a02.07.04_037_MAG_FLM_0070_1.jpg (71222 bytes)

Photo ID # a02.07.04_037_MAG_FLM_0070_1
Car #: #37
Driver (s) : Jimmy McGuire
Location: Flemington, NJ
Date: 1970's
Photographer: Ace Lane
Photo provided by: Ace Lane
Comments: Jimmy drove this former Ken Brenn ride in the Sportsman division at Flemington but is also known for his open wheel expertise.  I think Jimmy was taking laps in the Meteki 3N1 Champ car at Flemington in 2003 during one of the NOTARC shows.
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02/07/04 Michael Bohling I knew right away this was an ex-Brenn car, tip off being the downward direction of the trunk lip.
02/26/04 Paul Garzillo I remember going in the pits and checking out the steering wheel, which had several holes drilled in it to accommodate Jimmy's handicap.  He could really hang the car out. Is that the McConnell #27 Pinto back there?
02/26/04 3-Wide That reminds me of the set up that Mel Kenyon (USAC Open Wheel Driver) had on his steering wheel.  If I remember, Mel had almost a post like on the wheel that allowed him to use his hand that had been injured in a previous crash.   The dedication and determination of these drivers is something most of us will never know.
10/01/05 3-Wide Just got a chance to say hello to Jim who was taking in the ARDC Midget show at Bridgeport Speedway on Sat, Oct 1, 2005.  Here is the corrected story of how he got the nickname "Magoo":

In 1961, Jim was 18 years old and was running his first year with URC and on this particular night, he was running at 5 Mile Point.  Bobby Courtright and Earl Haliquist were in a fierce fight for the championship.

We'll, Jimmy was running a roadster that was really an asphalt car, but had been set up to run the dirt.  Up until this point, most of Jim's experience had come from running the asphalt tracks in New England.

In the late stages of the race, Bobby Courtright was leading with Earl Haliquist right behind.  As the 2 leaders came up to put a lap on young Jim, Jim saw the move over flag and quickly moved to the low side of the track to let the leaders go by on the outside (which was always the case when running the asphalt of New England!). 

Only one problem...  on that night, they were running the dirt of 5 Mile Point and when one received the move over flag, they were suppossed to move to the outside of the track.  As the two leaders attempted to get by Jim, leader Bobby Courtright had to hit his breaks and made contact with Jim's car.  He was able to gather it back up and keep going, but it was just enough to allow Earl Haliquist to sneak by on the outside.  Earl went on to win that event.

After the race, Bobby Courtright payed a visit to young Jim.   As he approached, he asked, "What's your name?". 

Jim replied "Maguire".

Bobby thought about it for a while and then said:   "Maguire huh...     "...You don't seem to know where you're going on the racetrack.  You're like that Magoo guy.....  We're going to call you Magoo because you can't see where you're going!  You get in the way - From now on, your name is Magoo."

(As a side note, Courtright and Haliquist ended up tied at the end of the year for 1st place in the points.  This means that had Jim not moved down and cost Bob the race, Bob would have won the championship outright for the year...)

As it turned out, Jim learned a lesson.. and soon enough, he earned the respect of Bobby Courtright and Earl Haliquist... along with all the other competitors on the tough URC circuit.  Both Bob and Earl took Jim under their wing and taught him a lot about how to run the dirt since as mentioned, most of Jim's experience at that time had been on asphalt.)

It wasn't until Jimmy started finishing ahead of Bob and Earl on a regular basis that they both declared, "SCHOOL'S OUT."

I asked Jim whatever happened to this Trevis built car.  He said that when he decided to get out of stockcars he ended up having the motor freshened up and sold the complete car to a guy to run in South Jersey for $5000.   Boy would this be a neat car to have today to do a little vintage racing with...

Jim decided that it was too expensive to be an owner/driver... and besides, non of his crew wanted to work on the sportsman... they wanted to work on an open wheel car.   Jim ended up selling the #37 and going back to driving an open wheel car for somebody else!

04/19/06 Matt Cranstoun Jimmy sold the coupe in this picture to my dad. He narrowed it up. It's pictured in the vault on page 44 with Horton on the inside.
04/19/06 3Wide What happened to the car after your dad was done with it?
04/26/06 Matt Cranstoun Just asked my Dad and he replied with the below...

The Brenn coupe that I bought from Jimmy McGuire I ran for one season with a 427 Ford motor in it.  I then had a new Profile chassis built for me.  I put the body from the Brenn car on the new chassis after I narrowed it quite a bit. The picture on page 44 is of that car. The original chassis from the Brenn car I gave to Jack Kisthardt. The Profile chassis car was sold to Barry Schenck. I believe Barry sold the Ford big block to the Leidl brothers. He then used the rest of that car for parts. I don't know what happened to the body.
     
     
     

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