Column: Remembering Jim Primrose: A Passionate Racer & Owner Who Dominated The Track & Beyond
Column By: TIM BALTZ / BROCKVILLE ONTARIO SPEEDWAY – BROCKVILLE, ONT – His racing record as a car owner was one of the best in local Dirt Modified racing in the United States to Canada.
He was a competitive man who wanted to be the best at everything he did whether it was on dirt, the snow or even on the grass drags with his powerful Ski-Doo snowmobiles. No matter what Jim Primrose did, he did it to the best of his ability and succeeded at it.
The racing world was saddened to hear of the recent passing of Jim Primrose, who owned many cars for several of the area’s top drivers, including Brockville Speedway Hall of Famer Mark Hitchcock of Kingston, Tim O’Brien, another Kingston area driver, Chris Herbison of Brockville and more recently, Alexandria Ontario’s Lee Ladouceur. All of whom won races and many of them, in Jim’s potent Ford powered rides.
Jim owned a successful snowmobile dealership in Iroquois Ontario and provided many in the area with the best running sleds around. If you saw a sled in the area, it more than likely had a Jim’s Performance Plus sticker on it.
Jim was a fierce competitor in grass drag competition, where he would enter several divisions in one day and would more often than not, walk away with the majority of the money. When he wasn’t taking all the trophies and cash at the grass drags, Jim along with son Jimmy were tuning sleds in the winter and Can Am four wheelers in the summer and always helping to keep customers machines in the best condition all year long.
He also loved dirt modified racing and began sponsoring several drivers in the region in the 80s, including Late Model and Modified driver Chico Dingwall. Jim always wanted to own a race team and that became a reality in 1999, when he teamed up with Kingston’s Mark Hitchcock and the pairing were successful right away winning several features across Brockville, Cornwall and Mohawk. Tim O’Brien another Kingston driver took over the newly numbered 88 ride in 2009 and again Jim found success winning several events including the 2011 Applefest Shootout at the Brighton Speedway. The pairing also won the 2010 DIRTCar 358 Modified track title at Can Am Speedway and claimed a 2010 DIRTCar 358 Modified regional championship.
Since then, Chris Herbison was given the nod to drive the car and did with success, claiming a win in 2015, which ended an 11-year drought in the Modified division at Cornwall. More recently Lee Ladouceur has been the pilot for the team. Ladouceur scored an emotional win for the team on July 30th of 2022 at Brockville and despite not feeling well health wise, Jim was right there front and center in the victory lane photo and was proud as ever.
Jim will always be remembered as a passionate man who had a love for racing no matter what it was. He always put 1000% into his team and stood behind every driver he had, that piloted the number 88 and 95 358 Modifieds
All area track staff, management, teams, drivers and fans, pass their thoughts and prayers on to the entire Primrose family during this difficult time.
