Jerry Hansen SCCA HOF nomination

[Rick Iverson]

Fellas;

Aside from holding 27 national titles and receiving President’s Cup, Jerry Hansen was tireless promoter of the SCCA. He epitomized precisely what the SCCA is all about: the spirit of competition; the true nature of sportsmanship; and the notion of family. He was ALWAYS willing to help fellow racers, willing to make their problems his problems.

The deadline for this year's nomination is 01 Oct 11. If you are so inclined, drop the selection committee a brief note at sccahof@scca.com.

VR

Iverson

[Jim Gustafson]

Unfortunately, many younger racers have no idea who Jerry Hansen is. As a successful businessman, he raced for sport, but could hold his own in any company. He raced in Can-Am I & II, F-5000, Formula Atlantic and Trans-Am. I remember signing in for a Can-Am at Brainerd and hearing that it wasn't Keke Rosberg, Jacky Ickx, EFR, or the other big name drivers that were on top of the P1 result sheet, rather it was Jerry. He was also a gentleman, and a great ambassador for SCCA.

[Wahawk]

I difinitely second all of the above comments.

Dave

[Christopher Crowe]

He simply drove the living hell out of anything he sat in. Style-wise, he was like a Chris Amon or -- hell, AJ Foyt in a dirt sprint car.

An amateur, I suppose. But man, did he represent the amateur well. On a given day he could compete with the world's very best -- and did. In the CanAm cars he could best people like Dan Gurney and Mario Andretti. At Elkhart Lake I saw him give great trouble (in a customer car!) to the factory folks who came in the form of Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme.

No one deserves an SCCA Hall of Fame nod more than Jerry Hanson. He epitomized the amateur in the purest sense of the word. He did it for the love of it, and with a passion that only a person who does it for the love of it can possibly deliver.

[GT1Vette]

I agree Jerry Hansen certainly deserves to be in the SCCA HoF, but didn't he have a falling out with the PTB? I wasn't as involved with the club back then but it seems like some shorts got seriously twisted on both sides of the aisle.

I'm just glad we've evolved past the petty bickering and tantrums of those days!

[KevinFirlein]

Jerry is a legend in the club and definitely deserves to be in the HoF. I know some were put off by his last few years in ASR but thats small potatoes compared to all he accomplished behind the wheel. IMO the only mistake he made the last few years was trying to create an illusion of a race, he should have just gone ahead and lapped the entire field. Not his fault no one could race with him and he did go above and beyond trying to save his favorite class by paying the entries and expenses of his competitors.

Plus he took the time to talk with me when i was 8 and looking at all the cars he brought to the Runoffs.

[billwald]

Jerry sounds like quite a man and a credit to our club. I wish I had the opportunity to meet him and thank him. Thanks for sharing a bit of history.

Bill

[Marty Nygard]

Brainerd was my first home track back in the days when Jerry owned it. He was always a presence and always entertaining. His long suffering mechanic Steve would show up at the track with two or three cars and Jerry would kick but in all classes. If Steve somehow couldn't handle more than three cars, Jerry would rent more.
My two favorite JH memories are 1) the push button brake light switch in the GT1 car (the tail lights would come on but he would still be accelerating; particularly effective at Blackhawk) and 2) the pit lane standoff with Jack Rousch after Jerry bought last years championship TransAm Car only to find it was not as advertised.
I've always wondered what happened to him.
M

[Paddy O'Brien]

Jerry Hansen was on the cover of Sports Illustrated along with three of his cars. Over his career he probably owned/drove more cool cars than anyone in history. I saw him dominate the June Sprints in 1968 in his ex-Penske Lola T70. Jerry also raced/owned the Penske McLaren6A, Revson LolaT220, Stewart T260, Hobbs T310 , Tambay and Ickx Lola T333 and VDS CanAm cars. In F5000 he had a couple of Lola T192's and T142, Redman Lola T330, he also ran them as supermods onshort ovals and won there too! Serveral Corvette and Camaro Trans-Am cars as well as Lola T290 sports racers.. The only class he didn't always dominate was Atlantic(in theun-popular Lola T460) but Cogan and Rahal were his competition there. Always wore that cool open-face orange Bell helmet!

[butch deer]

Great nomination. Jerry raced multiple cars in SCCA . First time I saw him was at Meadowdale in the 60's were he had a Mckee ASR and a Formcar FV.

[Steve Demeter]

The real question is why is Jerry not already in the hall of fame.

He has to be the most successful club racer ever.

[Jim Gustafson]

Jerry is a legend in the club and definitely deserves to be in the HoF. I know some were put off by his last few years in ASR but thats small potatoes compared to all he accomplished behind the wheel. IMO the only mistake he made the last few years was trying to create an illusion of a race, he should have just gone ahead and lapped the entire field. Not his fault no one could race with him and he did go above and beyond trying to save his favorite class by paying the entries and expenses of his competitors.

Plus he took the time to talk with me when i was 8 and looking at all the cars he brought to the Runoffs.

I was in the 1984 ASR race at the Run-Offs that Jerry won, driving the VDS Can-Am car. On the cool down lap, many of the corner workers, rather than give him the thumbs up, mooned him. It hurt him deeply and I don't remember if he raced again. Jerry helped me, and many others with expenses that year. Without his help I wouldn't have made it to Road Atlanta. A great guy!!

[FASTDAD]

He decided to take his Lola to the Minnesota State Fair races. This was when they still ran USAC front engine cars with small block chevs. Anyhow they got to tech, the inspectors didn't know what to do with this thing. So they told him he couldn't run because the car didn't have a 4 point roll cage. They left. They were back the next morning with a complete 4 point rollcage. His mechanic Mike Lindorfer worked all nite. It was the strangest looking lola I ever saw! Qualified 1st and completely blew the field away, it was a thing of beauty. At the end of the USAC season The rules were changed to outlaw any rear engined car!
The man should be in the HOF.

[ric baribeault]

even though i don't follow this type of thing within the SCCA, and very little that goes on within the politics of SCCA surprises me, i'm really very surprised he's not been inducted. as far as i'm concerned, he's the COTB of the HOF.

[FASTDAD]

A couple of pics for ya.

[Purple Frog]

All those early years of Runoffs at Road Atlanta... It was sort of ho-hum that he showed up with the best equipment. I always thought he sort of cherry-picked the classes. Back then i wished he'd try FV or FF. One year i cheered for the real ASR underdog, the Dante's DownUnder mid-engine Corvair.

Later, i realized he just wanted to drive the "big iron". And, if i had his money, i probably would have opted to run the high powered classes.

But, i do remember that on each podium he always thanked the workers.

[Offcamber1]

The real question is why is Jerry not already in the hall of fame.

He has to be the most successful club racer ever.

Steve,

For the same reason Lou Reed is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It is the process and politics of the award.

Back in the mid-70s my brother had his BT38 at IRP. A guy comes walking up and asks me, "Would you guys have such and such gear for an FT200?" With a confused look I replied, "No, all the gears we have are in the 'box."

He just grinned and walked away. My brother said, "Do you know who that was?"

(I had the wrong answer to that question too!)

Kip

[PCalhoun]

I grew-up watching Jerry Hansen dominate the June Sprints and be more than competitive in the occassional pro race. Hell at the Sprints he would drive in up to 3 races and be at the pointy end in each of them. Not to mention being Carl Haas best customer at the end of each pro season by picking up the latest championship Lola. Sort of sad that the last I can remember him competing was in a Nissan 300ZX Turbo in SSGT in the mid/late 80's.

The Sports Illustrated article from January 5, 1976 is available in their archives and was at a time when SI was a weekly sports mag w/ a huge circulation being pre-internet:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...0635/index.htm

For the younger generation out there his daughter- Courtney used to be seen as a host on some of the Spike network car shows.

I too have wondered why he wasn't already in the SCCA hall of fame.

[Jim Gustafson]

[quote=Purple Frog;315030]All those early years of Runoffs at Road Atlanta... It was sort of ho-hum that he showed up with the best equipment. I always thought he sort of cherry-picked the classes. Back then i wished he'd try FV or FF. One year i cheered for the real ASR underdog, the Dante's DownUnder mid-engine Corvair.

Later, i realized he just wanted to drive the "big iron". And, if i had his money, i probably would have opted to run the high powered classes.

But, i do remember that on each podium he always thanked the workers.

This guy drove for Penske, on occasion was faster than David Hobbs in F-5000, Keke Rosberg in Can-Am, most of the top guns in Formula Atlantic, but the knobs at the Run-Offs only saw a rich guy who cherry picked ASR because they thought he couldn't cut it in FF. The way he was treated still p---ss's me, off even now.

Jim Gustafson

[starkejt]

Anyone carrying 140 mph through the Carousel at Road America in 1976 has my vote....

[Brad Ellingson]

I have a picture of Jerry and my dad up at Road America from the early '70's...my dad holding that famous half helmet Jerry wore. I don't really remember much of Jerry, but looking at the pictures my dad has...beautiful cars indeed.

[Christopher Crowe]

Is he alive and well and perhaps still raising hell in some other arena?

[Mark_Silverberg]

For better or worse SCCA seems to put hall of fame selection emphasis on individuals who have served the club in an organizational capacity rather than based on competitive achievement. There is no doubt about the talent of Jerry Hansen - it is just that he was not that involved from an organizational standpoint (although few other members purchased a race track and that should count for something). I have been disappointed that SCCA has placed such a low emphasis on competitive achievement - but I can appreciate their criteria.

They also appear to be hesitant to include any active drivers in the hall of fame - there certainly are several that would be very deserving - retirement from competition does not appear to be a criteria as there was (i believe) and active solo competitor named to the HOF last year.

I believe Hansen should definitely be in the HOF - but if I had to pick a racer to nominate there are a few others which would come first. Of course that is an entirely separate discussion.

[Jim Gustafson]

Is he alive and well and perhaps still raising hell in some other arena?

Chris, when I was at the F-5000 Driver's Association gig at Road America in 2008, I was told that they tried to get Jerry to come, but he declined. I guess he is retired and living as a doting grandfather in Delaware or Maryland, or somewhere back east.

Jim Gustafson
Visual Communications

[Paddy O'Brien]

I thought that the 84 Runoffs was Hansens last race but I thought it was due to the big GT- 1 pile up that year, I had not heard about the mooning incident, that sucks. There was definitely alot of envy and jealousy directed at Jerry even though by almost all accounts he was a great guy and big SCCA supporter. I wanted to BE Jerry Hansen when I started racing but I was horrified when at one of my first SCCA races in the late 70's I over heard some corner workers making fun of how Jerry spoke(with his harelip), I just walked away, but I should have said something or worse!

[Mark_Silverberg]

SCCA archives shows his last year as 86 in GT1 after skipping 1985.

I believe 1984 was the last year for ASR as a national class and without the big sports racers to run it is alleged he lost interest in racing.

[Rick Iverson]

I don't get it.

[Roland V. Johnson]

I think 2011 was inducted during this past year. Hansen, without a doubt should be there!

[Rick Iverson]

Gents;

I am in contact with Jerry's daughter in Courtney, as a prelude to renewed efforts to get him inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018. I have asked her to be the nominee POC, information needed on the nomination form. Once I have that information, I will compose a fillable PDF containing both her information and a prepared one over the world citation covering his SCCA career.

I'll post it when available, with hopes of inundating the SCCA with his nomination. If anyone is hooked up with any other SCCA venues, please help in getting this out. At 81, he needs to be recognized now.

V/r

Iverson

[Jorma]

I'm on board with this, I grew up watching Jerry dominate every class he ran in. Sure, he had the best equipment, but it was the only time a club racer's kid got to see machinery like that (and well driven!). My dad was racing a bugeye and we didn't attend many pro races so when Jerry showed up with state-of-the-are cars it was a real treat. He must be in the HOF.
Maybe we need a petition or something.
Mike Major

[Jerry Kehoe]

If he doesn't belong in the HOF then who the Hell should be? Sure he always had the best of equipment, you think that is any different from today? 20 years ago? The fact that he won Trans Ams and ran up front with all of the heroes in pro racing, in any series he drove in proves he could drive with anyone. Anyone voting against him had better not live in glass houses!

[rickb99]

For the record, his last SCCA race was a Trans-Am at Brainard in 1986 driving at Mustang.

Here are all of his races:
http://www.racingsportscars.com/driv...ansen-USA.html

Here are quite a few of his cars:
http://www.racingsportscars.com/driv...ansen-USA.html

[Zonker]

I disagree that Jerry Hansen is HOF worthy, he was a big fish that lived in a very small pond.

He bought the latest pro equipment and then ran in very small classes like ASR where the starting field at the Runoffs might be 7 cars. He ran FF one time and was mid-pack.

There are others more deserving....Randy Canfield and Dave Weitzenhof <sp?> for starters.

[dereklola]

Pic of Jerry and his Lola Atlantic - T560.
I know the guy - sorry bloke - who now owns it in Australia.
Also Lola CanAm in background.

[E1pix]

Gents;

I am in contact with Jerry's daughter in Courtney, as a prelude to renewed efforts to get him inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018. I have asked her to be the nominee POC, information needed on the nomination form. Once I have that information, I will compose a fillable PDF containing both her information and a prepared one over the world citation covering his SCCA career.

I'll post it when available, with hopes of inundating the SCCA with his nomination. If anyone is hooked up with any other SCCA venues, please help in getting this out. At 81, he needs to be recognized now.

V/r

Iverson

There are good reasons Jerry's been kept out, related to his long history of investment deals he dragged racers and others with trust into.

I vigorously campaigned the SCCA to get him into the HoF over a decade ago, as a friend since 1972. Despite hearing similar rumors since the '80s, I refused to believe them — as have people far smarter and better-known than me.

I hope SCCA stands firm on this.


Edit: aside, Jerry really was a tremendous driver. His Runoffs success have unfairly overshadowed bigger achievements, such as wins in Pro F5000 against drivers like Hobbs, Posey, and Skip Barber. He was solid in Can-Am in a time it was nearly impossible to be as an independent. His times at the '73 Runoffs in the freshly ex-Redman Lola T330 were within a second of Redman with little time in the car. He also won the Trans-Am series in I believe 1975. If he'd dedicated himself to racing, I believe there was nothing he couldn't have done.

On those achievements, I concur with others' dismay with his exclusion.

[mmi16]

Is the HOF about SCCA racing or business practices?

[provamo]

did Jerry Hansen and Bill Scott divorce and then marry each others wives ?, thought i heard that

[Michael Rand]

Ralph, something like that, yeah, I think Barbara Scott, Bills widow, was married to Jerry first.
As far as the other way around, never heard that.....but I might be completely turned around.....
Haven't heard from you since we talked a week or so ago...

[E1pix]

Bill Scott married Jerry's first wife Ingegerd.

Jerry's second wife Connie was her first marriage.

[Michael Rand]

I stand corrected.
So Barbara is Bills second wife, I guess.
Bills son by his first wife was very involved in the running of Summit Point but seems to have disappeared following Bills passing, I can't quite dredge up his name, a very Scandinavian name...Nice young man but apparently not up to the job to Barbara's satisfaction.