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A 10x8" 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
Parke Culp sits in the cockpit of his #8 “B.K. Sweeney Special” big-car on the Reading Fairgrounds dirt track, Pennsylvania, moments before a 1935 AAA contest. The wire-wheel racer, push bar still attached, rests on the packed clay while uniformed crew steady the machine and a packed grandstand looks on. Crisp detail captures Culp’s goggles and open-face helmet, the car’s hand-lettered script and exhaust header, and the anticipation of early American open-wheel racing.
Culp was one of the East’s top AAA Big Car drivers, competing against the likes of Tommy Hinnershitz and Frankie Schneider in the mid-1930s. Reading Fairgrounds became a sprint-car mecca until its 1979 closure, making surviving imagery from its pre-war era scarce. Own this evocative slice of Pennsylvania motorsport history before another collector snaps it up.
Text Present
Front, on car side: “B.K.SWEENEY special”
Front, on tail: “8”
Back, upper right in blue ink: “Park Culp Reading, Pa 1935 #8 Killinger spl.”
Print analysis: Satin-surface silver-gelatin print with modern ball-point notation and no press stamps; likely produced from the original 1935 negative for museum/archive use circa 1970s. This fits Type 2 classification (later print from original negative).
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.
