Terminal Island Brotherhood Raceway: Selected Photographs from the Eddie Meeks Archive
Cornelius Projects and the Eddie Meeks Archive are working together to preserve the vast collection of images Meeks shot of the Raceway. The negatives and prints are in need of conservation. The proceeds from the sale of this book will help fund the conservation process, as well as the organization and implementation of an extensive exhibition about the Terminal Island Brotherhood Raceway. This book contains rare and never before seen images.
The Terminal Island Brotherhood Raceway was located in the heart of the Port of Los Angeles and was established in the 1970s by Big Willie Robinson III, (1942-2007), founder of the International Brotherhood of Street Racers. The Raceway became a melting pot for car enthusiasts from the greater Los Angeles area and beyond. Robinson believed in drag racing as a way to unite people of all races and classes, and ease racial tension. “When you get around cars, man, there ain’t no colors, just engines”, he told the Los Angeles Times in 1981. The Raceway flourished until the mid ‘90s, and photographer Eddie Meeks was there throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s. Meeks shot thousands of photographs, compiled scrapbooks and sold prints in a booth at the raceway where drivers could purchase images from the previous week’s races. Because of the velocity of what he was shooting, the photographs are infused with energy and action, and are a hybrid of formal portraiture and documentary photojournalism. “These were no professional racing teams,” Meeks recalls. “These were just guys with a car and a garage.” Cars were a form of self-expression and a tool for connecting with others, and Meeks documented the camaraderie that existed between drivers.
Included with the book is a special music video DVD that includes images from Eddie Meeks’ scrapbooks with music by RIG: Christian Moreno - bass, Rick Pugliese - guitar, Lee - guitar, Phillip Haut - drums, Craig Ibarra - dancing. Christian Moreno recorded the soundbite at the beginning of the track at the Terminal Island Brotherhood Raceway sometime in the early to mid-’90s.
Published by Cornelius Projects
Edited by Tim Maxeiner and Laurie Steelink
Signed by the photographer Eddie Meeks
Limited edition hand assembled coil bound book with clear vinyl front cover plus DVD
9 x 11 ¾ in. 34 pgs. Digital color.
Publish date: June 5, 2016