Yes it is too bad about Cordova.
The weekend before, on Aug. 18th. I was featured and honored at Rt. 66 as the Classic Legend for the Annual Rt. 66 Classic event. And I was advertised as I should be. I match raced my old friend Bill Neri in his new Warren Johnson nostalgia tribute clone. All went well. We put on a good show.
That would have been a more fitting end.
Unlike the nightmare at Cordova the next weekend, which tarnished all my great memories and achievement's I garnered at that facility the last 32 years .
On Labor Day weekend, following the 2012 World Series , I was inducted into Great Lakes Dragways Hall Of Fame. It was a very nice ceremony and nice day. My last appearance was Oct. 1995 . I won the UDRA pro Modified World Finals VS Bill Graziano with my WunderBird. So last Aug/Sept 2012 for 3 consecutive weekends I had two out of three positive weekends.
As for Cordova , I won at least a dozen events there starting with my first appearance there starting in 1980. I won and also capped UDRA championships at that track. I even wrote a story about the 1988 World Series win. It is on my website
http://www.animaljimracing.com Click on Animal's Stories. Title is-"I hate the Smell of Burnt Aluminum and Oil. Some may recall it. A condensed version was printed in Engine Builder's Magazine earlier this year, for my first article with Babcock publishing. (Engine Builder Magazine retained me for 2013 to do 4 of my racing stories involving engine situations on a quarterly basis.) That one in Jan. was the first. I did a second in May issue. Next is Sept and Nov.
PS I was honored at the 1997 Gateway Banquet and also was the speaker . After my spiel, assisted hosted by Bret Kepner he presented me with a Thanks For the Memories plaque with images of my Pinto and Zeke the Zephyr.
Such is the life of an old drag racer.