James Weaver, the Quiet Man

[Plex]

At Interlagos on Oct. 15, amid the fanfare befitting a seven-time World Champion, Michael Schumacher retired from the sport that had been his life for some three decades. That same weekend, 10,000 miles north of Sao Paulo at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, in a low-key announcement befitting a man who earned more than 100 wins from Formula Ford and Touring Cars to Group C, Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series � and did so as a consummate sportsman � James Weaver retired from the sport that had been his life since 1975.

Unlike Schumacher, Weaver caught the racing community unawares with his retirement. He was such a fixture on the American sports car scene over the past 20 years that it seemed his career might be timeless. But at 51, after three decades of racing, two-thirds of which was spent driving with and for team owner Rob Dyson, Weaver had to yield to the march of time.

�One of the hardest decisions for any sportsman is knowing when to leave the playing field,� he said. �Experience holds you in good stead, but eventually time tips the scales against you.

�I have been racing for over 30 years and 20 of those with Rob Dyson. It has been an enormous privilege to know him and to be part of his team. No driver could ask for a better environment in which to enjoy the sport. I was able to do what I loved doing - the way I liked doing it. It was brilliant fun to be able to be a part of a sport I love and very unusual to be able to do it on my terms - all of which I have Rob to thank for.�

Although few who watched or raced against a young James Weaver would have been surprised that he enjoyed a successful career, few would have expected the balance of that success to happen in the USA, driving sports cars. For at the outset of his career, Weaver was one of Britain�s rising open-wheel aces.

Indeed, of all the future Formula 1 and Champ Car stars to pass through the ranks of Formula Ford in the �70s, Weaver holds a unique place - the first driver to lap the Brands Hatch Indy circuit in an FF1600 in under 50sec. That he did so during the legendary Formula Ford Festival made it all the more special.

�I think they had 350-360 cars entered, of which probably 50 of them were easily good enough to get into the final,� Weaver says of the Festival�s heydays. �If you got into the final, that was a victory in itself.

�I remember I won the semi-final and set fastest lap. They had this big thing, the first person to lap in under 50sec, and I did a 49.9. I got down to 49.7 eventually - and took fastest lap in the final as well. But in the final I had a great race... there was Michael Roe, myself and Don MacLeod. With about four laps to go I got past Michael. I was so pleased with myself that I promptly half fell off at Clearways and he drove straight back past me!�

Even a partial list of the competitors in the �75 Festival gives some hint of Weaver�s accomplishments: to Roe and MacLeod add the likes of Kenny Acheson, Thierry Boutsen, Tommy Byrne, Roberto Guerrero, Anthony Reid, David Sears, Mike Thackwell and Didier Theys.

Formula Ford begat Formula 3 and wins in the British and European F3 championships, not to mention plenty of colorful memories, for Weaver spent a goodly portion of his F3 days peddling for Eddie Jordan who was, as ever, as long on resourcefulness as he was short on tangible resources.
�Eddie was a great character,� Weaver recalls. �He had an unlimited supply of grandmothers who he sold on a regular basis. He was great fun to go racing with. I don�t know how he did it, because he ran the car on fresh air half the time.

�When we did the Formula 3 race at Silverstone, Murray Taylor was running Tommy Byrne who was an absolutely fabulous driver. After practice they used to take all the gears and dog rings out of his gearbox and tip the whole lot into this 50-gallon drum they used as a trash bin.

�Eddie used to wait until they�d finished, then he would get Tommy�s used gears and dog rings out of the trash because they were always in better condition than the ones we had! And if Tommy didn�t change his gear ratios we�d just put in whatever we had of our own that looked like it might last the race.

�That�s how Eddie ran the team. There was no money. If we didn�t have what was right he�d make do with whatever we had just to keep us racing. He was brilliant like that. He�d never give in. He�d always get the car on the grid somehow.�

And with a driver of Weaver�s caliber, win his fair share. Among Weaver�s fondest memories is the time Jordan tested the European F3 waters in back-to-back races at Nogaro and Jarama - and came away with two wins.

�I remember standing on the podium (at Nogaro) as they played the British national anthem thinking, �Wow! This is international motor racing,�� says Weaver. �It was a very moving moment for me. Then we went down to Jarama the following weekend and won again. If I was going to get a chance at a test in Formula 1 it was going to happen then, but it never did and I just disappeared into the doldrums...�

Those doldrums featured several seasons in everything from Sports 2000 to Thundersports, the British and European Touring Car Championships and, eventually, the IMSA Camel GT Series. If not the fast track to F1 fame and fortune, those �doldrums� paved the way to a rewarding career for Weaver.

�I was always interested in sports cars,� he says. �The cars are more interesting than single-seaters. And, just by sheer luck, I got a couple of breaks in sports cars. I drove with Tiff Needell in Japan and with Price Cobb in America. You couldn�t meet two nicer people. And I thought, �Hang on a minute. This is actually more fun when you�re sharing a car with somebody.� So in a way I think I outgrew single-seaters. It�s actually more fun achieving something together.�

After a few rides with Bob Akin�s team, Weaver caught on with Dyson and began what ranks as one of motorsports� longest driver/team/patron relationships. In his first ride with Dyson, Weaver co-drove a Porsche 962 to victory with Cobb at Road Atlanta. Typically, Weaver stresses the �co� element to the partnership.

�Price was just such a lovely bloke, such a gentleman,� he says. �I couldn�t have gotten off to a better start at Dysons�. He was so generous and open, and helpful. He won the race. I just happened to be holding the steering wheel in between his stints while he grabbed a cup of tea.�

When Cobb �defected� to the Jaguar team, Weaver was the heir apparent to his ride. More than 40 wins followed, along with consecutive Grand-Am titles in Y2K and �01. IMSA Camel GT, USRRC Can-Am, PSR World Series, Grand-Am, American Le Mans Series; the shifting political sands of American sports car racing ensured the trophies Weaver collected had no shortage of alphabet sanctioning bodies. But one constant was his relationship with Rob Dyson and his team, including long-time co-driver Butch Leitzinger with whom he shared more than a dozen victories.

In large part, Weaver�s relationship with Dyson Racing was one based on mutual respect as owner and driver, of course, but more deeply as friends and gentlemen. Then again, the whole atmosphere at Dyson � which has continued as Rob�s son Chris gradually assumed responsibility for the team � suited Weaver.

Among sports car racing�s last privateers, Dyson took on the likes of Jaguar, Nissan, Toyota and, more recently, Audi, seeking to beat the factories at their own game. What�s more, they did so without employing star drivers, preferring � demanding � a �one for all, all for one� mindset among drivers and crew alike.

�One of the strengths at Dyson Racing has been the continuity � and the quality � of the people,� says Weaver. �Rob has always said he�d never employ somebody to drive his cars if it was somebody he didn�t like � no matter how fast they were. If Rob didn�t want to have a beer with somebody, he wasn�t going to employ him.

�Since I�ve been there we�ve had Price who, absolutely set the standard. Then Butch who is great fun but also such a decent man. We had John Paul Jr., who was fantastically talented, Elliott (Forbes Robinson), Tiff, Hurley Haywood, Ron Fellows, Andy Wallace, Guy Smith � quite a few different people.

�It�s a private team, so you need a balance. Everybody�s working hard, you don�t need anybody who�s trying to promote themselves through the team. The �If I do this really well, I can drive for Audi� mentality. Everybody who�s ever been at Dyson�s appreciates that and it�s where they want to be.�

Certainly among the highlights of the Weaver/Leitzinger combo is the �03 ALMS race at Infineon Raceway when they drove the Dyson Lola/MG to the first (and only) overall win for an LMP675 car, beating the vaunted LMP900 Audi R8. More recently, though, Dyson Racing has waged an increasingly uphill battle. Audi won all but two races in �05, then ran the table in �06.

Weaver denies the increasingly long odds were a factor in his decision to retire, or that he leaves with any regrets.

�If somebody said you could change one or two things... Number one, would be Sebring. We came very close to winning that on a couple of occasions. And it would have been nice to pop another couple of Daytonas in the bag.

�But if you�d done racing as long as I have, you can�t possibly have any regrets. I�ve been so lucky. We�ve just had a fantastic time together, through Rob�s generosity mainly. That�s one of the things that has made it so special is that Rob is just such a fantastic person to be around.�

More than a few people would agree that James Weaver did more than his fair share to make sports car racing special these past 20 years as well.

Source: http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/alms/34502/?page=1