Jim Hallahan

It is with broken hearts that we announce the death of Jim Hallahan on Thursday, December 3rd, 2020, in Halifax.

Jim was an icon of stock car racing in Canada. In fact, his life revolved around cars and stock car racing. He was a mechanic, racer, dealership owner, official and a leader. His racing career began when he was a 20-year-old running the dirt at Pinecrest Speedway, outside of Toronto. He moved on to Exhibition Speedway on the CNE grounds in Toronto. If there was a track in Southern Ontario, Jim raced there.

Jim met Ernie McLean in Toronto and sold Ernie his first race car. Not sure if Ernie was the first person to buy a race car from Jim, but he was not the only person to buy a car from Jim. Ernie joined the racing scene and as Maritimers often do, Ernie moved back to New Brunswick, built River Glade Speedway and convinced Jim to come to New Brunswick and run The River Glade International. In fact, for a few summers, Jim and Don Biederman would make a trip to NB for a racing vacation. They would run every track they could, where the grandstands were full, and the fields of cars were large. They split their winnings.

Jim, Don and a friend headed south to Daytona, so Don could race at Speedweek. Jim said he did most of the driving while Don sat in the backseat and made ham sandwiches as they drove. Imagine, a race car on a single axel trailer, pulled by a car on roads with few turnpikes. Just a relaxing drive!

Junior Hanley was coming of age about the time Jim was considering the move to Nova Scotia. They raced against each other in Ontario and Jim joked that they traded places ……. Junior to Ontario and Jim to Nova Scotia. They continued to race each other when Junior would come back to the Maritimes.

Jim made the move to Nova Scotia, where he sold cars for Forbes Chev Olds and campaigned the Forbes stock car, the # 33, nicknamed the ‘Hugger’. MacPhee Ford recognized the value of having Jim at their store and he continued to sell cars on that same property until his death.

Jim was the driving force of the establishment of MASCAR, the first Maritime stock car series. He was the President and guiding principal of the series. He also recognized that the time had come for racing at that level to be conducted as business and not a club. He approached Cecil Vance and the late Harry Poole to become involved. In short order, the Maritime Pro Stock Tour was established and is now entering its 20th year of operation. All the while, Jim was at the center of the action.

Jim was inducted into the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame and the Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame. Jim’s daughter and son were racers as is his grandson, keeping the Hallahan name alive in the sport.

Jim was always concerned about the ‘little guy’ in racing. He understood that they are the backbone of the sport and had lots of supporters in the grandstands.

Jim was the most upbeat and positive person you would ever meet. Life was good and he enjoyed it to the fullest. He absolutely loved to be at the racetrack, any racetrack. You could find him, with his wife Liz always at his side.

He was not a fan of COVID-19 and worried this past summer that he would not see another Pro Stock race. The racing community came together to present the Jim Hallahan 250 sponsored by Nova Truck Centres and Lucas Oil at Scotia Speedworld on September 12, 2020. In the minds of many, it will be forever be known as “the last race”.

Rest in Peace, my friend.