Friday, July 13, 2018
It would seem to be impossible to capture in words how Jimmy has impacted my life and my heart. I will make my best effort to make my words reach the level of respect and love that Jimmy so clearly deserves.
I met Jimmy and Jan at the Dinner and a Movie night with LICOA at the Blackforest Brewhouse in early 2004. We became instant friends and over the next 14 years became family. We would walk around car shows together, go to the LICOA events together, car gatherings at Captree, racing at Englishtown, Limerock and Pocono, spend time drinking Coronas with lime at the house and so much more……so many wonderful memories. I still think about Jimmy every single time I am walking around a car show……every single time.
Jimmy helped me and advised me with my vette and with my life. He was my go-to- man and dispensed advice with no judgment and with unconditional love and respect. Over the years, I spent more times than I can count sitting in the living room with Jimmy and Jan getting life advice and direction. He is one of the very few men that I have ever trusted in every way without question in my life. He deserved that trust because of the man that he was.
Because of Jimmy, I have experiences that I would never have had the opportunity to participate in. He gave me his vette to race in the autocross at Englishtown. An experience and day I will never forget……and I was even winning for awhile.
Jan and I were with Jimmy at Pocono on his birthday in 2007 when he took his love of racing to the next level with the race training class he attended. I had the opportunity that day to suit up in a fire suit and ride with a driver on the racetrack at over 150mph. Adrenaline…..and more adrenaline.
I clearly remember the day he took me for a ride in the vette he had modified for racing. My head was happily pinned to the headrest when he accelerated onto the Meadowbrook. He was so proud and so was I. I loved being his passenger on the parkways and on the racetracks. I feel so blessed that we captured a lot of those moments on video that I will cherish forever.
We all lost a great man on July 9, 2018. A great man who was kind, generous, loving honest and genuine. A man who lived life to the fullest and who helped other people live their lives to the fullest. A man that made every shared experience more fun and memorable. A man that you could count on every time. A man that words cannot nearly reach a level to capture who he was and what he meant to anyone that was blessed to know him.
I know that I am not alone in stating that my heart is broken into a million pieces. You will forever live in my heart, Jimmy Shand. I will love you forever. I will miss you forever.
