There is a man who is not only unknown to the general public but also to much of the racing community. He was, however, of vital importance to modern American road racing. With the exception of those who organize races, he is virtually anonymous. Jim Haynes, however, is my own personal hero. He tried to do three things significant for U.S. road racing and was successful at two of them. Here’s what happened.
Lime Rock Park in Connecticut is unique insofar as motor racing is concerned because it is relatively near the New York metropolitan area. Established in the late fifties, by the early sixties, it was near bankruptcy and about to close. Jim Haynes, along with John Fitch, who lives nearby and had designed the track, raised sufficient funds and came to the rescue. Jim managed the track from 1964 until 1986. He saved the track and made it profitable in spite of a serious obstacle: a local injunction prohibiting Sunday racing. He inaugurated the Labor Day–weekend Vintage Festival in 1982, combining racing and a Sunday concours that has become, arguably, the premier vintage event in the East.
In 1986, the Sports Car Club of America was looking for experienced executive talent, and Jim decided to take on a new challenge. He left Lime Rock Park and became the vice president of the club. By the mid-eighties, vintage racing was flourishing, but without SCCA involvement. There were scores of clubs putting on events, some very successfully. One of Haynes’s assignments was to involve the SCCA and eventually take over that section of the sport.
I had organized the first Palm Springs Vintage Grand Prix in 1985, which attracted a large audience and lots of press. Because of the Palm Springs success, the SCCA, through Jim, wanted me. At the same time, I was concerned with participant accident and liability insurance and the SCCA had (and still has) the best insurance among racing groups. I wanted this sort of protection for my participants. Together, we proceeded to try to develop a national SCCA vintage effort. As vice president of the SCCA, Jim signed a contract with a vintage club run by me that would have made it an SCCA Region, but political problems arose too detailed and involved to go into here. The upshot was that SCCA refused to honor the contract, even though it was, of course, valid since Jim was an officer. Jim resigned and, to this day, the SCCA has little involvement in vintage racing.
Coincidentally with Jim’s resignation, Road America was on the verge of bankruptcy and in need of complete management reorganization. Haynes was recruited and appointed president. He ran the facility at a profit every year during his tenure. Everyone in the know acknowledges that without Jim, there would be no Road America today. (I’m one of those in the know, because two of the Road America directors—Augie Pabst and Jim Jeffords—are close friends.) So Jim Haynes saved two of our best road courses.
After leaving Road America, Jim and his wife, Toni, went to live in Florida but kept their Elkhart Lake condo. In 1978, Jim was the promoter for the revival of Sebring and, over the years, has consulted at a large number of venues.
James E. Haynes was born in Port Huron, Michigan, on April 24, 1933. He graduated from Yale University in 1955 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering. His first job was as an engineer with IBM.
Jim started racing hydroplanes during the forties, but came ashore in 1949, racing jalopies on dirt tracks in central Michigan. While working for IBM at Poughkeepsie, N.Y., he bought an MGTD and went to a driving school at Thompson Raceway in 1956. He owned and raced a number of different cars and, in 1959, became the SCCA National Formula Three Champion. Switching to Formula Juniors, he was that class’s National Champion in 1963. He is a longtime member of the Road Racing Drivers Club.
Jim’s favorite car was John Fitch’s 1951 Jaguar-powered Fitch-Whitmore Special. He raced it for 13 or 14 years and was never defeated in class and never put a ding or a dent in it. The last time he raced the car was in 1984 at the resurrected Bahamas Speed Week. He says he realized his limitations, sold the car, and hung it up for good. Jim raced professionally a number of times. His last time out as a pro was the 1968 24-Hours of Daytona in a Porsche 904 with co-driver Sam Posey, who was running his very first professional race.
When he retired, Jim and his gourmet-cook wife, Toni, spent their winter months at their home in Tampa, Florida, and, when warmer weather arrived, at their lakeside condo in Elkhart. Recently, they sold the condo, so now it’s full time in Florida. Since his employment with the SCCA, Jim and I have become close friends. Even though we are a continent apart, we talk and email frequently as well as exchange visits now and then. The best part of Jim is Toni, who makes the world’s very best—and my favorite—barbecued shrimp, and has a number of cookbooks to her credit.
