I don't know if it had been mentioned on this board in an earlier post, but in case it hadn't, I am including a story on Jim Moughan taken from the Springfield IL newspaper.
Hal Pilger: ‘Gentleman Jim’ Moughan didn’t just win; he was a winner
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THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Oct 09, 2008 @ 01:44 AM
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Despite Vince Lombardi’s insistence, winning isn’t the only thing.
Nobody was a better example of that than “Gentleman Jim” Moughan, who died Friday at the age of 78 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
James Joseph Moughan, a Springfield native nicknamed “Gentleman Jim” shortly after he began his long and highly successful racing career in the early 1950s, won a lot of races, including hundreds of feature events.
He won a lot of trophies, plaques and track championships throughout central Illinois. In 1975, four years before he would retire as a race driver, he won 28 features, about 16 in a late model and the remainder in a sprint car.
Moughan was an incredibly talented driver, something that was obvious even before his first track championship at Champaign in 1953.
But as important as winning races was to Moughan, winning the respect of other drivers and crew members and fans was every bit as important, if not more so.
I was fortunate to watch Moughan drive and even more fortunate to interview him when I came to The State Journal-Register in 1974 and throughout the remainder of his marvelous career.
I learned very quickly why he had earned the nickname “Gentleman Jim” and why he was so highly regarded around the pits at Springfield Speedway and other Midwest tracks.
And he taught son Jim Jr. very well, including the right way to race.
“I’ve spent the last couple days going through scrapbooks and pictures and things like that,” said Jim Jr., who plans to give a eulogy during his father’s funeral today in Rushville. “I’m just amazed at all the things he did and how well thought of he was as a person.
“When I started racing, my dad was known as ‘Gentleman Jim’ and I, too, wanted to be like him. I think I emulated a lot of what he was and what he stood for. He was a clean driver. He’d race you hard, but he’d never do anything dirty.
“He was well respected on and off the track. He’d rather drive by somebody than crash them. He’d get crashed, get out of his car and fix it. Not all that crybaby stuff. More like a professional. “He was the consummate race car driver.”
And a consummate role model for other young drivers trying to advance.
Racing journalist Joyce Standridge — whose husband, Rick, also became a successful and popular driver at Springfield Speedway and other Illinois tracks — recalls how Rick emulated “Gentleman Jim” as a young driver.
“Rick’s dad (veteran driver Dick Standridge) was his No. 1 hero, but Jim Moughan was a very close second,” she said. “He wanted to be like him because of his example — not only what he did on the racetrack but the kind of person he was.
“You didn’t push him around. Jim Moughan held his ground as he had every right to do, but you never, ever saw him do a dirty move on anybody or pull a slide job or anything that was unfair.
“The fact he won so many races, in both late models and sprints, was a testament to what a fine driver he really was. He was really an inspiration to a lot of people. He always treated everybody the same. He was just a genuinely good human being.”
One type of award “Gentleman Jim” earned always stood out more for Jim Jr. than all his father’s feature victories and track championships.
“He won multiple popular driver awards, and that’s a real achievement there, when everybody respects you and thinks of you that way,” said the younger Moughan, also a frequent feature winner who earned Driver of the Year and Most Popular Driver awards in the mid-1980s.
“We talked a lot throughout my racing career. He’d call me or I’d call him. He was always supportive of everything I did, always positive. I could always count on him for support.”
Until his declining health prevented it, multi-talented “Gentleman Jim” Moughan — also an accomplished professional painter/paperhanger, airplane builder and pilot — would attend races and root for his son and for his grandson, Joey Moughan, who is Jim Jr.’s nephew.
“He pretty much went to Jacksonville every Friday night the last 10 years to watch the races,” said Jim Jr., himself a recent cancer survivor. “At the end he was really suffering, but he was a tough and strong-willed guy to the end.
“But I know he’s in a better place now.”
That would be a place for guys who weren’t just really good at winning, but for guys who really were winners all their lives.
Hal Pilger can be reached at 788-1548 or
hal.pilger@sj-r.com.
