Walt Chernokal
A veteran racing photographer who later added writing popular weekly auto racing columns to his résumé, Walt Chernokal (September 16, 1923 – June 9, 2004) of Aston, Pennsylvania, had a lifelong love of auto racing that he found as a young fan and that he would eventually share with countless numbers of others through his pictures and the printed word.
Chernokal saw his first auto race at age 3½ at the old track in Chester, Pennsylvania, and from that time on the sights, sounds and excitement of the sport were never far from his thoughts. Also, as a young man, he began to learn the mysteries of photography in a cardboard dark room and as he worked to develop those skills he became one of the country’s best-known auto-racing photographers.
However, all of this acclaim came after Chernokal graduated from high school and then soon found himself in the United States Army where he served during World War II in the Pacific Theater of Operations as a Staff Sergeant in the Philippines. But it wasn’t until 1952 that his wife Rose encouraged her auto-dealership-employed husband to take a photographer’s job with the “Delaware County Daily Times” in Chester, Pennsylvania, and with that change his award-winning career in automobile racing and general newspaper photography really took off.
Chernokal, though, was more than just a racing photographer. He helped form the old National Auto Racing Association in the early 1950s and wrote press releases as well as booked and managed the events of that Sprint Car organization. He also served as a track announcer and track photographer at several tracks in the Philadelphia, South Jersey and Delaware area and he was involved with George Stockinger in the promotion of the original Indoor Midget Races that took place at Convention Hall on Atlantic City, New Jersey’s famous Boardwalk.
Chernokal’s procedures with his still camera included shooting only with black and white film and his interest was always in making his photo equipment work to its ultimate level. And in this regard he created his own motor-drive-style camera by fitting a spring to the film advance and used that particular camera until it could not longer be repaired.
An early member of the EMPA Board of Directors, Chernokal – who had a bit of a feisty nature but a genuine interest in the efforts of Quarter-Midget races – covered the Daytona and Indianapolis 500s as part of the Associated Press Wire Photo Team for some 30 years.
However, he might be best remembered for the following three images: Charlie Mussleman’s 1957 flip sequence on September 1, 1957, in Sam Traylor’s No. 77 Offy Sprint Car during a United States Auto Club race at the old one-mile dirt Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway, and Roger McCluskey’s March 29, 1964, flip at the old half-mile dirt Reading (Pa.) Fairgrounds in the No. 1 Wally Meskowski’s No. 1 Chevrolet-powered USAC Sprint Car, which were both published in “LIFE” magazine; and, fellow EMPA Hall of Famer Len Duncan’s 1972 wild flip into the air while driving EMPA Hall of Fame car owner Ed Darrell’s No. 83 Offy Midget during a race at the old five-eights-mile Flemington (N.J.) Fair Speedway that was published nationally and internationally.
When the rigors of photographing racing action became took much for Walt Chernokal to handle after some 40 years, he concentrated on his writing and those efforts were highlighted by the weekly racing column that he wrote from the late 1970s in the “The Daily Times” to his long-running “Wheels of Speed” column which first appeared in “Area Auto Racing News” on June 11, 1969. Both of these efforts continued until his passing, which – interestingly enough – came as he was stricken while leaving the grandstand at the five-eights-mile Bridgeport (N.J.) Speedway after he covered the night’s racing events.
Chernokal saw his first auto race at age 3½ at the old track in Chester, Pennsylvania, and from that time on the sights, sounds and excitement of the sport were never far from his thoughts. Also, as a young man, he began to learn the mysteries of photography in a cardboard dark room and as he worked to develop those skills he became one of the country’s best-known auto-racing photographers.
However, all of this acclaim came after Chernokal graduated from high school and then soon found himself in the United States Army where he served during World War II in the Pacific Theater of Operations as a Staff Sergeant in the Philippines. But it wasn’t until 1952 that his wife Rose encouraged her auto-dealership-employed husband to take a photographer’s job with the “Delaware County Daily Times” in Chester, Pennsylvania, and with that change his award-winning career in automobile racing and general newspaper photography really took off.
Chernokal, though, was more than just a racing photographer. He helped form the old National Auto Racing Association in the early 1950s and wrote press releases as well as booked and managed the events of that Sprint Car organization. He also served as a track announcer and track photographer at several tracks in the Philadelphia, South Jersey and Delaware area and he was involved with George Stockinger in the promotion of the original Indoor Midget Races that took place at Convention Hall on Atlantic City, New Jersey’s famous Boardwalk.
Chernokal’s procedures with his still camera included shooting only with black and white film and his interest was always in making his photo equipment work to its ultimate level. And in this regard he created his own motor-drive-style camera by fitting a spring to the film advance and used that particular camera until it could not longer be repaired.
An early member of the EMPA Board of Directors, Chernokal – who had a bit of a feisty nature but a genuine interest in the efforts of Quarter-Midget races – covered the Daytona and Indianapolis 500s as part of the Associated Press Wire Photo Team for some 30 years.
However, he might be best remembered for the following three images: Charlie Mussleman’s 1957 flip sequence on September 1, 1957, in Sam Traylor’s No. 77 Offy Sprint Car during a United States Auto Club race at the old one-mile dirt Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway, and Roger McCluskey’s March 29, 1964, flip at the old half-mile dirt Reading (Pa.) Fairgrounds in the No. 1 Wally Meskowski’s No. 1 Chevrolet-powered USAC Sprint Car, which were both published in “LIFE” magazine; and, fellow EMPA Hall of Famer Len Duncan’s 1972 wild flip into the air while driving EMPA Hall of Fame car owner Ed Darrell’s No. 83 Offy Midget during a race at the old five-eights-mile Flemington (N.J.) Fair Speedway that was published nationally and internationally.
When the rigors of photographing racing action became took much for Walt Chernokal to handle after some 40 years, he concentrated on his writing and those efforts were highlighted by the weekly racing column that he wrote from the late 1970s in the “The Daily Times” to his long-running “Wheels of Speed” column which first appeared in “Area Auto Racing News” on June 11, 1969. Both of these efforts continued until his passing, which – interestingly enough – came as he was stricken while leaving the grandstand at the five-eights-mile Bridgeport (N.J.) Speedway after he covered the night’s racing events.