Jim McFarland
Jim McFarland is a man who has been a true ambassador for the world of drag racing and high performance. Like most drag racers and industry leaders, Jim began his career as a participating enthusiast, building and racing his own cars mainly in the various stock classes. Unlike a lot of the “seat of the pants” racers of the early days, Jim was also a graduate automotive engineer, and a lot of the early innovations for the stock classes came as a result of Jim’s engineering background. Also like a lot of the early pioneers of the sport, Jim did not confine his participation in racing to drag strips. Over the years he has participated in oval track racing, the dry lakes, and almost every type of motorsports available. One of the better-known race teams that Jim was involved with as a driver was Sox & Martin. He not only drove for them in competition, but he also did a lot of the testing they were involved in.
Fortunately for a great number of enthusiasts, Jim is more than a racer; he is also a writer, an engineer/inventor, and an ideal person. As an engineer, Jim has been instrumental in developing some of the best intake manifold and fuel injection systems available. He has helped develop various cam and valve train combinations that have not only increased performance but also provided the user with greater engine life and improved fuel economy. He also developed some very sophisticated ignition parts and was involved in developing computer chips for increased performance in the new generation vehicles. Not only has he been a part of developing so many parts and pieces for increasing performance, he has also been instrumental in generating acceptance for these parts by the federal and state authorities responsible for policing emissions.
As a writer, Jim was in in a position to explain in detail many of the parts and systems he was involved in developing through articles in nearly all the of the enthusiast publications. Jim’s editorial pieces have appeared in just about every major automotive enthusiast magazine on the newsstands from Hot Rod and Car Craft to Popular Hot Rod and Motor Trend. He is the person who was responsible for introducing much of the “performance iron” from Detroit to the budding racers throughout the US in the early muscle car days. Jim drove and tested these cars and then made them come to life on the pages of the magazines. He did the same for hundreds a new parts and pieces that were being produced by both the OEM’s and the performance aftermarket manufacturers. Jim was one of the best known and accepted editors of the time as the guy who took the parts, installed them keeping detailed photos, descriptions on how to properly use them, and then put the information on paper so the reader/enthusiast could know and understand what was new, what it did, how to install it and where to get it. There are a lot of racers, car builders, and show enthusiasts who would have found notoriety and success for the exposure Jim afforded them through his many articles in the magazines as well as from the information they obtained from his articles and their personal contact with him.
One of the best examples of how the fans and readers felt about Jim and his racing accomplishments is that in 1975 the readers of Car Craft Magazine voted him into the Car Craft All-Star Drag Racing Team. While he retired from driving some years back, Jim remained active writing for various publications, spreading the word that performance and racing are alive, well, and a lot of fun. He is also actively involved in SEMA in assisting its members to understand how to comply with many state and federal emissions regulations and to help educate the state and federal agency leaders on the performance industry and its efforts to conform to their rules.