Whenever Jim and Charlie went to a boat race Jim would drive. On several occasions I tagged along and sat in the back seat. Anyone who knew Jim knows how much he liked to talk and that he ALWAYS wanted to look at you when talking. It used to scare the heck out of me when Jim would turn around and start talking to me while driving. To the best of my knowledge he never had an accident, but I was still scared.

During the Daytona 500, Evinrude would sponsor a fishing tournament on the infield lake and donate a boat/motor to the winner. Most of the drivers were fisherman so they participated. Jim was the guy who put all of this together and knew every driver on a first name basis. I remember one year seeing Jim with a hat signed by all the drivers. When not on the race course Dale Earnhardt and Neil Bonnett were fishing buddies. Dale had a V6 Mercury and Neil a V6 Evinrude. At Jim’s request, we built Neil a killer motor so he could beat Dale to the fishing hole.