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By Buffy Swanson
For more than 45 years racing photographer Jane Cella has stood shoulder to shoulder with the men in the field—and captured many of the most arresting and memorable moments in the sport. For her contributions and career documentary, Cella will be honored as the 2025 Outstanding Woman in Racing during induction ceremonies at the Northeast Dirt Modified Museum and Hall of Fame, on the Weedsport Speedway campus. The public is invited to the free event, which takes place on Thursday evening, July 24.
Growing up in Connecticut, young Jane Sauer attended events at Danbury Racearena with her family from the time she was three. Everyone loved it: her older brother Skip bought a Limited Sportsman to race Orange County’s hard clay in 1968; Jane, at age 10, would ride her bike to his house after school, to help work on the car.
“Skip’s 10 years older than me so he was already married and had a kid, with his own house and garage,” Jane explained. “My father would have to come and get me at 11-12 o’clock at night, because I wasn’t home yet, even on a school night.”
She would have loved to race, too, when she came of age, but there wasn’t enough money. So she bought a 35mm camera instead, taking classes at a local college to learn the craft.
A shy kid, Jane blossomed behind the lens.
“When I started in 1978, I was just shooting for myself,” she said. “I had no press credentials, I just paid to get in the pits, was taking pictures, and I’d go up to the 31st Lap Tavern and show them off in an album, meeting with friends up there. And people started buying them!”
That didn’t sit well with Orange County track photographer Bob Perran. “Bob came up to me one night with one of the police officers who was on site and told me I had a choice: I could either work with him or I could go nicely with this officer and leave the premises!” Cella recalled the confrontation. “So I said, ‘I guess I’ll work with you, sir!’”
Perran took her under his wing and got Jane her first press card from Area Auto Racing News in 1984. She began hitting the circuit hard, some years traveling to 100+ races, all while honing her skills. Jane’s work has been featured in all the trade publications—AARN, Gater Racing News, Speedway Scene, National Speed Sport News, the magazines and in track programs, covering NASCAR and NHRA in addition to the local dirt.
The new technology and transition from film to digital have been challenging. “Back in the day you had shutter speed, aperture and a flash. Now there are hundreds or thousands of different adjustments and settings you can use,” Cella detailed. “In one respect, it’s easier. But at the same time, it can be much more difficult. The cars today throw up a lot more dust that we didn’t have to deal with back in the film days. The cameras today are a lot more light-sensitive than the old film cameras. You really have to be dialed in, constantly changing your settings.
“It’s all fine-tuning—similar to the way that shocks on the race cars work now. Today, the drivers can’t just put any shock on the car and go. They have to fine-tune them with the gas pressure. We have to fine-tune the cameras, adjusting for light and dust and weather conditions.”
Ultimately, Cella’s central focus is not on the action, but the people and their stories.
“I love to get the candid shots when nobody knows I’m there—when the drivers and crew are busy working, off in space, thinking. To me, those shots are a lot more interesting. They’re not pretending—they’re real! You can see the intensity in their faces,” she described. “That’s the part the fans don’t get to see. It’s not always easy to get those shots because with the bright yellow vests we wear nowadays—they see you coming! But that’s why they make a big 300mm lens, so you can stay far enough away and zoom in.”
Shooting for 20+ years alongside fellow photographer Harry Cella, they eventually connected on a personal level, moved to his home in Rochelle Park, NJ, and married in 2004.
“We complement each other quite a bit. He’s taught me how to use lighting better. I’ve taught him things about the electronics and Photoshop. We compare notes and help each other out all the time. But we have different styles,” Jane maintained.
The once-shy flower stands her ground on that front. “There are times Harry tries to tell me how to frame a shot and I have to stop him. ‘This is MY eye! You can help me establish how to get what I want to get, but you’re not going to tell me how to shoot!’”
Nowadays, Cella finds herself at tracks like Fonda and Orange County, chronicling the racing careers of the third generation—the children and grandchildren of her 1980s subjects. At age 65, she is ready to retire from her position as a quality control manager at a manufacturing plant, and perhaps hit some bucket-list tracks in the coming years. Both Jane and Harry will continue to shoot for the racing trades, traveling on their own dime. Neither has ever considered it a job.
“We don’t sell pictures; we usually give ’em away to the drivers to help promote them,” Cella disclosed. “I am a thyroid cancer survivor. Harry’s had heart surgery. We’re just out to have fun! It’s our stress reliever, our golf game.
“And we have the best seats in the house!”
