Steve Reyes
Steve Reyes (born 1948) is an American photographer and storyteller from Oakland, California. He is best known for automotive sports photography but has also shot Major League Baseball, hockey, skateboarding, and CB radio culture. Reyes has written nine books on automotive photography and, after a long career, he is now retired and living in Florida, where he continues to write.
Reyes attended his first race in 1963 at Fremont Dragstrip with an 8mm camera and a Kodak Brownie. At 15 he became the track photographer after shooting from the grandstands. He would hitchhike with racers to events on the West Coast and sometimes stencil letters on cars to earn rides.
His breakthrough came in 1966 when Drag Racing Almanac published his photos, and in 1967 he had more images featured than any other racing photographer. He served as NHRA Pacific Division photographer in 1969 and freelanced for several years after. In 1970 he moved to Los Angeles to stay closer to clients, and within three years he became the photographic editor for more than 12 magazines for Argus Publishing (1973–1994). He contributed to titles such as Popular Hot Rodding, Super Chevy, and 1001 Custom and Rod Ideas, covering NHRA, AHRA, IHRA, World of Outlaws, street rods, sprint cars, monster trucks, motorbikes, mud racing, and sand racing.
Reyes captured many iconic images of drag racing and stunt drivers, including Raymond Beadle, Gene Snow, Tony Nancy Wedge, Jeb Allen, Tom McEwen, Don Garlits, Bob Glidden, Joe Amato, Don Prudhomme, Shirley Muldowney, and Jim Liberman. His photo of Evel Knievel’s 1974 Snake River Canyon jump was displayed at the Smithsonian. He produced more than 300 magazine covers, and in one month in 1973 he shot seven of eleven car magazine covers. He has photographed races in all 50 states, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, and covered events at 109 dragstrips worldwide, including Lions Dragstrip’s last race. He also built a large collection of doorslammer photos and worked at many notable shoots in places such as Lion Country Safari, Long Beach Harbor, Six Flags, the National Mall, and the desert towns of the Southwest.
Reyes’s work has appeared in magazines, books, movies, and as artwork for die-cast model brands like ACME, Mattel, MPC, Playing Mantis/Johnny Lightning, and Revell. In 1981 he photographed Reggie Jackson’s car collection, which gave him access to numerous Major League Baseball franchises; he later photographed all 117 of Jackson’s cars. His baseball photos are associated with the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. In the early 1990s he also photographed hockey teams for Bruce Bennett Studios, including the Los Angeles Kings, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and the Peoria Rivermen, with notable players such as Wayne Gretzky, Brendan Shanahan, and Curtis Joseph.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 02:47 (CET).