UNC Charlotte’s J. Murrey Atkins Library has acquired the “Bryant McMurray Motorsports Photograph Collection,” which documents the world of stock car racing through images captured over six decades by the award-winning motorsports photographer.
What began as small stock car races between rival bootleg moonshine runners has grown into a multibillion dollar industry. Today, North Carolina remains a leader in the racing world; the city of Charlotte is within 50 miles of 90 percent of the racing teams in the United States.
To support UNC Charlotte’s programs in American studies, motorsports engineering and sports management, Atkins Library has developed a collection of books, magazines, oral history interviews, photographs and other materials to preserve the history and legacy of automobile racing in the region. The collection should capture the attention of fans, as well as researchers and students studying motorsports, Southern culture, pop culture, engineering and more.
“McMurray's photographs will serve as the flagship collection in a digital photo archive we are preparing to launch of images related to and about motorsports,” said Meredith Evans, associate University librarian for special collections at Atkins Library. “Digitizing these photographs and providing access to supporting manuscript and oral history collections will make this the premiere motorsports collection in the Southeast.”
The collection contains approximately 500,000 photographs, most of which are negatives, as well as slides and digital photographs. The images were taken by McMurray from the 1960s through 2014, with the bulk of the collection captured between 1969 and 1991. Hundreds of motorsports races and related events at venues around the country are represented in the collection, along with the sport’s most notable drivers and other personalities.
"I am very pleased to have Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte house my motorsports photography collection and private papers,” said McMurray, a UNC Charlotte professor and a pioneer in NASCAR media journalism; he has chronicled the sport for half of a century. “Students and fans will have complete access to this extensive photographic library with over 40 years of motorsports images, many of which have never been seen.”
McMurray teaches “Motorsports in the South: NASCAR Past and Present” in UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences American studies program. He is past director of photography for Charlotte Motor Speedway, North Carolina Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway.
Throughout his career, McMurray has received many industry awards, including the Craftsman Photographer of the Year and the National Motorsports Press Association Photographer of the Year. He was a contributor to the movies “Dale,” “The Ride of Their Lives” and “Dave Despain on Assignment: Talladega 1969,” as well as several exhibits in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He is currently a writer on the NASCAR Sprint Car Cup series.