Fuel Curve Authors and Contributors!

Damon Lee began snapping photos at car shows when he was 10, tagging along with his father to events throughout the Midwest. He has combined his passion for cars and knack for writing and imagery into a 20-year career in the automotive aftermarket, writing for titles like Super Chevy and Rod & Custom and, more recently, working for respected industry leaders Speedway Motors and Goodguys Rod & Custom Association.

A lifelong car kid, Steven grew up around drag strips – his name may sound familiar because his grandfather is Bob Bunker, a Pro Mod pioneer who piloted the “Folsom Flash” ’55 Chevy from the ’70s through the ’90s. Steven’s father, Bob Bunker Jr., heads up Bunker Motorsports and is a regular in the West Coast racing scene, building chassis and race cars for more than 30 years. With genetics like that, it’s no wonder Steven has a passion for both cars and motorsports. In addition to helping his father and honing his fabrication skills at Bunker Motorsports, Steven began shooting photos at the drag strip and capturing the action with his Canon camera. He is now artfully crafting stories around the awesome machines at the shows, as well as the men and women behind them. When he's is not on the road covering events, he spends his downtime out on the water fishing, building his 1962 Chevy Nova, or cruising his 1987 GMC Suburban.

Born and raised in New York, it wasn't until Terry moved to Arizona that his love for photography and vehicles merged into a passion. Terry has always photographed vehicles since he was young but it wasn't until he started shooting autocross at Goodguys Rod & Custom Association events that led to more opportunities. Since then, he's covered various motorsport events and worked with corporations within the performance market. Terry has always had a love for trucks and has owned several, including lifted and lowered ones. Currently, he's working on finishing his 1972 F-100 Flareside.

Trevor Ryan is a track day photographer from Northern California. He has experience in many different areas of photography but always comes back to automotive work in the end. To him, nothing is more rewarding than creating an amazing image of a car. Having purchased a ’66 Mustang almost six years ago, he had no choice but to end up immersed in car culture sooner or later. He also owns a ’99 Miata that he takes to the track. He has love for every part of car culture and besides track days often makes it to drift events, Cars and Coffee, tuner shows, and anything else he can find.

Courtney is a freelance automotive photojournalist + creative based in the San Francisco Bay Area. For her, cars have always been more of an art form than simply a method of transportation. Over the last several years, she’s worked to find ways to combine her love of both photography and classic cars. Now, she spends most of her time shooting and driving classics, collecting cameras, and enjoying the communities that surround both fields. Her primary affliction centers around classic Datsuns and BMWs, but she has a well-rounded appreciation for almost all aged autos.

Born and raised in the racing-rich confines of Charlotte, North Carolina, Robert McCarter is a lifelong car nut. His life revolves around it. Best of all, he is self-taught in all of his disciplines. Creative photography came first. Automotive concept design came soon after. He also possesses old world hot rod craftsman abilities reflected in his hi-level upholstery work. Evenings and weekends are solely dedicated to driving, tuning and tweaking his homebuilt ’32 Ford roadster or his pristine ’66 Nova. His deuce roadster has traversed the country on numerous coast-to-coast hair-blowing boogies. He now adds story-teller to his repertoire with his editorial work reflected her on our pages.

Joey Ukrop has always had a fascination with storytelling. Born and raised in the Motor City, he studied journalism in Missouri prior to moving to California in 2015. He’s writes a weekly column for The Jalopy Journal and these days he’s the Features Editor at The Rodder’s Journal. When he’s not researching his latest article, you can find him bombing hills on one of his vintage Honda Scramblers, daydreaming about his ’66 Triumph chopper or working on his far-out ’70 Harley-Davidson XLCH in his San Francisco garage—a space that just so happens to not have any electricity.

Originally from Louisiana, now based in Tennessee, Sierra Hamilton’s career as a freelance photojournalist is ascending rapidly. With a passion for automotive and motorcycle photography as well as a bonafide need for speed, her repertoire is as visually pleasing as her smile. When she’s not photographing or writing about fast machines you can find her exploring the great outdoors and chasing an adventure.

Growing up just miles from Fremont Drag Strip where his father both worked and raced throughout the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, Marc Gewertz was exposed to the excitement, color, and pageantry of hot rodding at an early age. During junior high, he began taking his Nikon camera to the dragstrip to capture the action and the people behind all those fast cars. With a penchant for being in the right place at the right time, he quickly developed a reputation as being one of rac­ing’s rising young photographic talents.

Gary Medley has been a friend, ally and contributor to the performance community for decades. His interest in cars and journalism was pretty much a genetic imperative, as he is the son of Tom Medley, creator of Stroker McGurk. Medley’s own career path has traveled from the halls of Petersen Publishing to PR director for an Indy Car race to pitching tight-fitting Italian-made cycling shorts and countless other forms of high-speed life. Living between two volcanoes in Hood River, Oregon, Medley will be a regular Fuel Curve contributor when he’s not working to sustain his father’s legacy.

Roy has been a freelance photographer more than half his life and is the publisher/editor/chief photographer of Hot Cars. His work has been featured in Popular Cars, Scale Auto Enthusiast, Street Rodder, FineScale Modeler, Popular HotRodding, American Rodder, DRIVE and more.

Now retired, Canada’s Larry Pfister was a fan, photographer and Pacific Northwest drag racing enthusiast for over four decades. His signature image, a 1975 shot of Twig Zigler going through the SIR finish line upside down and backwards launched his career from fan-with-camera to professional racing photojournalist. Over the years, Pfister branched out into photographing and videotaping other forms of motorsport but drag racing remained his first love. Back at the dawn of the internet era, Pfister founded “Horsepower Heaven” – a now-shelved website which was the world’s first to post live updates, same day photos and same day video from a drag race. Pfister retired from motorsports journalism in 2009 but still shares his archives with various print and digital publications around the world.

Currently based in New England, Mike Bumbeck is a journalist and 40-plus year driver and caretaker of everything from vintage econoboxes and turbocharged coupes to classic sports utility vehicles and motorcycles. He honed his skills writing about hot cars and punk rock in a pre-tech boom Bay Area before migrating back east as gigs with publishing empires and other pit stops fueled the past decade. An outside-the-box car guy, Bumbeck launched Clunkbucket in 2009 as a “place for the unsung heroes of the automotive universe.”

Tim Johnson is a freelance automotive journalist and vintage Cadillac owner/cruiser from Las Vegas. Tim owns his own photography company and spends his Monday's through Friday's working on roads. Go figure! A true car guy!

Todd Ryden is first and foremost a car guy and admits to how lucky he is to have been able to build a career out of a hobby that he enjoys so much. He’s owned muscle cars and classics, raced a bit and has cruised across the country. With over 25 years in the industry from the manufacturing and marketing side to writing books and articles, he just gets it.

Dave Doucette is a long-time Goodguys member with a career in newspaper, magazine and website journalism. He was one of the founding editors of USA TODAY, editor of two daily newspapers and co-owner of a magazine publishing and trade show company. He owns and operates Real Auto Media. His first car was a 1947 Ford; he has owned Camaros, Firebirds, El Caminos and a 1956 Chevy that was entered in shows from California to Florida before being sold last year. He was one of the original Goodguys Rodders Reps and served as president of two classic Chevy clubs. Doucette grew up in South Florida, avidly following the racing exploits of local hero Ollie Olsen and, of course, Don Garlits. He remembers riding his bicycle to Briggs Cunningham’s West Palm Beach factory to peak through the fence at his Sebring and LeMans racers.

Mark C. Bach is a well preserved automotive junkie, due to the Arizona dry heat. He loves anything that moves and is especially fond of muscle cars and classics.

Chris Graves has been involved in drag racing photography and journalism since the late 1990's and started shooting before he had a drivers license. Graves spent seven years crewing on Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars for Mitch King, Tony Pedregon and Dale Creasy Jr. After graduating from the Univ. of North Texas in 2006, Graves went full-time as a freelance photographer with wife Tera and the couple travels the country covering all forms of drag racing under his label Max Cackle Photography. Graves, track photographer at North Star Dragway in Texas, also serves as president and founder of the Southwest Heritage Racing Association and takes a few weekends off each season to pilot his blown front engine dragster in the SHRA and NHRA Heritage Series Nostalgia Eliminator 1 category.