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Wanting to surprise Gary with appreciation from fans, promoters and other
aquaintances I asked Gary a few questions. To get the answers without him knowing
what I really was doing I told him I signed up for a Toast Masters course at work and
decided to do my topic on a very interesting person named Gary Jacob. Luckily, he
didn't catch on to what we were doing. Here are a few of Gary's answers:
Janet's Questions & Answers:
Races attended
Every year since 1972, I have attended 120 or more races. My
biggest year was 1994 with 162 events. Numbers have dropped a little since the year 2000
as the area tracks are really turned off to Sunday racing so I only have Sunday events in
the spring and the fall. For the last few years, I have averaged around 145 races per year
and I attend about 50 different tracks each season. My high on different tracks was 66 in
that 162 race 1994 season.
Paid to Write and Attend
Other than the occasional free motel room or $100 bill, I have
pretty much never been paid to attend and write about an event. One of the web sites did
pay me a little to attend a few NASCAR Southwest Tour events in 2002 and actually offered
to pay me about $5,000 a year if I would write for him exclusively. I didn't consider that
offer as I value my freedom and couldn't cut my ties with the people that I have dealt
with forever. His site won't print stuff like my outlaw kart and modified midget efforts.
I could probably draw a salary as a track's PR person, but I feel that it is important for
that person to live near the track and the only track that I am willing to attend on a
weekly basis is Watsonville and I live 100 miles away.
Expenses for a Year
I have never given much thought to my expenses for a year, but
if you count depreciation on the car, I must spend around $10,000 per year on my racing
coverage.
Help with Expenses
I occasionally get free motel rooms or have a $100 bill slipped
my way, but I can guaranteed you that I have never made $800 in a year with my writing.
The last couple years, I have run the time clock and scoreboard at the only track that I
attend weekly in Watsonville to help with the expense of that drive, but the position only
pays $40 per night and they race around 20 nights.
How do I get entry to the events
I have a press pass from Racing Wheels and a few other
publications that I write for, but my long history of attending events everywhere I go has
made me so recognizable that they just let me sign in without showing them anything. I
will always pay the first few times that I attend a track to show them what I can do for
them.
Most miles driven and what year
I think that every year is probably bigger than the previous
year. I got my current car around Oct 1 and had driven it around 57,000 miles by October 1
this year. Calendar Year 2002 might have been a little bigger than calendar year 2003 as I
drove to both Denver and Albuquerque that year and didn't repeat those trips this year. I
drive a different car to and from work than my weekend car. You might say 2002 was the
biggest year with 60,000 miles.
Miles on car each year
I drive about 35 miles per work day as I live in Turlock and
commute to and from Modesto. That gives me about 7,000 miles per year that aren't racing
connected. So work plus racing comes out about 65,000 miles per year.
Interesting Point
My main objective in all my writing is to get the
accomplishments of as many drivers as possible out in the public view. You will quickly
see that I try to maximize the number of names in each of my articles and I treat the
bottom classes with the same intensity as I do the upper classes. Because I cover such a
big portion of the western United States, I can always fit tidbits about the players into
the stories that the readers will not be aware of and will find interesting. The stories
on the races that I can personally attend will always be a cut above the quality of the
stories that I do depending on spies or information sent to me or posted on the internet,
but I go the extra mile to make each effort the best that I can produce. You would be
shocked to see how much of my writing efforts occur between the hours of 2 and 5 in the
morning because I have a full time job outside of racing.
Birthday and Place
I was born June 30, 1948 in Turlock, CA and have lived in
Turlock my entire life. I keep telling everyone that I live in the perfect place because
if I lived an hour north, I would not travel to Arizona as often and an hour further south
would limit my trips to both Oregon and Central Nevada
*****
Although he never raced himself, Gary was a true racer... Rest in
Peace Gary
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