NASCAR Loses a Legend!

On Wednesday NASCAR lost one of its best crew chiefs of all time. J.C. Elder, better known as “Suitcase Jake,” lost his life after complications of a stroke in 2006. He was 73 years old.

Nicknamed "Suitcase Jake" for having many jobs in and around NASCAR, Jake Elder was considered one of the best crew chiefs of all time. "Jake was old-old school. He worked for soooo many teams. But he was the guy you would call when you needed some help. If your old car wasn't running right, and you were confused, you'd want to call Jake and say, ‘Hey, can you come bail me out?' And he could help you fix it. I called him once, when my car wasn't running right, and asked, ‘Jake, can you come over and crew chief this car for me?' And he said, ‘All right, just one race.' And he came over with his tool box -- which was filled with so much doggone prehistoric stuff that it was unreal. He had the string out, and the levels, and said, ‘You do this and this.…' And I took it to Charlotte and had my best run ever," said Rusty Wallace 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion.

Mike Joy Said "Jake Elder has forgotten more about racing then most crew chiefs have ever learned. He's the one guy in the garage area  who could put just about any decent driver on the pole. He's that good of a chassis man and he's proven it time and time again. Every time he packs up a suitcase and moves he makes a contender out of somebody."

NASCAR writer Steve Waid, wrote an article about Elder in 2008 and said  “ perhaps there was never shade tree mechanic in stock car racing” and “perhaps there was never a keener observer or a nurturer of raw talent.”

Suitcase Jake Elder started his career in NASCAR in the late 1950's when he worked for Petty Enterprises as a fabricator. From that point on he went on to work for some of the best drivers in NASCAR history, including David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Fred Lorenzen and Benny Parsons.

Elder worked for Holman-Moody with driver David Pearson. Under Elder Pearson won 27 races and the 1968 and 1969 Grand National (Sprint Cup) Championships. Also he led Mario Andretti to victory in the 1967 Daytona 500.

After Holman Moody Elder moved to work with a young driver from Kentucky, a young driver named Darrell Waltrip. Elder’s expirence is exactly what the youngster from Kentucky needed. Although Waltrip’s cockiness and Elder’s personality didn’t mix that well but results came and Waltrip learned a lot from the veteran.

From Waltrip Elder moved on to Ron Osterlund’s No. 2 chevrolet. It was there that “Suitcase Jake” would meet another up and coming star. Dale Earnhardt and Jake Elder mixed well and under Elder’s guidance Earnhardt picked up his first win at Bristol in 1979. It was with Earnhardt that Elder uttered perhaps his most famous line “Stick with me kid and you will have diamonds a big as horse turds.”  Earnhardt would win the 1979 Rookie of The Year title and all looked great for 1980. However, 18 races in, Elder was gone. Conflicts with Osterlund forced Jake Elder to move yet again and leaving Earnhardt with Doug Richert.

After that Elder worked for many teams bouncing around more than a pin ball. Elder said “I have a problem getting people to understand how I want things done, Usually, I can get it done myself quicker than I can explain to them how I want it done.”
 He left NASCAR in the mid 1990’s and then lost his wife Debbie to cancer. In 2006, Elder suffered a stroke that landed him in a nursing home.

Nearly four years after the stroke Elder is gone. His life may be but the legacy he left on the sport of NASCAR will live on forever.