloging some 25,000 drag racing and car show negatives and slides. Today Jim is retired, currently living in Northern California with his wife, Sandy. He sold the ice cream store and retired from the daily grind in 2006. Īlong the way, Jim managed to raise a family, and in 1989 he and his wife opened a frozen yogurt and ice cream shop near Sacramento. " From 1970 to 1980 he did the slide show for the Grand National Roadster Show Awards Ceremony, and in 2005 he was inducted into the Grand National Roadster Show Hall of Fame along with Chip Foose. " I moved from Navy ships to Polaris rockets in 1981, freelancing along the way toįund my street rod projects. Jim's fulltime job as an aerospace service engineer on US Navy ships kept him busy during the week. " I started freelancing for Tex Smith at Rod Action which led to assignments for Rod & Custom, Custom Rodder, Truckin' and Street Rodder," Jim told Sondre. īetween 19 Jim shot 25,000 negatives and slides at California drag strips. The two good friends also traveled up and down the West Coast, photographing action at various drag strips in California. Every Sunday for the next three years, Jim and Tom photographed and reported the day's results to National Dragster and Drag News via overnight express mail. In 1967 James and Tom Meyer were asked by the late Jim McLennan to be Track Photographers at Fremont Drag Strip. He began shooting the Oakland Roadster Show in 1962, and six decades later he had documented almost all of the now Grand National Roadster Shows ever since. Living in San Jose, Jim also started photographing car shows in Oakland, San Mateo, San Jose, San Francisco, Napa, Monterey, and Sacramento. He got to know the guys in the area and started hanging out at the drive-ins and the cruising spots. Īfter High School, Jim moved out West to attend the San Jose State University. After that, he was hooked, and he started photographing shows in the area the same year. In 1960, while still in High School, he attended the 1960 Phoenix Autorama. In 2019 Jim told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama that photography started for him in high school when he was part of the yearbook staff.
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James "Jim" Handy is a well-known automotive photographer. In 2019 Jim's latest ride was another eBay find, a 1956 Chevrolet Nomad.