John R. Jacobson, "Jake"

Age 81, of Wilmington, DE, passed away peacefully on Sunday, April 24, 2011.

Mr. Jacobson was born in Jamestown, NY, son of the late John Eskill Jacobson and Jenny Elizabeth Wallin of Luleå, Sweden. He owned Sports Car Service, Inc. which was the first Saab dealer in Delaware. It later became an independent dealership, which the family proudly continues to run after his retirement in 1985. Mr. Jacobson grew up in Jamestown, NY. He was a staff sergeant in the Army motor pool, on the front line in the Korean War. While stationed in Dover, DE he met his beloved wife, Ruth, at a GI nurses' dance at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland. He was an avid car enthusiast and a member of the Brandywine Motor Sports Car Club, the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), and the Vintage Sports Car Club of America (VSCCA), in which he was awarded an honorary lifetime membership. He was a logbook chairman for both the SCCA and the VSCCA. He was the founder of the Old Spokes Vintage Car Group, which advised the University of Delaware Formula SAE Club and helped to get their car "race ready". He was a mentor to many young automotive enthusiasts, whom became part of his racecar family. He loved building and racing his collection of antique cars. One of his favorite events was the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, which races through the streets of Schenley Park. He was a race chairman for P.V.G.P. from 1993 until 2005.

John was predeceased by his wife of 54 years, Ruth in 2007. He is survived by his sister Marion Linn of Jamestown, NY and his children, Linda Moore and husband Craig of Annandale, VA. Bill Jacobson and wife Dorian, Jenny Trostel and husband Bob, Kathleen O'Neill and husband Jack and Carol Ann Pampuch all of Wilmington, DE. Also nine grandchildren: Jacob and wife Shanna, Emma and Jenny Moore: Gunnar and Analiese Jacobson, Benjamin and Elliott Trostel, Connor O'Neill, and Cooper Pampuch.

Family and friends are invited for visitation on Sunday, May 1st from 1:00 - 3:00 with a service immediately following at the MCCRERY MEMORIAL CHAPEL, 3710 Kirkwood Hwy at Duncan Road, Wilmington Delaware.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to The Kutz Home, 704 River Road, Wilmington, DE, 19809 or the Compassionate Care Hospice, 702B Kirkwood Hwy, Wilmington, DE 19805

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John "Jake" R. Jacobson 1929-2011

It is very difficult to say goodbye when a dear spouse passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a dear father passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a dear sibling passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a dear grandfather passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a dear friend passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a dear colleague and contemporary passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a dear mentor and teacher passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a trusted business partner passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a talented craftsman passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a team leader and teammate passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a tenacious, consummate and respected competitor passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a respected legend passes away.
It is very difficult to say goodbye when a kind-hearted, generous man passes away.

Jake was all of these…
…a beloved husband
…a father
…a sibling
…a grandfather
…a friend
…a colleague and contemporary
…a mentor
…a business man and partner
…a craftsman
…a leader and teammate
…a competitor
…a bigger than life legend
…a kind-hearted and generous man.

To many of us, he was many of these things and more.

Although Jake is no longer of our physical world…. We are not here to be sad and downcast.
We are here to celebrate Jake… Jake's life… and what he means to us.
In racing terms, we know that Jake is no longer on the race track, but instead he is on the other side of the pit wall.
He is the Crew Chief that is watching us…
…inspiring us
…guiding us
…smiling upon us
…and taking pride in our accomplishments.
For Jake…it not about individual success….but team success. He will continue to watch over us all.

At times, Jake could be a man of only a few words. He had difficulties in expressing his philosophies of life, his loves other than cars and racing, and about sickness and death. In many of our late afternoon discussions, Jake could only get out a half of a sentence or two, but he communicated his emotions with the expression on his face or a held back tear in his eye. In this manner we had many soulful discussions. At times like these, he expressed immense pride in his family.

To Linda, Craig, Jacob, Emma and Jenny Moore… he spoke of you with great fondness and pride. Jacob…I know Jake took great pride in helping you with your winning Pinewood Derby cars. I recall him polishing the axles to minimize friction and perfectly aligning the wheels so that they would go down the track straight and true. Jacob… I also know that he is proud that you have embarked on your own new family with your new bride Shanna (pronounced Shay na).

To Bill, Dorian, John Gunnar, and Analiese (pronounced Ah na liese) Jacobson … he spoke of you with great fondness and pride. Bill…Jake is proud of your accomplishments and proud of your success and what you have done with Sports Car Service over the years. Gunnar, he was especially proud to have you carry on the Jacobson name and I am sure that the Sweedish carved wooden horse that serves as the family heirloom will be passed on to you one day.

To Jen, Bob, Benjamin and Elliott Trostel… he spoke of you with great fondness and pride. Jen…he was particularly pleased that you were accepted as a successful woman-owned Saab dealer.

Kathy, Jack and Connor O'Neill… he spoke of you with great fondness and pride. Jake couldn't swear that red hair was a Swedish trait, but I suppose that made him love you all the more.

Carol Ann, Cooper Devin and Kevin Pampuc… he spoke of you with great fondness and pride.
Carol Ann… even though Jake was at the race track when you were born, I think it safe to say that you were the apple of his eye. As for Kevin… and myself for that matter … I am sure that his grudge against our interests in motorcycles is more for show than anything else. After all…motorcycles have engines and wheels too.

John Jake Jacobson was many things to us all.

To me… Jake was a very special man, mentor and friend. Jake and I shared a surrogate father and son relationship. A relationship that will stay with me forever. I first met Jake late in 1996 and up until the time he entered the nursing home, I spent nearly every Saturday and most Sunday's at his shop and we came to know each other quite well.

Our meeting was facilitated by Stefan Vapaa whom I had known through autocross racing and the Formula SAE club at the University of Delaware. Stefan made the introduction and Jake opened up his shop to our club which was designing and building an open wheel race car to compete in the Society of Automotive Engineers international design competition held in Detroit. The car had to be designed and built from scratch and judged not only by it's racing prowess, but on it's engineering, safety, marketability, and performance metrics. Being our first year in existence, we had very limited resources at the University of Delaware and Jake graciously welcomed us to his shop and provided his guidance.

In Jake-style, you must keep in mind, that it was not a full red-carpet welcoming at first. You have to earn your keep. We cheerfully started out working in the unheated chicken coup out back in the dead of winter. We cursed the cold, but soldiered on. Eventually, we were welcomed into the main shop. Jake thrived on our youth, shook his head in frustration as we tried to re-invent the wheel, and seemed to always keep saying "Don't just stand there with your tumb up your you know what… do something even if it is wrong!!" Jake beemed in our excitement as the car finally took shape. In the last remaining weeks before competition, we worked around the clock and the days and nights became a blur. Jake was right there with us as if it was himself that was working in earnest to make it to an important and big race. Without his help and generosity, we would have never made it.

In Detroit, we had limited success, but the important thing was that we were competitors! We made it to competition and made it to all events. More than anything, being in the chase is what made Jake very happy and we certainly were part of it! Jake was tickled to tears on our return when we told him our stories and presented him with a team picture and a pair of UD yellow racing shoes!

Jake would help the club get two more cars to competition, but it was after this first experience that my relationship with Jake would take off. Jake's garage was filled with all of the old race cars, engines, and parts. He had a library of old car magazines and books. The nostalgia of the place set in and tugged at my childhood passions and interests. I always had an interest in cars…especially the vintage and classic ones and I had always wanted to really race. I had often thought I was born a generation or two late because I romanced all of the old stuff. Here was Jake's garage full of old race cars and memorabilia and I was intoxicated by the smell, the grease and all of the old machinery. What was different was that the old stuff were not idle things sitting in a museum. This old stuff was living, breathing and driving! I always wanted to restore, wrench and really race, but had not had the opportunities to do so… I thought here is my chance, and I asked Jake if I could start hanging around. To my happiness, Jake welcomed me with open arms.

I quickly learned that a lot of dirt, grime, grease, sweat equity and tears were all part of the romance…and to tell the truth, I reveled in all of it. I learned that Jake was an Oscar winner in his role of Tom Sawyer. He supervised and doled out the chores. I did it all… all the scutt work that is… Everything, from organizing and cleaning the shop, fixing the roof, sandblasting car bodies in 90 degree heat wearing plastic suits and having the sand stick in every body crevis! I did all of the dirtiest and undesirable jobs imaginable and mowed the 3 acres of lawn every weekend. Jake was particularly tickled with the lawn mowing and we both took pride in me getting the mowing time down to just under 3 hours. Jake often joked that he would have to put a roll bar on the mower because I took the corners at full speed and never lifted off of the throttle. I loved it all and remember it with fondness. I miss the chiding, the teasing and the camaraderie. I guess I even admit to missing being goosed or threats of having my ponytail cutoff especially when I am occupied working with fire or while working with the grinder or on the bandsaw. But I have to say… I made it out with all of my fingers intact.

We made it to the races and many were glorious events. My first trip was to the Pittsburgh Vintage grand prix with it's parades, festive atmosphere and wonderful cars! Jake would always say that the cars were the stars. They were all there… Fangio's pre-war Alfa Romeo race car, sprint cars, Bugattis, healys, Porsches, ferraris, MGs, formula cars, etc. It was all there…the sounds and smells of engines, exhausts, oil and castroil, hot tires, racing and festive crowds all blending to make the romance of an era gone by… it was thrilling and I was hooked!

The feeling only intensified with our next race weekend. This time, we were headed to Watkins Glenn for the 50th anniversary race weekend. At the track, I had purchased Burt Levy's book the Last Open Road. For those of you not familiar with the book, it is told through the main character Buddy Palumbo. Buddy is a young kid working as a mechanic at a Sinclair gas station in New Jersey. The book chronicles Buddy's introduction in the sporty car world, wrenching, racing and learning about life and the racing world. It is a fictional book, but is also a loose historical account of drivers, races, race tracks and the evolution of the racing sport from it's beginnings. In many ways, I identified myself with Buddy Palumbo and his experiences by living through them with Jake and his friends. I was living the exact same experiences, encountering the very cars, race tracks and drivers mentioned in the book. Many times I had to shake my head in disbelief, because I was reading the book at it was like reading the script for things happening around me. The book spoke of the places, people and races at Watkins Glen and in real life… we were here at Watkins Glen re-enacting the tech inspection at Smalley's garage and re-enacting racing around the old street course. The same places, cars and drivers were present. I was meeting the likes of Stirling Moss and sharing the paddock with Pete McManus and his Ardent Alligator, both of which were part of the cast of characters. I couldn't believe it! This experience with Jake was priceless! Through Jake, and all the wonderful vintage racing friends I have met through Jake, this experience was just the first of many priceless experiences.

Yes… the cars were the stars and so was Jake and his many friends.
In Jake's garage there were many of his own cars and those of his friends that have passed through the doors.
Only one car that I can think of had a pet name. That was the "pumpkin" and it was as orange as it's name implies. Not to be joked about, the "pumpkin", a Saab 96 was clocked at over 150 mph at Daytona. It put up a thrilling show in the hands of Don Arey who would settle the car high on the banking to pass a flock of Porsche 356s which would pass him in the twisties and then be re-passed by the Pumpkin once on the banking again.

Other than that, the cars did not have cutesy pet names. They were known by what they were and they all had there own quirks, idosychonicities and personalities.
In my time, there was…
-THE Dryer with it's yellow nose and red paint with it's barking exhaust that wanted to just go and win most every race
-THE Miller also a sprint car, also had a yellow nose and a more sedate Ford blue color which was happy just throttling along
-THE Morgan with the signature yellow nose and british racing green that just seemed to slink around the corners
-THE BMW with it's fragile body work which once finished, was crushed when the tent it was stored in collapsed under the weight of a couple feet of snow
-The Saab formula S with it's screaming pop-corn popping two-stroke exhaust
-THE Three-wheeler with it's cuteness, but unwieldy handling and poor brakes
-There was also the 40s Chevy and a 60s era Ford Thunderbird… well…they were not race cars and just took up space, so they had to be sold!
There were other cars before my time and the cars of friends. Some of these included the H-mod sports racers, the Jaguar SS Jake-Bodied special, the double bubble Abarth, the bandini, the sonnet, the cooper, the 120, my Daimler and others.

The cars were a passion. The passion extended to naming the family dogs. After Bill's dog Maggie, there was Morgan, Woody, Sonnet and Quantum. Not to break the tradition… the names even extended to grandchildren. Cooper… you must be doubly blessed to be named Cooper Devin!

Not only were the cars characters…the garage was frequented by a cast of characters all of whom were welcomed by Jake. We seemed to gravitate to Jake and the shop. There was myself, Stefan, George, Kevin and Frank Porter as the regular crew. In days gone by there was the "mole", Akki Saab, Don Arey, Mike Cruger. Others included Bill Rule, Ralph Steinberg, Pete McManas, John Galson, Denny Mckenna, Bob Taylor, Jerry Greeves, and many more. All of us were part of the racing family and expansive circle of friends.

So Jake, we are not here to say "Good bye", we are here to celebrate you and to thank you!
I want to thank you for your friendship and your mentorship and camaraderie.
I want to thank you for bringing my passion for working on and racing the old cars into reality.
I want to thank you for introducing me to a wonderful circle of family and friends.
I want to thank you for all the weekends spent in the shop and at the races.

Now I am imagining you in that big race shop in the sky in which the tools are always organized, the floor is always swept, and the engines always purr. I can see you closing up the shop, putting on your jacket and donning that big top hat of yours. I can see you putting one last polish on that aluminum racing horseshoe mounted to the car. I can see you starting the car and checking in your pocket one last time for that dance ticket. Then I can see you driving off to the GI club to dance the night away with that little Miss Ruth.

I will not say good bye because I don't ever think you said those words to me either. I will say thank you… and I will say what you always said to me when we parted ways: "Go Slow"…"Keep the Shiny Side Up".

Samuel Lee

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