[Fot] My favorite memory of Jack...

[Keith Files]

Hi Tony,

Here is my favourite story; not really racing related but is worthy of
recording.

In 2007 Jon Wood and I were staying with Jack and Francis for a short period
fitting a new engine and suspension to my TR4 when Jack casually mentions
that he has something that he would like to show us; he said nothing more
than that.

Later that day he followed up his earlier comment by asking us to jump into
his car as there was a trip arranged!!! Both Jon and I got in the car and he
drove us a few short miles to a line of storage units in deepest Geneseo;
when we arrived he simply said 'There you are; just look at that'. Now
looking at a row of lock-ups is nice but not that nice....

To my surprise one of the lock-ups opened up and out came 2 of the oddest
people you could meet; one gruff and short on words and the other short and
very long on words. We were taken into this rabbit warren of inter-connected
lock-ups where we were met with a vision that you could never have expected
in a million years; row after row of vintage Packards in various stages of
restoration. There was also a hidden museum that contained the best of the
best restorations and the collection included a Cadillac V16 from the
1930's' what an impressive beast that was.

After much banter and coffee, the owner says to the gruff one 'go get the
maroon car'. The maroon car was a Packard V12. All three of us were taken
for a chauffeur driven ride in the V12 around Geneseo with all 3 of us
grinning like Cheshire Cats; this was the icing on the cake and Jack was in
his element.

Jack knew so many people, had so many friends and connections that you never
knew what was going to happen next; this was a major treat for us and a
memory of Jack that will stay with me forever.

Cheers, Keith.    

-----Original Message-----
From: fot-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:fot-bounces at autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Tony Drews
Sent: 20 August 2008 00:03
To: fot at autox.team.net
Subject: [Fot] My favorite memory of Jack...

One of the things we'll be doing at the visitation is having folks 
write down a favorite memory of Jack.  It occurs to me that many of 
you can't attend but would like to participate in this portion of his 
celebration.  You may even find it cathartic (I find that reading and 
responding to the messages about him is cathartic for me).

If you'd like, reply to me with your favorite memory of Jack.  I'll 
make sure that the whole family gets to read all of these.  If you 
feel the desire, you can cc the FOT list, but that's not necessary.

I have a couple that I can share:
At IRP, when we were sharing old blue, Jack told me that turn 2 could 
be taken flat out.  After the next session, I was explaining to him 
how much I had to work at it to keep the car on the track when I took 
turn 2 flat out.  His response: "You're taking 2 flat out?  I've not 
done THAT yet in THIS car..." - apparently he was explaining the 
hypothetical...  We would push each other quite a bit that way - one 
of us would find a driving trick and couldn't wait to share it with 
the other one of us.

At Road America, when I was still sorting out the Red Rocket (my 
car), I had just removed the muffler in my quest for more top end 
power.  When we got out on the track for the race, we were totally 
equal in handling and power.  I believe that it was a 6 lap race.  We 
were within a couple of car lengths of each other for almost the 
entire race.  One of us would draft by the other one on the front 
straight, and then on the back straight (from turn 3 to turn 5), we'd 
reciprocate.  I passed him like 5 times and he passed me 5 or 6 times 
in the 6 laps.  I went through turn 5 and 6 with Jack on my inside at 
least once, tires squealing, inches apart, and I may have returned 
the favor.  On the last lap, I managed to pull ahead for the run 
through the kink, he couldn't draft by me until the start / finish 
line - I had finally bested him!  However, exiting Canada corner my 
throttle linkage broke (I had been pushing down on the gas pedal with 
all of my might throughout the race), and he passed me to finish 
ahead.  We always talked about this as the highpoint of our racing 
careers.  Racing inches apart, sliding through the corners on those 
wonderful Vintage TD's, totally trusting each other, man - it doesn't 
get any better than that.

- Tony

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