“Big Jim” Weinert, the mountain of a man of oversaw track prep and safety at IHRA events for many years has passed away. Weinert was one of the sport’s true characters and his skill and attention to detail with respect to track preparation was legendary. Racers who slammed the throttle blades open on a strip that had gotten Weinert’s touch knew it because their eyeballs were flattened against the back of their head and the front wheels were probably three feet in the air.
In my time as an announcer with IHRA I had seen Jim in action at many races, some of which didn’t go exactly according to plan. During the infamous San Antonio event where the track was literally repaved overnight, it was Weinert who got that fresh asphalt whipped into shape within 24 hours. His larger than life physical presence and unfailing confidence helped calm nervous racers who were hesitant to run their cars, expecially the Top Fuel dragsters down such a green track. He dealt with many wrecks and cleanups with skill and great leadership, I saw lots of them first hand.
Jim was a loyal IHRA guy for his entire career, and he didn’t have to be. When Chad Head left the NHRA as the guy who did their track prep, Jim was heavily courted by the organization to take the role. Lots of people, including me, thought he would go for it because as far as his line of work went, that was the biggest stage in the world. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised when Jim decided to stay with the IHRA. His heart kept him there.
I have spent many weekends in drag strip towers working next to Jim’s wife Carrie, who is part of the IHRA race control team. Jim’s two boys, who I have seen grow up at drag strips are fine young men, Wes is 17 years old and is a fully capable clutch man with Bobby Lagana’s top fuel team and his older brother Matt is among the most capable drag strip prep guys, cleanup guys, and operations people in the sport today. They carry with them a lot of their dad’s legacy. I am going to be announcing a couple of IHRA Nitro Jam events this summer. It is going to be very strange not to see that large figure patrolling the starting line, running a tractor, or leading the safety meeting in the morning.
It certainly sucks to lose Jim, but the big strip in the sky just got a whole lot better for the racers.
Jim was a giant help to us here in Abilene when the current owners took over in 2008. We took them down to SAR for the spring pro race and Jim spent a considerable amount of time and shared his talent with our track owner. Spent part of Friday and all day Saturday of the event right down on the starting line observing prep, cleanup and general management. I swear that guy could stick a fueler to a glass table top. He really did personify the way IHRA carries it’s self. Jim will be greatly missed.