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When Jim Shampine began racing, he had little funds but had the knowledge of engines and that was enough for him. He bought his first car from long time friend and fellow Oswego Speedway great Nolan Swift. He had some trouble when he was picking his number and he finally decided on 8. He wanted something unique on his car and it finally came to him, he said quote, "If Nolan Swift can have the Ten Pins... then I can have the 8 ball," from that day forward the 8 ball stuck with him. Jim was so dedicated to his racing that one day when he and his team were out buying a clutch for his car, one of the members had picked up the clutch and then the clutch fell out of the box and landed on his foot, Jim came over to him and said quote, " If anything happened to that clutch its coming out of your wallet. " He did not even care about his foot. That was the type of guy Jim was. Although he was actually a very nice person. Once he had promised the Cub Scouts in Oswego that he would come and send the first cars down the track in the Pinewood Derby race. Even though there was a terrible snow storm, he still kept his promise to the kids and he only got there to find out it was cancelled, but that was the type of person Jim was. In February of last year I was lucky enough to meet a couple of member of Jims Crew and his brother. It was fascinating to find out that most of the people on his team have stayed in the area, all have gone onto better things, some are still involved in racing, but most of them now have successful businesses such as the owner of Butch's Automotive in North Syracuse. Many had wondered if Jim had lived longer than he had, if he would have gone to NASCAR or another type of open wheel racing such as Indy or IRL, but whenever I asked someone if he might have gone to a higher level they all said that " Jim had checked into those types of racing and it would cost 1 million dollars just to build one car and he didn't have enough money or sponsors to do so so he would have stuck with DIRT racing and Super Modified racing. Jim was before his time but in a good way. With his knowledge of motors from working at Carrier Corporation and his skilled team they set out to make racing history, and of course succeeded. With Jims innovations he set out to build the perfect speed machine. He built two outstanding motors, the famous "rear-engine car" and the car with the motor to the side, which is the style used today. It was Jim's skill and knowledge that put him in the record books. Most people remember him for his style of racing, and not so much for his craftsmanship and injenuity. Jim Shampine died doing what he loved doing best.... racing.
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