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Jim Hall Jim Hall Revolutionized the Automobile

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Jim Hall Jim Hall Revolutionized the Automobile Texas Racing Pioneer and Inductee: Jim Hall Jim Hall revolutionized the automobile racing industry by leveraging the use of aerodynamic downforce to enhance racecar performance. The Abilene native is a Class of 1999 Texas Sports Hall of Fame inductee. He and his partner Hap Sharp started Chaparral Cars out of Midland during the 1960s. Hall was always interested in everything mechanical as a child and wanted to know how everything worked. He spent his free time taking things apart, and then had to figure out how to put them back together again. His first involvement with racing was when he built a soapbox derby racer at the age of 10. During his spare time in high school, he built a hot rod model A with no fenders, and a V8 engine. At that time he did do some street racing, “we were outlaws, but it’s what we did when we were kids,” Hall said. Jim’s older brother Richard had bought an Austin-Healey sports car when Jim came back from college one summer in the mid ‘50s. Richard had rheumatoid arthritis and couldn’t do a lot of the things he wanted to, so he helped Jim do many of the things that they were both interested in. Jim got to drive the Austin- Healey in a novice race at an SCCA race at an abandoned airport. “It was some experience to put your foot on the floor and go as fast as you can without anyone complaining,” Jim said. His first race ended early when the carburetor supply line came loose after a lap or two. “I give him the blame or credit for getting me involved in racing,” said Jim about his brother, Richard. Jim Hall with Chaparral 2D team at Daytona in 1966 (*original photo pending) The work ethic and independence of Texans was always a part of him. He said he collected those kinds of people around him, and that had an effect on how he ran things. Working in Midland had its pros and cons. Often when they would hire someone who had not seen a small western desert town, they would step off the airplane and become skeptical. Younger people didn’t want to stay because there wasn’t much to do at night. But, families liked it because it was well taken care of and was a nice place to send kids to school. It was isolated enough that Chaparral could keep some secrets. There were not a lot of people looking for them or that could find them, which was an advantage. At that time, there was direct airline service to the west coast, and parts could get from Los Angeles to Midland in about the same time it would take someone in LA to drive to the other side of town to pick them up. His co-owner of Chaparral Cars, Hap Sharp, lived in Midland and after Jim sold him a racecar they began racing against each other. After Jim moved to Midland to be in the oil and gas with his brothers, he and Hap figured it would be better to work together than against each other. Hap was one of the best connections of Jim’s life, “a good, smart guy, and good race driver.” They would talk and work on cars all day then often would have dinner together. “It’s always good to have someone whose judgment you trust to talk over ideas with, the combination is usually better than either person is alone.” Carl Haas was another critical partner in Jim’s career; Carl put together the budget and sponsorship side of things. One of the most time consuming challenges for Jim was working out the budget and the Haas/Hall combination allowed him to do what he really wanted to do, designing, testing and working on the car itself. During the ‘70s they were able to win 3 Formula 5000 championships in a row. His favorite moment as a team manager and owner was when a design was successful. But, being on the sidelines didn’t give him the same feeling as being behind the wheel. When he got a car dialed in just where he wanted it he described it, “the most satisfying experience you can have in a car is to take the car to the limit and know it is going perform and be there for you where you need it.” One of Hall’s most respected innovations was his use of aerodynamics. One day he recognized that by producing negative aerodynamic forces on a car in a specific location he could make it handle in just the way he wanted. Doing this gave the driver confidence and increased the cars capability in cornering. He was the first guy to say that was what they ought to be looking at, and his mindset was, “we were dealing with these forces, let’s make them work for us.” Winning important races was always something Hall was proud of. He put together 2 Indianapolis 500 wins as a constructor, designer and team manager. In 1966 his team raced the Chaparral 2D at the famed Nurburgring track in Germany with drivers Phil Hill and Jo Bonnier. They beat Ford, Ferrari and Porsche, at that time Chaparral was the first American car to win a major European endurance race in a long, long time. Hall’s versatility carried over into Formula 1 where he gained a lot of confidence in his racing ability, it was a “very satisfying experience,” Hall said. He worked with Ennis Ireland and was able to learn about the racing circuits abroad while competing with the best designers and drivers in the world. One of his great competitors in the CanAm races was Bruce McLaren. In 1963 they raced and traveled together all over Europe. They were good friends and would compete against each other in races. “We would go at it on the track, then go to dinner and talk about where the other’s car was good or bad,” Hall said. With all of the successes, Hall’s ingenuity sometimes inhibited reliability. “I jumped out a little too quick sometimes with new ideas, we didn’t have the reliability some more mature designs had.” In his free time, Hall enjoys playing golf, “I’m not particularly good, but its enjoyable competition to play at my level and try to improve my game.” He thinks it’s a relaxing game and enjoys the friendships rather than emphasizing the competition. Other spare time activities include fly-fishing and off-road four wheeling. Hall was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and said, “It is an honor to be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Racing, at least when I was a driver, was a minor sport in a way compared to the others at the time. It’s an honor to be alongside other fabulous Texas athletes.” ### A wing of the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas, was dedicated to the permanent exhibit of the remaining Chaparral cars and the history of their development. The cars are kept in top condition and are run live on a semi-regular basis at the museum grounds. .
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