by Robin Miller
The list of bad asses who drove his cars like Bubby Jones, Steve Kinser, Eddie Leavitt, Danny Smith, Jack Hewitt and Rich Vogler would fill up a table at the Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
The list of wide-eyed kids, journeymen, dreamers, weekend warriors and mechanics who went to him for help would fill up the grandstands at Knoxville Raceway.
Such has been the life of Jim McQueen.
In the past 40 years, it's safe to say nobody has won more sprint-car races or friends than this mechanical marvel and goodhearted Hoosier. His race shop has been like an orphanage for the clueless, the homeless and the curious.
It didn't matter if you needed to borrow an axle,! have your magneto timed, ask a question about your Jacob's Ladder or get a tip on the rake of your chassis, McQueen never turned anybody away -- regardless of your pedigree.
"Some days you'd look in the parking lot of his shop and there would be five or six guys with their sprint cars and McQueen would be out there with his tape measure helping them set up their cars," said Tim Coffeen, a veteran mechanic for Newman/Haas Racing and a longtime friend who was on the receiving end of McQueen's knowledge and hospitality.
"He was the friend of the underdog. And he always enjoyed helping kids."
Born in Indianapolis in 1941, McQueen became enamored with race cars in the '60s when his half-brother Jesse Plummer began driving sprinters. By 1971, Jim owned cars and already had acquired a knack for making them go faster. Jack French gave McQueen his first taste of success before he hooked up with Butch Wilkerson.
"That's when Jim's confidence really took ! off and he learned a lot winning races with Butch," recalls Owen Snyde r, who was Jim's stepson at that time and, at age 14, already adept with a toolbox at a race track under his stepfather's guidance.
"But, when he and Bubby got together, it was magic. It didn't matter where they started, they always got to the front."
Norman "Bubby" Jones was already a short-track, sprint-car legend in the midwest when McQueen hired him to run Don Siebert's USAC car in 1979. Nothing was tougher than USAC's sprint division back then and the McQueen/Jones combo won 11 of the 14 dirt shows in '79.
"When I got hooked up with Jim it just made it so easy because he was The Man," said Jones, who won just about every major dirt race before retiring in the late '80s. "I learned so much from him about how to make a race car do what it was supposed to do.
"He never drove so I don't know how he knew, but he knew what to do make your car work. He just had a knack. He could watch you go around the track and he could dial it in. He was amazing."!
Jones headed for California in 1980 so McQueen put Vogler in that seat and they captured the USAC sprint crown. He talked Steve Kinser into the USAC 4-Crown series and they won after starting last in 1981. He put Leavitt in victory lane five times in USAC.
Of course the coolest thing about McQueen was that he also enjoyed crawling under some wayward soul's midget at Kokomo to put on the hot setup or thrashing to help some modified guy make it to Paragon for warmups. Invariably, he'd go to a race track as a spectator and wind up with a wrench in one hand and a stagger tape in the other.
"I'm not sure people can appreciate how many guys he helped out, whether it was giving them a job, a place to live, a meal or helping them with their car," said Jones.
Snyder spent a decade as McQueen's right hand man before becoming a respected chief mechanic who won Indy twice with Al Unser Jr. and Eddie Cheever thanks to a push from his mentor.
"It was ! all Jim's doing that I ever went to Indy cars because I would have bee n content to stay in sprints," said Snyder. who now oversees USAC's technical department. "He made me go ask Jim McGee for a job at Patrick Racing because he said that was the place to make a good living and have a future.
"I was 21 years old at the time and it turned out to be great advice."
McQueen continued to help young racers throughout the '90s and this decade while holding down a full-time job at Roadway Trucks. He worked with Shane Hollingsworth last summer and was two weeks away from retiring when he learned he had cancer.
Today, he's near death on a respirator and probably won't last the week. In the cruelest of ironies, the guy who helped so many people for so many years cannot be helped.
But he can, and should, be remembered for his good heartedness, his passion and his incredible race track savvy.
"There was Karl Kinser and there was Jim McQueen," said Snyder. "They were the two big guns for the longest time and one was as good! as the other."
Jones, who spent the past month trying to comfort his friend, understands what a special breed he's been.
"Jim was his own man and he thought about things most guys never did. He was so smart, yet he never bragged about himself and he had a big heart. He helped everybody and he was a RACER.
"Guys like McQueen are what made racing good."
The list of bad asses who drove his cars like Bubby Jones, Steve Kinser, Eddie Leavitt, Danny Smith, Jack Hewitt and Rich Vogler would fill up a table at the Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
The list of wide-eyed kids, journeymen, dreamers, weekend warriors and mechanics who went to him for help would fill up the grandstands at Knoxville Raceway.
Such has been the life of Jim McQueen.
In the past 40 years, it's safe to say nobody has won more sprint-car races or friends than this mechanical marvel and goodhearted Hoosier. His race shop has been like an orphanage for the clueless, the homeless and the curious.
It didn't matter if you needed to borrow an axle,! have your magneto timed, ask a question about your Jacob's Ladder or get a tip on the rake of your chassis, McQueen never turned anybody away -- regardless of your pedigree.
"Some days you'd look in the parking lot of his shop and there would be five or six guys with their sprint cars and McQueen would be out there with his tape measure helping them set up their cars," said Tim Coffeen, a veteran mechanic for Newman/Haas Racing and a longtime friend who was on the receiving end of McQueen's knowledge and hospitality.
"He was the friend of the underdog. And he always enjoyed helping kids."
Born in Indianapolis in 1941, McQueen became enamored with race cars in the '60s when his half-brother Jesse Plummer began driving sprinters. By 1971, Jim owned cars and already had acquired a knack for making them go faster. Jack French gave McQueen his first taste of success before he hooked up with Butch Wilkerson.
"That's when Jim's confidence really took ! off and he learned a lot winning races with Butch," recalls Owen Snyde r, who was Jim's stepson at that time and, at age 14, already adept with a toolbox at a race track under his stepfather's guidance.
"But, when he and Bubby got together, it was magic. It didn't matter where they started, they always got to the front."
Norman "Bubby" Jones was already a short-track, sprint-car legend in the midwest when McQueen hired him to run Don Siebert's USAC car in 1979. Nothing was tougher than USAC's sprint division back then and the McQueen/Jones combo won 11 of the 14 dirt shows in '79.
"When I got hooked up with Jim it just made it so easy because he was The Man," said Jones, who won just about every major dirt race before retiring in the late '80s. "I learned so much from him about how to make a race car do what it was supposed to do.
"He never drove so I don't know how he knew, but he knew what to do make your car work. He just had a knack. He could watch you go around the track and he could dial it in. He was amazing."!
Jones headed for California in 1980 so McQueen put Vogler in that seat and they captured the USAC sprint crown. He talked Steve Kinser into the USAC 4-Crown series and they won after starting last in 1981. He put Leavitt in victory lane five times in USAC.
Of course the coolest thing about McQueen was that he also enjoyed crawling under some wayward soul's midget at Kokomo to put on the hot setup or thrashing to help some modified guy make it to Paragon for warmups. Invariably, he'd go to a race track as a spectator and wind up with a wrench in one hand and a stagger tape in the other.
"I'm not sure people can appreciate how many guys he helped out, whether it was giving them a job, a place to live, a meal or helping them with their car," said Jones.
Snyder spent a decade as McQueen's right hand man before becoming a respected chief mechanic who won Indy twice with Al Unser Jr. and Eddie Cheever thanks to a push from his mentor.
"It was ! all Jim's doing that I ever went to Indy cars because I would have bee n content to stay in sprints," said Snyder. who now oversees USAC's technical department. "He made me go ask Jim McGee for a job at Patrick Racing because he said that was the place to make a good living and have a future.
"I was 21 years old at the time and it turned out to be great advice."
McQueen continued to help young racers throughout the '90s and this decade while holding down a full-time job at Roadway Trucks. He worked with Shane Hollingsworth last summer and was two weeks away from retiring when he learned he had cancer.
Today, he's near death on a respirator and probably won't last the week. In the cruelest of ironies, the guy who helped so many people for so many years cannot be helped.
But he can, and should, be remembered for his good heartedness, his passion and his incredible race track savvy.
"There was Karl Kinser and there was Jim McQueen," said Snyder. "They were the two big guns for the longest time and one was as good! as the other."
Jones, who spent the past month trying to comfort his friend, understands what a special breed he's been.
"Jim was his own man and he thought about things most guys never did. He was so smart, yet he never bragged about himself and he had a big heart. He helped everybody and he was a RACER.
"Guys like McQueen are what made racing good."
