A hero remembered

Published on Sunday 6 April 2008 23:13

FROM coast to coast, Jim Clark is remembered and loved. A collection of letters and other papers – gift of his best-known girlfriend, California resident Sally Swart, nee Stokes – resides at the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen, New York.

The public is welcome to view them.

Images of Clark are outnumbered only by those of Dan Gurney himself in photographs lining the walls of All American Racers in Santa Ana, California. You'll need a personal invitation to see these. Well-known private collectors include Terry Clark of Clemson, South Carolina, and a certain Dario Franchitti of Nashville, Tennessee.

In between, you can find:

&#149 A footpath engraved with Clark's US Grand Prix accomplishments in front of the Ford dealership in Watkins Glen, New York.

&#149 A plaque commemorating Clark – and calling his father a sheepherder – at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama.

&149 A book documenting his NASCAR appearance, the 1967 500-mile race at Rockingham, at the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame;

&149 Papers pertaining to Ford Racing's efforts, including the 1964 Indianapolis 500, at the Detroit Public Library;

&149 A plaque, a photo and a glowing commendation at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (only a handful of non-Americans rate inclusion) in Novi, Michigan; and the Indianapolis 500-winning Lotus 38 at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

&#149 Photos and a storeys-tall banner at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana.

&#149 And, coming soon, a museum and permanent display marking the occasion of the first rear-engined Indy car victory, by Clark on 18 August 1963, at the Milwaukee Mile, which bills itself as the world's oldest active speedway.