Jacobs-Hammer Believing in the Stars
By: Lisa Hammer
Hammer Motorsports hires Lee Jacobs to pilot the 24H Sprinter for the 2010 season. This news flash is not just an owner announcing a new pilot to chauffer the 800+ horse-powered 410 sprint car beast, nor is it about a driver shouting out to the racing community he has a ride for the upcoming season. It’s actually a story that began a long time ago and these two racing-families, the Jacobs’ and the Hammer’s would like you to hear about how the stars have been lining up.
Actually, there has already been a story told about how, “If you build it, they will come”, and they did. You see, four generations ago there was a man by the name of Pete Jacobs and he had a dream, which materialized to be, Wayne County Speedway in Orrville Ohio. A race track that, generations of Jacobs and other famous drivers, would cut their teeth on. Now Pete’s love and passion for racing was carried on by son Kenneth who married the “Queen of Hearts,” when he married Marriann. This little lady not only won race fans hearts on the track but also off the track too, having driven for various car owners, and winning a multitude of races. Little did we know the coined phrase, “You go girl” was really talking about Marriann Jacobs behind the wheel of a race car!
In 1970, at the action packed dirt track in Orrville Ohio, race fans witness a rare historical site when Kenneth and Marriann, Grandparents to Lee, both took home checkered flags in the Late Model and Powder Puff events. How can you not be inspired by these facts?
In 1971 Wayne County Speedway hosted the 1st Annual Pete Jacobs Memorial Twin Invitational for Sprints and Late Models in honor of the track founder and promoter that passed, a man so respected and driven by his passion, he truly would be missed.But did you remember the stars were out that night, and it was Lisa Hammer’s father,Harold McGilton, whom would win that prestigious event and take home the unheard of $5,000 purse?
By this time third generation Jacobs’ stallion Kenny Lee was making his name as a wrestler there at Waynedale High School, but it would be his yearning for the night life and reaching for the stars that would give him more accolades and trophies than he could count with the World of Outlaws, USAC and All Star sanctioning bodies. Then there were the little races he would throw the horseshoe at, so to speak, and came up adding up the ringers like; The Historical Big One, The Winter Nationals, Williams Grove Open, Hoosier Hundred, numerous track championships at various tracks, the USA VS Australian Championship, and countless others, ultimately landing a rightful spot in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. My goodness this family has been blessed!
While reaching for those stars, Kenny Lee hired a young 18 year old wrench by the name of Aaron Hammer. Young Hammer too was the third generation of racers. This wrench would begin to gather his own accolades with his relationship with, “The Mouse.” Together the two won, three consecutive, All Star Circuit of Champions Titles. Aaron would win the Mechanic of the Year Award, twice. The duo would grasp track championships, track records, ending up in the record books, with the list going on and on. So far, this story has a, grass- roots, good ol’e boy script written all over it, and a story that seems more and more to have been written in the stars.
Now, it would seem, fourth generation drivers seem like they might have something to prove. After all, many records seem untouchable to a young driver starting out. Interestingly enough when you google fourth generation racing families you get the Earnhardt’s and the Petty’s; all rightfully earning a spot in history. But no evidence has been found to date, by this story writer, that the stars were so instrumental in bringing two racing families together as much as this. Lee Jacobs may have the hardest job of all, passing the tradition and passion on to the fifth generation of Jacobs, his son, Rayce. As we anxiously await the 2010 season to get here, when the 24H team heads off to the race track, they will be thinking about the passion that is shared by all, and the determination it takes for a driver and team to get to the track. But let us not forget to think about Pete Jacobs’ heart felt spirit, the kind that built a race track, and the traditions the Jacobs’ and the Hammer’s continue to share, and how it has built yet another race team.
Just as we are proud to be an American, we are equally proud to be a dirt track race fan. Who ever said, “It may have been written in the stars?” Are you kidding, seems to be lining up that way.
