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Thanks for your message recognizing Bobby 5x5 Day. Many fans got to know Bobby as you did, through filling up their scrap books and by seeing him as a fixture at so many race tracks. I often told Bobby he was a legend much like the drivers he photographed, but not once did he take that suggestion seriously, he was far too modest. Bobby's goal as the professional he was from day one was to serve the sport and its people--fans and participants alike. He suffered financially in order to continue on doing what he loved to do. And, you're right, how many can say they've witnessed what Bobby has: the Allisons in their first race cars (the photographing of which goes down as his most memorable), the transition of racing from shadetree coupes to supermodifieds and late models. He not only saw some of the biggest names in motorsports through his lens, but he knew them personally and got the utmost of cooperation out of them all. Bobby was well-liked, I'd say loved, by so many. His week would come alive every Friday, getting as excited as a little kid attending the races for the first time. Few knew the sacrafices he endured: such as staying up all night to develop pictured for the next day at big meets. He gave for free a great deal of his work to the media and racing organizations for the betterment of the sport. Bobby would appear like clockwork when the gates opened, make it through rain or cold, and stay late into the next morning as one of the last to leave the grounds in doing his job for us all. His reward was in making people happy, in seeing to it that they got the pictures they wanted. I can tell you he yelled at me a time or two for missing a good shot! But I learned a lot from Bobby, and I feel extremely honored and fortunate to have worked with him for the last 10 years or so of the 30 I've known him. God bless you, Bobby.
--Eddie Roche |
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