tazz888

iTrader: (26)

That was what I was thinking also. I personaly would like to see a fund started for his family and would like to be the first to donate my portion towards it.

TeamTazman

Deepest Regards to Jim's family; hope they know how great his contributions were to our little world. I feel fortunate to have raced his product. Thanks for all the help to us over the years.

BallisticHobbie

I posted this on the rccars.com forum. Since people are asking, I thought I should include it here too.



Jim's Estate
I have spoken briefly with Jim's daughter, who seems to have been appointed the executer of Jim's estate. She has asked that people get her a list of anything that Jim has left owing, or if he has property of yours. Please feel free to email me, Louis Rainer, at [email protected] with a list. Also, please send your contact information and any proof of it that you can (I understand if it is only an email or a posting from Jim). I will be happy to forward that information on to her. Please remember to provide as much of a description as possible, because she may not have inherited Jim's interest in R/C cars. I can not make any guarantees that your items or money will be returned, but this is the first step in the process.

Please try to get me what you can as soon as you can, as I would hate to have your items end up on Ebay in order to help pay Jim's financial debt.

I apologize if the timing of this seems to be in bad taste. I know that this is a situation that needs to be addressed sooner better than later.

Please do not attach the list to this posting, as I can not be sure that I will get it.

RCBuddha

iTrader: (40)

RIP BJ...your presence will be missed...

tc4kid191

i cant believe it

nikos2002

iTrader: (30)

This is sad news as everyone has stated.

I worked with Big Jim at Trinity and learned a lot of what I know about motors from him. He would literally show me things, so I could go to the track and build motors for the team drivers.

The best Big Jim story I can tell everyone is this. While we were at Trinity, Tony P asked us to go to this little off-road oval track in the middle of no-where NJ. I could not believe the level of equipment at this track, everyone's stuff was as old as dirt and looked like it was kept that way. 5 minutes after getting there a line like you wouldn't believe formed for Jim to look at their motors, and he treated each one of those people like it was Kinwald. Clean, cut, re-brushed, dyno'd (I don't think some of these people ever saw a dyno), and he helped them all. Yea, he was a bit of a hard ass at times, but I guess you had to know him. It was great working with him. He will be missed.

Mdoc

iTrader: (29)

I have been racing rc cars since the early 80s, my first real sponsor was Team Checkpoint, the products Big Jim sent me were always great, but the things he taught me about how these little motors work, still means more to me than all all the arms and cans he sent ever could, Jim knew who he was, and what he has ment to this sport, he had a lot of friends, Im glad I was one of them

rest well, you will definatly be missed

Gary Wilkey

STEALTH

iTrader: (21)

I got this news very late as I have been on the road traveling....

I still have a Checkpoint Gold Motor Big Jim built on my Hot Shot from 20+ years ago. Even though I didn't agree with him with regards to Brushless Motors and it's future in R/C cars... there is no doubt that this man was a Giant in our hobby! A brilliant and true pioneer in Electric Motors!

Rest In Peace Big Jim.....

Bluey_74

iTrader: (5)

I, like most, only knew him from his book.
A very valuable source of information for any racer.
Obviously one who had a huge imput into the growth of this sport.
My condolences to his family and friends.
may his legacy, his book, help many more to come.

sponger

I don't know if this is an urban legend about Big Jim or if it's true. Story goes a fellow racer complianed to Jim that the motor in his wife's/Girlfirends meassage wand (if you know what I mean) wasn't cuttin' it. So Jim reworked the motor gave it back to the guy and lets just say her meassage had a very happy ending after Jim was done with the motor. Great story but could be an urban legend It's always sad to lose an icon of a sport.

TEAM-AE-4-EVER

Yup, Our Hobby Lost One Of It's Great Ones!


Thanks BIG JIM To ALL You Have Shared & Contributed To This Fun & Wonderul Hobby! You Definitely Made An Impact & A Difference! God Bless!

Bob-Stormer

iTrader: (8)

As you can imagine, it's about impossible to hang out and see everything on all the forums.

I heard about this today from Cornell over at HPI, and was both bummed out that I didn't know, and that I didn't know for about 4 months.

I'm happy to say that I was a full ride Checkpoint driver for JIM "Back in the day". Won a lot of races, had a lot of fun. He always had time for me, This was when "Stormer Hobbies" was just starting out, about 18-20 years ago. Jim was very gracious and sent me everything needed to win, no questions asked.

Always had something clever to try, and was fun to talk to on the phone. I probably logged 200 hours or more on the phone with him over the years. He was a chronic tinkerer, like the rest of us, and couldn't wait to talk about whatever he was dabbling with.

Anybody remember the chain drive pan car he was working on in the mid 80's? That was pretty slick. He sent me some photos, I should try and find those and post them.

Some of my favorite storys come from those days of the early and mid 80's when everything was new and exciting. When a 16 turn motor was considered a "Drag racing motor only". When packs came in blue shrink wrap with a Parma sticker on them. When you had to call ahead to a track to find out if it was legal to run an electronic speed control in stock. When Novak made servos, all kinds of nostalgia.

I was just looking at some old email from Jim. The last time we talked was about 2 years ago. Looks like we were having a debate on stock motors. Was a fun read. You can just read the enthusiasm in his voice.

I found some pictures of myself from what I think is 1988, excuse the bad hair.... Givin' props to Checkpoint.

The picture with the offroad cars was taken in Spokane 1988ish. It was the summer that MRP was going to release the MRP 410 Shotgun (anybody still got one of those?). MRP brought over Guy Davies, and Jim Welch, Bob Welch to run the car, I finished 2nd in between Guy and Jim and ruined the 1-2 sweep they were hpoing for from an advertising perspective. The 1/12 cars were raced in Minot North Dakota. Was the one and only time my wife tried racing. She was pregnant with our first child and the tire sauce smell did not agree with her and she did not race. To put that into perspective, that child is now 17 and a good racer on his own. He made the "A" at the Novak 2 years ago in the Tamiya class. Time flys, never take it for granted.

Although I never got to meet him in person, I considered him a good friend. Thanks Jim, it was fun.

Proud as ever:
Team Checkpoint Factory Driver,
-Bob Stormer