Jim Shampine | |
Birth Name: | Donald James Shampine |
Birth Date: | March 25, 1941 |
Birth Place: | Syracuse, New York |
First Year: | 1962 |
Car Number: | 8-Ball |
Championships: | 8 |
Last Finish: | 1982 |
Titles: | 1977 International Supermodified Association Champion |
D. James "Jim" Shampine (March 25, 1941 – September 4, 1982) was one of the most successful drivers in Supermodified competition and an equally skilled racer in asphalt and dirt-track Modified stock cars. He won 92 feature races at Oswego Speedway NY, and with his innovative car designs captured 38% of the Supermodified events held from 1970 to 1979.[1]
Jim Shampine began drag racing in 1959 at the quarter-mile ESTA Safety Park Dragstrip in Cicero, New York. Then in 1962 he bought his friend Nolan Swift's championship-winning “Ten Pin” numbered modified, converted it to a supermodified, and renumbered it the enduring “8-Ball”. He went on to win seven (1967, 1970, 1972–1974, 1976 & 1979) Oswego Speedway track championships, as well as an International Supermodified Association championship competing at venues throughout the northeast.[2] [3] [4]
Shampine concurrently campaigned his modified at New York's asphalt Fulton Speedway, Lancaster Speedway, Shangri-La Speedway, Spencer Speedway, and Utica-Rome Speedway. He also competed successfully in a dirt-track modified at Langhorne Speedway PA and Weedsport Speedway NY, and captured the 1970 track championship at the Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge, New York.[5]
Jim Shampine died in a Modified racing accident at Oswego Speedway on September 4, 1982.[6] He was inducted into the Eastern Motorsports Press Association, the Northeast Dirt Modified and the New York State Stock Car Association Halls of Fame.[5] [7]