Ron McQueeney, one of Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s best-known photographers and its longtime director of photography, passed away July 14 in Indianapolis. He was 80.
McQueeney spent more than 50 years involved with IMS and the Indianapolis 500 Oldtimers, snapping some of his first photographs with a new 35-millimeter motorized Minolta camera on Opening Day for the 1972 Indianapolis 500.
McQueeney took up photography as a U.S. Army motorcycle policeman in Okinawa in the 1960s. He was hired as a full-time IMS photographer in 1974. When he retired in 2011, he was director of the track’s photography staff, a position he had held since 1977.
McQueeney seemed to be omnipresent and tireless during his Speedway career. He literally had shot photographs from all corners of the iconic and historic facility.
McQueeney estimated he pressed the shutter buttons on his cameras more than a million times at IMS, photographing INDYCAR, NASCAR, IROC, Formula One, MotoGP and IMSA. He also shot numerous celebrity visits to IMS and the IMS Hall of Fame Museum along with various landmark scenes of the track.
"I would say almost every event that I've been to here at the Speedway, I've enjoyed one way or the other," McQueeney said at the time of his retirement. "For me, this has just been a labor of love."
McQueeney also organized and led teams of photographers for IMS evince since the mid-1970s and all INDYCAR events from 1996 through 2010. He also led an ongoing project to convert millions of negatives in the IMS photo archives into digital images.
"These are things people don't see," McQueeney said. "It's behind-the-scenes work."
IMS abandoned film photography and shot all-digital starting in 2003. That eliminated the camera shuffle for McQueeney and his staff, but it created other challenges.
"Always before we had a delay of a day or two between when we turned our film in and we got to see the images," McQueeney said. "Now you could see the images not only in the back of the camera, but you could work with those images and send them to the magazines and people who needed them around the campus here almost instantly.
"So, it came to where they expected that instant gratification. We were out shooting, we'd have to come in more often, download them to the computer and upload them to the media sites and the websites where people could see them."
McQueeney was part of the fabric of the Speedway since the days when winged Indy cars were considered a new trend. He knew the drivers, the mechanics and team members, and the support staff that helped make Indy the “Racing Capital of the World.”
"These people are my co-workers," McQueeney said. "They're my friends. I don't know many people in my neighborhood, but I know all of these people (in the sport). At least if they don't know me real well, they know me by name. That's always a thrill to me.
"I cherish all of that and the 40 years of memories I have from that, too."
At the time of his retirement, McQueeney had shot 40 Indianapolis 500s, 18 Brickyard 400s, eight United States Grands Prix and four Red Bull Indianapolis Grands Prix at IMS. He also had shot CART, INDYCAR and USAC races along with drag racing, motorcycle racing and boat racing -- more than 1,000 events overall.
McQueeney served several terms as president of the Indianapolis 500 Oldtimers. He had been Chairman of the Board of the Indianapolis-based organization at the time of his passing.
"I would say that my favorite race of all time would be any Indy 500 that I've been involved in," McQueeney once said. "That's where I shine, and that's what I feel I do best. I've been fortunate that I've been to a lot of events around different parts of the world and seen a lot of things, and I still come back here, and you can't express what the enjoyment is and how I feel about this place.
"There is no other place like Indy."
McQueeney is survived by his wife, Marsha. No services will be held, per his request.