Jim’s involvement in racing began in 1982 when he ran in a few “Demo Car” races at Western Speedway.
In 1983 he built up a Datsun 510 “Mini Stock” which he raced at both Western and Saratoga Speedways where he won a few races but decided that he needed a better car.
In 1985 Jim built a Datsun 610 Mini Stock which he ran locally, also travelling to Washington State.
He subsequently won back to back “Mini Stock Championship” titles in 1987/88 and in 1989 built a Nissan 200SX in which he captured four Championships from 1990 to 1993. He later upgraded the car with slicks and bigger carburetors and competed in the “Pro-4 West Tour” race at Spanaway Speedway in Washington against 36 other cars from the West Coast, finishing 10th overall.
Building a new car with a tube frame for the Washington “Pro-4 Series” sanctioned by FSCRA (Foreign Stock Car Racing Association), Jim finished 3rd in points in 1998, 2nd in 1999 and 1st in 2000.
In 2002, he drove Dan McCamond and Mike Dibblie’s stock car in two local races, finishing 2nd and then 1st. This year he also built a Nissan 240SX for Kyle Vantreight in which Kyle won the Mini Stock Championship in 2005.
In 2003 Jim raced in the “Pro-4 Shootout” at Chaparral Speedway in Boise, Idaho against 27 other entrants from Washington, Oregon, Utah and Idaho in which he qualified 6th and finished in 2nd spot.
He also began driving Norm Wilcox’s roadster in 2003 in the local “WILROC” winged sprint car series and subsequently purchased it from Norm in 2007. Unfortunately, a bad crash in 2009 sidelined the car with Jim unable to repair it due to a lack of funds.
From 2009 on, Jim crewed for both Gerry and Kyle Vantreight and for Jeff and Neil Montgomery on their “NSRA” winged sprint cars and also on Jeff and Neil’s WILROC wingless cars. In 2013, to help up the car count at that year’s “Daffodil Cup” race, Jim was happy to drive Neil’s spare winged car.
In addition to his driving career, Jim McKay served on the executives of both the local Mini Stocks and the WILROC sprint car series. He also in 2015 received the “Don Mouner Memorial Award for Mechanical Excellence” for his pioneering use of factory fuel injection in the Mini Stock class.
