Jim McWithey
by
Bob Speedy
Jim
McWithey, one of the better race drivers of the late fifties and early sixties,
has also brought recognition to Anderson .
Born
on July 4, 19 27 , this
natural firecracker started his brilliant career in 1949 with the roaring
roadsters of the Mutual Racing Association here in Anderson . He stayed with the MRA for three
years where he ran in three “Little 500’s” finishing third in one, fifth in
another and dropped out of the third race with some bent up equipment.
Jim McWithey - Don Radbruch Collection
McWithey
then turned to the sprint cars as a driver for Diz Wilson on the Central States
Racing Association circuit. After a successful year with this group Jim moved
up to IMCA where he set several track records including tracks at Memphis , Tennessee ,
St. Paul , Minnesota
and Des Moines , Iowa . After winning several features during
his IMCA days Jim decided to turn to the USAC trail.
With
the USAC sprint division he became one of the top competitors setting records
at such tracks as Salem ,
Terre Haute ,
and Winchester
in Indiana ,
and Reading and
Williams Grove in Pennsylvania .
Jim was almost unstoppable on the dirt at Langhorne.
One
of Jim’s victories that stands out in this writer’s mind came at Terre Haute ’s half mile
dirt oval on August 16, 19 59 ,
when McWithey won the feature, beating out seven-time sprint car champion Tommy
Hinnershitz. Ed Elision finished third in that event. A year earlier at the
same track on June 22nd, Jim set a new track record of 24.03, a time that would
be fast enough to get into any feature event today, won the first heat over
Eddie Sachs and finished third in the feature behind Sachs and Hinnershitz.
During
his USAC sprint car days he finished fifth in point standings in 1957 and third
the next two years. Jim drove the Columbus Indiana Auto Supply car in ‘57 and
wheeled the Bob Estes owned sprinter in ‘53 and ‘59. Chief mechanic for the
Estes car was Jud Phillips who later turned the wrenches for Bobby Unser’s
winning machine at the 1958 Indianapolis
100.
McWithey’s
first championship ride came at Indianapoli s
in 1957. Because of the wet month that year, Jim did not get to practice enough
in the Dayton Steel Foundry special so he did not qualify for the race. He came
back to Indy in ‘58 and unfortunately crashed tie Federal Engineering car
during qualifications.
Bill McWithey at Indianapolis behind the wheel of Ray Brady's roadster
In
1959 he joined the Ray Brady team out of Norristown ,
Pennsylvania with Bill Cheesman
his chief mechanic. Jim qualified the roadster in 33rd, or the “bubble”
as some call it, and then impressed a lot of people with a fine 13th
place finish. This gained him membership in the elite 100 mile per hour club of
which there are only 63 living members.
Again
in 1960 Jim started on the tail of the Indy line up and completed 66 laps
before a broken brake line on the beautiful orange colored Hoover Motor Express
Special forced him out of the event. He ran the Hoover car on the championship trail that
year and finished the season 8th in point standings.
In
1961 Jim ran a limited number of championship events and finished the year 16th
in the point chase. In the fall of ’61 a bothersome thyroid condition ended his
driving career. He was never injured in a race car, with his most serious
accident happening at DeGraff ,
Ohio , when he flipped a roadster while
racing with the Mutual Racing Association.
With
over a hundred career wins to his credit, Jim was truly one of the best to ever
strap himself into a race car.
“Of
all of the drivers I ran against,” recalls Jim, “I believe A. J. Foyt was the
best. Don Branson was perhaps me best sprint driver with Tommy Hinnershitz
being right up there with to be best. Of today’s drivers on the sprint trail, Larry
Dickson is about the best around. He proved that when he broke Branson’s record
for feature wins.”
Asked
to compare the drivers of his days with today’s sprint chauffeurs, Jim claims,
“The drivers I ran against would all do good in today’s races. The equipment we
used was much heavier and harder to handle than today’s cars. I really don’t
believe the speeds on the sprint trail have increased all that much, although
the cars today are much later.
His
most exciting moment in auto racing?
“Qualifying
for the Indy 500 is about a big a thrill a race driver can have. Being able to
finish the race and gaining membership in the 100 mile per hour club is
something that doesn’t happen to every one, so this was just as exciting.”
I love this story ! Thank you so much for writing it, this is my Great Uncle :) .... My Grannies brother :)
ReplyDeleteHe was a great guy & it was really awesome to read all this about him.