RPW Exclusive: Wearing Many Hats, Jimmy Zacharias Knows Only One Way To Be…Successful

Column By: JOSEPH PHILLIPS / RPW – CANDOR, NY – Modified driver Jimmy Zacharias is a man who wears many hats.

Not only does he work a day job like most of us, working as a DPV Supervisor, but he also has a successful passion racing cars around in a circle really, really fast at Thunder Mountain Speedway in Center Lisle NY.

To add more to his plate, for the last few years, Zacharias has operated 71 Speed and Design, off Route 96 in Candor, NY.

Zacharias is a long-time Modified racer on the asphalt who, in 2018, decided to switch to the dirt and, for the most part, has not looked back, and success came pretty quick for him.  In his first season at Thunder, he won the Crate Sportsman Championship.

He does enter special asphalt events, although sometimes not as the one holding the steering wheel.  In fact, over the past weekend, for the Race Of Champions event at Mahoning Valley Speedway, Austin Beers drove a Zacharias-owned Modified to victory.

As stated, over the last few years, Zacharias has been able to find a way at making some money in the sport he loves.  His business, 71 Speed & Design, has become another successful venture he’s associated with.  The shop has many items racers may need, in stock, to keep cars on track each week. From fuel, tires, wheels, body panels, rub rails and so much more, the Zacharias family has their customers covered.  They even have engine parts available for purchase.

This is a great benefit to local drivers who may not have time to wait for parts from Bicknell, Teo, Troyer or any other supply warehouse.  Oh, and Zacharias is also an authorized Bicknell dealer so if a team tweaks a chassis and needs a new one, there’s no problem at this shop.  They can help.

The speed shop also has parts, on site, at Thunder Mountain Speedway for racers needs at events.

Besides being a dealer for Bicknell, Zacharias also handles Velocita Safety Equipment.  He can help with everything, from helmets to fire suits, and has the ability to size you up for some brand new threads, right at his shop.

While he’s concerned about helping racers go fast, Zacharias also wants them looking fast too.  71 Speed and Design also does wraps for race cars or whatever else anyone could imagine.  He loves working with the drivers and owners, bringing their designs to life.

Using a large scale printer that utilizes eight-color inkjet technology, each design is printed in one continuous wrap, per car side.

“It takes a few hours for everything to be prepared for installation,” Zacharias said.  “Then, it can be applied.  However, a race car generally can be done in a day or so.”

Let’s take a ride in the way back machine.  Many race cars used to be lettered by hand.  Then came the computer age when many sign shops began using vinyl in their creations.  If a car was wrecked, the lettering was the last thing to be repaired, leaving many cars worse for wear by seasons end.

Now many race teams are utilizing full-body wraps. If a team is really enterprising, they can have spare panels wrapped in advance.  However, we don’t want to think about that, this early in a new race season, do we?

A perfect example of wrap technology are the cars in the 600cc Modified Hustle the Highway Series. Driver Tyler Talada has a car that looks like a dairy cow.  Christian Hafl’s is decorated with the Grinch stealing items that are not his. Not only can teams have fun with the cars, they can have professional graphics for sponsors that are scaled to fit.

One thing is for certain.  Jimmy Zacharias’ a busy man.  He works, A LOT, is raising a young family, all the while working 9-5 job as well as helping out racers.  He’s also chasing checkered flags, and has his eyes set squarely on the prize.

Zacharias is the true definition of a Saturday night hero.  There are many, like him, at our local tracks who may not be NASCAR stars.  However, many still look to them as their heros and this young man certainly meets that criteria.