Jim Gary resides in eastern upstate New York and is a member of the Mohawk Hudson Region SCCA. Jim capped off a winning season by becoming the 2008 Champion in C Modified using his weapon of choice a 1985 Citation Formula Ford with updated suspension on Hoosier R25B tires.
RR: Is this your first attendance at Nationals? 
JG: I’ve been attending Nationals since 1982 and have missed six events during that time although for two of those misses I was at the site. At one of those I had to leave due to a family emergency and at the other I crashed my bicycle and ended up in the hospital in Topeka!
RR: Is this your first National Championship?
JG: 2008 was my third win. My first National Championship was in C Stock in 1984. My second was C Modified in 2007. When I won in 2007 I tied the record for most time between first and latest National wins. Tommy Saunders took that record when he won in 2008.
RR: What was your favorite memory of the competition?
JG: Two good competition memories: The first was having a handling problem and making the right moves to fix it. That was very rewarding. The second memory was being about 1.2 seconds back as I took my last run of the second day and turning a time fast enough to win. Unfortunately, I took the win away from my co-driver who is also a good friend.  But it was a real thrill. I don’t usually show much emotion but I was whooping it up as I drove to impound.
Also, not a competition memory … I worked as a chief of course on Tuesday/Wednesday. We were short of chiefs for nearly all specialties causing most of us to work extra heats. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, I worked a total of 7 heats. Tiring but satisfying. And I’d say I didn’t work nearly as hard as a couple of dozen other people. It might sound trite, but I was honored to work with a group of people who extended themselves to make the event a success.
RR: What do you think was your key to success?
JG: There were a lot of important things that came together over the past few years. One was hanging in there for years and finally learning what the car wants in order to be driven fast. Very critically there was getting shock valving help from Gary Godula. I was also finally able to learn to pay attention to detail on the car (I’d always paid attention to detail regarding driving and walking the course but working on the car was difficult for me). And I reached out to take advice from as many people as possible and then decided what would work for me.
And lastly there was the issue of pressure after having won the previous year. As the trip to Kansas approached, I thought about it for a while and remembered that during my long winless drought I had often said all I wanted was to be in the hunt. Well it occurred to me that given my win from ’07 I was clearly back in the hunt and so I decided I could relax because I had already accomplished what I had wanted all along and so I was able to let the pieces fall where they may. That took a lot of pressure off me.
RR: Who has most influenced you?
JG: I’ll assume you mean in the world of autocross. It would be people like Mark Daddio, Tom Saunders, Chris O’Donnell, Lynne and Paul Kozlak, Bob Smith, and probably a dozen more people I’ll want to apologize to for failing to name them.
RR: Who inspires you?
JG: SCCA members who work their butts off for the enjoyment of us all. People like Karen Babb, Roger Johnson, Kathy Barnes, Bob Tunnel and many, many others. And also very inspiring are those few drivers in the sport who are way on the left edge of the bell curve.
RR: Do you have any special pre-race routine, or any superstitions you follow?
JG: I am not superstitious. My pre-race routine is pretty basic and includes walking the course quite a bit, visualizing it during walk-through’s (even back at the hotel) and then before each run. As I approach the start line I take a few deep breaths and clear my mind.
RR: Do you have any driving aids or tools you use to help you?
JG: Video and data acquisition (DL1). Although very often these aids yield nothing but some fun and interesting tidbits, there have been critical times when they revealed a significant problem with the car that we were able to fix, or a driving improvement that we were able to affect. Another really good driving aid is Mark Daddio.
RR: What do you think you do differently than your competition?
JG: There isn’t anything I do that you wouldn’t be able to find various other people also doing. Perhaps something less obvious is that I try to be as objective as I can when I analyze my performance. In order to get a complete picture of what went wrong or right, I try hard not to screen it through the ego filter.
RR: Have you attended any driving schools?
JG: Lots of local ones plus McKamey, Evolution, and two SCCA club racing schools. Another good learning experience comes with test and tunes. Getting someone to drive your car for a few runs and comparing notes can be a great eye opener.
RR: Describe your driving style.
JG: Often it isn’t aggressive enough, many times replacing ultimate speed with trying too hard to be smooth and not getting everything there is to get out on course. Not that smooth is bad. But for me it is a struggle to get that last little bit that separates excellent from good.
RR: What was your first –and favorite autocross car?
JG: First car I ever autocrossed was my brand new 1979 Mazda RX-7. What a great, innocent time. Favorite car is my Citation, although if you had asked me this question a few years ago it wouldn’t have been my choice for favorite!
RR: If you could change one Solo rule – either for your specific class or in general — what would it be?
JG: Not a rule but a job position at the National office. For years I’ve advocated that the National Office must hire a professional who knows how to deal with corporations or the senior staff of potential site owners. It can be very difficult for autocrossers to know the lingo and outlook of the type of people who usually own or manage a large site and this leads to failure to gain approval for use of sites. This proposed staffer would receive site contact information from regions and then make the initial contact, introduction, and arrangements for a face to face meeting with representatives of a region. It’s been said SCCA can’t afford such a position at this time. I say we can’t afford NOT to have special help with the number one issue facing the SCCA Solo program today. But the position remains a pipe dream.
RR: Who would you like to thank for your success?
JG: No one. I did it all on my own. JUST KIDDING and far from it! I owe much to a lot of people so it’s difficult to list them all. Off the top of my head it would have to be Steve Lathrop and Richard Pare of ICP for their engineering assistance, help with parts, and their advice. Gary Godula, a fellow C Mod driver for his openness and expertise in helping me with shock valving and in other areas. Tom Reichel of Mid-Atlantic Motorsports for his exceptional tire assistance. Bill Gendron of Small Fortune Racing for his engineering, advice, and attitude. Mark Daddio for his extraordinary driving advice. All my friends who didn’t care that I didn’t win for two decades. And last but not least, my co-driver Ken Hurd for his tolerance and friendship.
Photos courtesy of www.gotcone.com & Jim Garry
For copies of photos email david @ evorticity.com
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