Jim "The Shoe" Harrington

[Fasttrackshooter]

Didn't know Jim all that well,but the few times i talked with him he gave you the feeling that you had known him forever,,and by the response from everyone that knew Jim,you know he was the LIFE of LIFE itself,,such a shame to have him taken so early in his life,,Rest in Peace ,,,, Ewing Brothers, Ken,Wayne, Gary

[Dave Ley]

Jim was larger than life and had a heart even bigger ! We have all lost a great friend and teacher. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Tracey and the entire Harrington family. RIP Jim

Dave & Gloria Ley

[Anne Toews]

R.I.P. Jim. It's a sad day for all of us. Our thoughts & prayers go out to Tracey & family.

Walter & Anne

[Wade Mahaffey]

Mister Harrington, I met you and we spoke from time to time. I wanted to leave you with a phrase from the "Wizard Of Oz" as he presented the "Tin Man" with his clock heart.

The Wizard- "A heart is not judged by how much it loves, but by how much it is loved by others"

Mister Harrington you must have a huuuuuuuge heart !
Wade Mahaffey

[GaryGoFast]

Gods speed Big Jim, I never forget how you made me a better racer & always had the time to sort out my stuff. This one is tough for me, always a smile and he treated everyone like the Champion he was.
My deepest sympathies to Tracy & family.

[Alex Denysenko]

All of our best to Tracy and the rest of the family.

RIP big guy.


Alex, Beth, & Tony Denysenko

[X-TECH MAN]

He always had a smile and a kind word. Rest in peace and see you one day on the other side.
Terry

[KJ JONES Racing]

Sending condolences from Southern California. Unfortunately, I only had just a few chances to be around Big Jim after I moved to the West Coast. Like many of you, I met him years ago at Raceway Park/Englishtown.

As we all know, The Shoe was a winner in anything he drove (did he ever square off with anyone in that golf cart?), and the thing I'll always appreciate and remember about Jim is the genuine enthusiasm and love he had for sportsman racing.

Jim influenced and taught so many "bracket bandits," like myself, the secrets to getting to the other side and tripping win lights...even when you're in the slower car. That was something I didn't fully grasp at first (admit it, some of you were just as clueless when you started [hahaha]), but the big guy with the big smile would always come around at just the right time and help make the whole brackets thing a lot more clear.

I moved to the West more than a decade ago, and now Big Jim is gone, but you can trust that I'm going to always cherish the opportunities I had to be around the guy. A class act, indeed, who loved this game immensely, and arguably had more fun than anybody has EVER had, on and off the drag strip.

Our best wishes and condolences to Tracie and Jim's many friends.

KJ and Crystal Jones

KJ JONES Racing
Reseda, CA

[Jackie]

I will never forget the day I met Jim Harrington. I was about 13 years old and he was already one of my idols. He used to come to Maple Grove for all the high dollar bracket races and I loved to watch him race. This particular day he had no shoe polish and asked me if I could get him some, I was thrilled to do it. When I returned he asked me my opinion on his dial in, I told him and he took my advice, he dialed exactly what I told him. I was SO nervous that I would cause him to lose; he was far too good of a driver for that. He won that round and let me dial him every round that day, he made it to the final and it is still one of my most memorable days at the track. From then on, every time he came to Maple Grove & I was there, he let me dial him, no questions asked; needless to say I LOVED to see his smiling face roll in the gates.

The following year he came to Maple Grove with one of his cars and one of Anthony's to race. He told me that he may need help shuffling cars to the lanes if he went a lot of rounds in both cars. I looked at him and said " I can't help you, I am only 14" He started cracking up with his larger than life laugh and said "I had no idea." He then said "well you look old enough you can do it." I was both relieved and disappointed when he lost that day.

The other day when Shawn & I went to see him at the hospital, Happy Harry told the dial in story to Shawn and about his practice of letting me dial him in; he then told Shawn he had learned from the best and nodded in my direction. I told him I had been learning from the best, him for a very long time both on and off the track. Shawn & I were very fortunate to have enjoyed so many good times with Jim over the years. Heaven is truly a better place today after his arrival, our loss is their gain.

Tracey and the whole Harrington family, our thoughts are with you. Godspeed our good friend thanks for the smiles!

Shawn & Jackie Fricke

[AC]

God Speed Jim