Midstate Vintage Stock Car Club

Jim Chase has been a member of the MVSCC for many years. Jim has been given Lifetime Member status for the MVSCC. He presently owns 3 vintage stockcars. He races the beautiful 2K and displays his 66 car. Click here to seeJim's 150 carand his 66 car

More driver/owner information below.

Car	Engine	Favorite Track	Hobbies	Sponsors	Crew Members
1935 Plymouth Coupe	250 Chevy	Can-Am and Utica-Rome	Old cars, Car shows, Nascar & Music	Custom Delivery Service Rumetico Sales Carquest Auto Parts, SYR.	Kay and Carmen

More about Jim Chase

By Tom Vartanian - Jim Chase, a Cortland resident, who has three vintage stock cars, has been a member of the MVSCC since 1987. He was awarded Life-time member status with the club at the annual banquet in November of 2003. Chase grew up in Morris and he spent many days at Midstate Speedway and other tracks in Central and Southern New York. The 45-year-old watched the races from an early age before he started working in the pits as a teenager. He decided to try his hand at racing in 1983 by running a street stock at Weedsport and New Utica-Rome Speedway. His career continued in the street stocks until 1987 when he decided the costs were getting too expensive. Chase saw the MVSCC as a way to keep his desire to race alive and to have fun at the same time. "We go to different tracks as a club" Chase explained. "We all do this for fun. You race when you want to. There isn't some big point fund at the end of the year, so you don't have to be at every event. There isn't all the pressure to win. You obviously want to win when you are on the track, but it isn't the biggest thing." Some of the nicest people I've ever met, I met through racing. Some of my friends are also my competitors on the track. I have always liked stock car racing and the club helps me remember the days I would spend at Morris or going with my family to other tracks like Five Mile Point (Kirkwood)." Every one of Jim Chase's cars has a story behind it, starting with the black and yellow 150. This was the first car Chase bought and restored. The 1935 Chevy Coupe was owned by Ray Enders. Larry Nye drove the car to track championships at Waterloo Speedway in 1966 and 1968. Chase has been racing his car, but is thinking about making it a 'show-only' car. "I bought this car in the early 1990's and restored it," Chase said of this special car. "Larry actually drove the car a couple of times in 1995." His current show car is the 1933 Plymouth that his uncle Lee (Chase) drove at Morris from 1959 through 1962. The red number 66 has a flat-head DeSoto engine and he uses it strictly as a display car. Up until recently, Jim owned the original car driven by Glenn Knapp, Sr. at Five Mile Point and Penn Can Speedway in Susquehanna, Pa. The number 29 is a 1935 Ford Sedan with an inline 6-cylinder Chevy engine. The car also rides on one of the last Buschbacher chassis' made. "John Parks bought this car from Knapp," said Chase. "I came across the car and bought it. My brother and I put the car back together." Chase recently sold this car to his good friend, Bill Clark of Tully, NY., knowing it would be in good hands and remain in the Midstate club. The latest car he purchased about three years ago. The sharp-looking 2K raced in the 1960's by George Crough. The 1936 Plymouth coupe campaigned at both Fonda and Orange County Fair (Middletown) Speedways. Chase had the honor this past March, of having NASCAR great, Bobby Allison autograph this beautiful car at the Carquest Motorsports show hosted by Gater at the Syracuse Fairgrounds. Jim attends the West Winfield Hall of Fame ceremonies almost annually. This remains one of his yearly highlights. There are about 30 former drivers who attend," Chase recalls. "I never thought that I would be in the same room with them. These guys were my heroes growing up. They didn't know me, but they all had an impact on me." Jim Chase is having that same impact on the long-time race fans every time he takes one of his cars on the track. "I have my memories of going to the races and it still amazes me when someone comes up to me and says "I remember seeing that car in 1961, or someone sees me on the road with one of the cars in tow. I'll be getting gas and they will ask where this car still runs. It's a great feeling." Auto racing will continue to make new memories, but it's all the hard work of guys like Jim Chase and the Midstate Vintage Stock Car Club that will always keep the old memories alive.