The Life and Photography of David Lack

Words by Brett Smith | Photography by David Lack

The vast majority of us followers never met Lack, who lived in Starkville, Mississippi, and spent his entire life in and around the Magnolia State. But we had something that bonded us. We spoke the same language: dirt bikes. We are bench racers just like him. Lack wasn’t an executive in the motorcycle industry; he wasn’t a mechanic, truck driver or journalist. He never even raced a dirt bike. He was an unintentional historian who documented dozens of professional motocross races in the South that didn’t get much media attention. And he did it all from the fence line. 

Lack didn’t realize the magic of what he had until after his retirement from Mississippi State University, where he had worked as a videographer and producer. On October 24, 2011, a year after retirement, doctors discovered a tumor on his kidney. Realizing his fate (and not knowing exactly how long he had), he went to work unboxing and scanning the thousands of photos and video reels of motocross racing he had shot (and thankfully kept!) in his youth. He started with photo collages on YouTube and attempted a Facebook page, but found a community of like-minded souls on Instagram.  

“I wanted these photos to be enjoyed by others,” he said in a September 2019 phone conversation. “I didn’t want them to be in a drawer, hidden forever. I’m glad I did. It makes me very happy that others have enjoyed them.”

Lack’s contribution to the sport truly started around 1969 at a track carved into the woods in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Lack doesn’t remember how he got there, because he didn’t have a driver’s license at the time. But he’s got the photos from his Kodak Instamatic to prove it. He also often brought along the Super 8 video camera his mother, Dorothy, bought him for Christmas in 1965. 

Lack took his cameras everywhere and worked hard on his craft. He was self-taught behind the lens, and when professional motocross races popped up in the Deep South, he showed up. A shy and quiet person, he didn’t try to apply for a media credential. “I just shot from the sidelines,” he said. “I’d sneak over the fence in some areas, but I just did it for the fun of it.” The improvement in his skills are apparent. The closer the photos in his collection get to 1983, the better the quality and composition. 

For 14 years, his angles came from the fence and with consumer-grade equipment. And perhaps the most special aspect of his collection is that many of the races he attended—Burnt Hickory, Rio Bravo, Waggaman, LA, Lake Whitney, Atlanta International Raceway—were what Racer X Illustrated founder Davey Coombs calls “The Lost Nationals.” 

Many of these 1970s races in the South were not covered by the California-based magazines, and so few high-quality photos exist. Lack’s photos and videos are a window into a time that we all heard about and read about, but for four decades have lacked visual reference for. 

In 1980, Lack headed west with his brother and sister. They hit the Lakewood National in Colorado, saw the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and the 1980 USGP at Carlsbad. It was the race where Marty Moates became the first American to win the 500cc USGP of Motocross, and the site of some of Lack’s favorite personal images. 

The last race Lack shot was the 1983 Lakewood, Colorado, Motocross National. He was 28 years old and still wanted to be like his hero, Jim Gianatsis, who shot and wrote for Cycle News and Motocross Action in the 1970s and ’80s. He loaded up and drove from Mississippi to Denver by himself. He brought the film home and developed the photos in the bathtub at his parents’ house. He sent some into various magazines and recalls getting the formatting all wrong. He got $50 for one submission, but couldn’t remember which issue.  

Lack didn’t race, but he loved riding. He owned Kawasakis and CZs and supported his brother, Richard, who rose to the expert level in the Southeast. Lack moved on from moto after a bad leg injury, but he spent 30 years as an avid road cyclist (bicycles) and enjoyed riding his Honda GB500 on the streets. 

In November 2017, I stumbled onto Lack’s work on YouTube, where I saw a few photos in his reels that fit well with a story I was working on at the time. He donated the images, and we talked off and on over the next several months. On March 4, 2018, I surprisingly got tagged in a photo of Bob Hannah and Jimmy Ellis battling at the 1978 Rio Bravo Motocross National. Lack had finally started the Instagram feed that connected us moto history nerds. For the next 20 months, we enjoyed the tales of his view from the fence. 

Thanks for the ride, David.