Postby Jim Baker » Sat Mar 06, 2010 11:36 am
Hello, My name is Jim Baker. I have several entries under Pro Stock which have been in Drag List for some time.
I recently started writing a column for Drag Racing On Line called "Then and Now'.
Started racing in the '50s in Arizona and have always known something of the State' drag racing action.
Being in the mid-west in 1960, I helped start Tri State Dragway at Kahoka, Mo. which ran for seven seasons (1960-1966)
I then went back to Arizona and worked with Mel Larson at Arizona Raceway which is now called 'Speedworld'/ While in AZ.I was asked by NHRA to interview at OCIR. I started there in mid 1967 when it opened. My wife worked there 9 years. She also worked for NHRA at Nat. events.
From the OCIR connection (through GM, Mike Jones) I became an integral part of Bill Thomas Race Cars until the business dissolved in 1970.
By that time I had started racing again full steam with the new Pro Stock class. My career in PS lasted until 1981.
In 2005 we moved from So. Cal to Las Vegas partly due to several of my racing friends living here, and the fact that it now has a 'state of the art' drag racing facility!
After working four years at Greenspun Media Group in LV, I am now retired and have more time to reminisce and contribute.
Jim Baker