JACK JORY, PREMIER CALIFORNIA SPRINT CAR OWNER, PASSES AWAY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (December 15, 2020)………Jack Jory, one of the most prolific and winningest sprint car owners on the west coast between the late 1990s and the late 2010s, passed away on December 14, 2020. He was 82 years old.
Jory, of Orange, Calif., will be most remembered in racing circles for his long association with National Sprint Car Hall of Fame driver Rip Williams. The Jory and Williams combo racked up 55 career SCRA feature wins together between 1996 and 2003: 14 in 1996, 13 in 1997, 7 in 1998, 9 in 1999, 4 in 2000, 2 in 2001, 3 in 2002 and 3 in 2003.
In 2004, Jory and Williams made the transition to the newly formed USAC CRA Sprint Car Series where success remained a constant. Five more victories came that year, which culminated in Rip Williams claiming the driving championship and Jory the owner title.
The 2004 season also marked Jory’s lone USAC National Sprint Car feature win, coming on their home “turf” of Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway during a prelim night at the Oval Nationals.
In fact, success was prevalent for the combo at the southern California half-mile dirt oval, winning five total prelim “Ovals” main events in 1996 (twice), and once each in 2001, 2002 and 2004. They claimed their biggest triumph of all, the Oval Nationals finale, in 1997.
A final tally of 65 wins in SCRA and USAC competition came for the pairing of Jory and Rip Williams. However, the winning tradition for Jory continued with a new generation of Williams racers, Rip’s three sons, Austin, Cody and Logan, who stepped into Jory-owned machinery with the USAC CRA Sprint Cars during the past decade.
Austin Williams earned seven more wins of his own for Jory between 2011-18 while Cody Williams added one in 2014. Jory totaled 18 USAC CRA wins in all before the team’s last event, the 2018 Oval Nationals at Perris, where all three of Jory’s cars started the feature, led by Austin Williams who finished 7th.
