JIM HALL’S OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY PUBLISHED
Texas Legend, George Levy’s official biography of Jim Hall, was launched in fine style over the last weekend of June at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas, long-time home of Chaparral Cars.
The sell-out event attracted Chaparral enthusiasts and a host of notable guests with Chaparral connections, including Johnny Rutherford (three-time Indy winner, in 1980 with the Chaparral 2K), Franz Weis (seasoned Chaparral mechanic, engine builder and fabricator), Herb Fishel (former GM motorsports chief) and Ed Welburn (one-time GM vice-president of design). Other significant names, all featured in the book, were Jim Hall’s wife Sandy and son Jim Hall II, plus team members Wesley Sweet, Rodney Rogers, Jere Barnes, Jay Miller and Paul Parker.
Jim and George signed copies of the book for the assembled guests. The feedback was universally positive: a number of people who picked up their books early in the weekend said that they began to leaf through and found themselves spending the next several hours reading, and a few said they felt the book should win multiple awards.
The photo above, showing Jim with author George Levy and a Chaparral 2E, was taken by Bob Jackson, who first met Jim at Carroll Shelby Sport Cars in the 1950s. The book contains plenty of Bob’s racing photos of Jim in action, plus the iconic photo that won him the Pulitzer Prize, capturing the moment when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald two days after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963.
Texas Legend is already on sale in the US and will be available in the UK and Europe next week.
Johnny Rutherford (left) and Jim Hall II flank the Texas Legend.
Jim Hall II demonstrated the Chaparral 2D, the car that won the 1966 Nürburgring 1,000Km, the first victory by an American car in a major European road race in four decades – and before Ford finally won Le Mans.
George and Jim signed copies of the book.
Chaparrals on permanent display at the Petroleum Museum include the fabled 2J ‘sucker car’ that pioneered ground effects in the Can-Am series of 1970.
Jim addresses his audience, with Ed Welburn (cream shirt) and Johnny Rutherford (red shirt) in the foreground.
Jim Hall with Judy Stropus, who looks after Evro’s US marketing and is a long-time friend of Jim and his wife Sandy.
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Bob Jackson joins George Levy for a shot taken by ex-Chaparral crew member and acclaimed aviation photographer Jay Miller.
