19 replies to this topic

[retriever]

The loss of Justin Wilson yesterday (Monday 24th August) is terribly sad news. My thoughts are with his family and friends.

[cpbell]

Indeed.  It's strange to note that, though British drivers in the US had success in the 1960s and 2000s, the 2010s are proving to be a hideous decade with the losses of Dan Wheldon and Justin Wilson and the career-accident crash for Franchitti.

[jonpollak]

Please take the time to donate via PayPal to WilsonChildrensFund

Thank You.

Jp

[Blue16]

To emphasise Jonpollack's words chaps, and sorry for sounding like Bob Geldof, but it would be good to contribute here.

Some of you will already know this, so sorry for preaching to the converted, but JW did not earn as much as you'd think in his career and it's not a given that his kids will be well looked after financially. Whilst I don't profess to know what financial security is in place, I do know from my time as a shareholder of Justin Wilson Plc and seeing the year end accounts each year, Justin spent the first ten years of his "paid" career from 2003 putting the vast majority of his racing income back into the investors' fund pot. He took a very nominal salary from year one onwards of the ten year plan, index linked initially each year to do no more than keep pace with inflation.

In short, he will not have earned anywhere remotely near to what one would have expected in this time compared to his competitors. Only in 2012, at the end of the shareholder agreement, when free from having to try and pay us lot back did he start to enjoy the salary one would expect.

So, yes, please cough up whatever you can to help the family - however small.

Sorry to bang on but I'm not sure everyone knows the above and I wanted to share it.

I'll shut up now.

[cpbell]

To emphasise Jonpollack's words chaps, and sorry for sounding like Bob Geldof, but it would be good to contribute here.

Some of you will already know this, so sorry for preaching to the converted, but JW did not earn as much as you'd think in his career and it's not a given that his kids will be well looked after financially. Whilst I don't profess to know what financial security is in place, I do know from my time as a shareholder of Justin Wilson Plc and seeing the year end accounts each year, Justin spent the first ten years of his "paid" career from 2003 putting the vast majority of his racing income back into the investors' fund pot. He took a very nominal salary from year one onwards of the ten year plan, index linked initially each year to do no more than keep pace with inflation.

In short, he will not have earned anywhere remotely near to what one would have expected in this time compared to his competitors. Only in 2012, at the end of the shareholder agreement, when free from having to try and pay us lot back did he start to enjoy the salary one would expect.

So, yes, please cough up whatever you can to help the family - however small.

Sorry to bang on but I'm not sure everyone knows the above and I wanted to share it.

I'll shut up now.

 

Donation sent.

[Vitesse2]

 Justin Wilson 1978-2015

While I realise that some here retain little or no interest in current racing, I've made this thread a temporary sticky in order to bring it to as many people's attention as possible. Justin Wilson was that rare combination - a racer's racer and a fan's racer - and while he wasn't massively successful he was one of those drivers who could and would have done better, given the right breaks. In a supreme irony - like the late Dan Wheldon and Jo Bonnier - he was in the forefront of driver safety, yet died in a racing car. In Justin's case, it was an incident eerily similar to the one which claimed the life of Henry Surtees - a freak accident when he was hit by the debris from someone else's crash. I can't begin to imagine how Sage Karam must feel, since it was the nosecone of his car which was responsible.

 

In some ways, Justin was an old-fashioned racing driver - the sort who, had he been born twenty or thirty years earlier, would have trailed around Europe with a two-year-old F3 car on an old Commer flatbed or in the back of an old bus, subsisting on cheese sarnies and starting money. He lived, slept, ate and drank motor racing and as Blue16's post mentioned he came up with the extraordinarily innovative idea of selling shares in his future. On top of that he was an extraordinarily nice bloke.

 

Yet, out of tragedy, there is also sometimes hope. Justin had left instructions that in the event of his death his organs could be used to help others. Six people have now been given new hope and a second chance at life thanks to Justin Wilson.

 

So, if you can, please consider making a donation to Justin's family via the link in Jon's post - no matter how small. Every little helps. You don't even need a Paypal account - just a debit or credit card, either of which can be used to donate via Paypal. Donations on the page are in US dollars, but the amount will be debited by Paypal from your account in your own currency.

 

Not bad for a lad from Sheffield:

 

[Vitesse2]

Damien Smith on Justin Wilson before America

[retriever]

I appreciate very much our moderator's action in adapting my original forum topic into this special appeal to TNFers to give financial support to Justin Wilson's children. His posting above reveals just why he has acted in this way

 

I have made a contribution via the link on this topic Wilsonschildrensfund (you can click through to it via posting no 3 above). I sincerely hope more TNFers respond also.

 

I also hope that the Daily Telegraph will recognises him and eventually publish a proper obituary.

[jonpollak]

The funeral of Justin Wilson will take place on Thursday 10 September at 11.45 at St James the Great Church, High Street, Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, NN12 7NA and afterwards in Hall 5, The Wing, Silverstone Circuit, NN12 8TN.

 

All are welcome if you RSVP.

 

http://justinwilson....-wilson-family/

 

Jp

[Vitesse2]

On September 14th, eBay will commence a special charity auction in aid of the Wilson Children's Fund, organised by Graham Rahal:

 

"There will be items up for auction you simply cannot buy or get access to anywhere else. We have Formula 1 world champions and race winners competing this weekend in Monza who've reached out and committed incredible items for the auction. Helmets, race suits, you name it. We have the biggest names in NASCAR who are donating personal items. We've had the same from drivers and teams in IMSA, the WEC, the NHRA, the V8 Supercars in Australia, and so many others who want to contribute really amazing items so fans can bid and help Justin's family."

http://www.racer.com...tember-14-start

[E1pix]

I wrote a letter to a somewhat troubled young friend tonight, edited for context here.

 

We view each other as relatives, and hope others find it appropriate...

 

 

"Dear Jake:

You now have almost nine months to plan renting a cheap car to join us for the 100th Indy 500 next May. Tickets are under $100, and camping is very reasonable as well. If we can help make that happen for you, we will, and hope to put together a group of longtime friends to join us. Some, if not most, will be former and/or current racers, so you'll be surrounded by positively amazing people... and of course, lots of accompaniments.

I have two longtime friends from a former race shop in Englewood -- all of us working for the best mentor anyone could ever ask for, and whom we lost early this year -- plus three professional acquaintances, and all five later worked for a former Colorado-based Indy Car team named RuSport. We lost a fabulous British driver named Justin Wilson 12 days ago, and if there's anything to learn there it's we all have reasons to put things off until "later." Money is worth absolutely nothing compared to 'later' never happening -- which is the case all too often.

Justin was a wonderful guy who recognized what a lucky bloke he was to be able live his dream. He was all about resourcefulness and dignity, and got to race in the pinnacles of racing -- Formula One Grand Prix, and then Indy cars -- by being creative, and then honorable. He raised money for F1 by asking investors to send funds, then took a very small salary by F1 standards to pay everyone back. If I'm correct, he raised a surplus beyond what the drive was to cost, so paid a bonus to all the investors while keeping none of that surplus for himself.

 

To a person, everyone who knew him loved and respected him beyond words, my regret now is I didn't take the time to know him better when I had every opportunity to. Sadly my chances to hang with Justin came shortly after Xxxxx's (my wife's) stroke, so my priorities were for her -- as they well needed to be. But when he saw us again at a Grand-Am race in Utah, and I reminded him of our association with RuSport members, he welcomed us as old friends.

Justin was 37, and leaves behind a wife and two little girls living near Longmont. Despite their massive loss, I can only hope they grow to better know their father through his deep history of love and honor. Fittingly, the racing community is now banding together to help finance a less-painful future for his wife and kids. 

We are homeless and mostly broke as you know, but will send the family what we can -- if not as often as we can. Broke still trumps broken, as Justin's family now surely is, and racing is full of people who will do exactly the same.

 

Perhaps ironically we are now visiting a former professional driver, a childhood Hero since I was 12 and a great friend since 14 -- and he is treating us like gold at a time we really need it. Passion is everything in this circle, and I wonder if my still wanting to live my racing dreams is more about the circle than the driving itself.

It does suck that the nicest people seem to bear the greatest losses, and maybe there's a grand plan there... but hopefully their lives will be nurtured by a legacy few can touch. That is our hope for Justin's family.

I am unsure of the exact point I'm making, beyond living while you are alive. None of us knows if we have any time left.


Love and Kisses from Uncle Eric and Aunt Xxxxx.

And RIP, Mr. Wilson."   

[jonpollak]

Lovely Eric thanks. Now... Have a look at these items up for auction on Monday. http://www.racer.com...g-monday-launch

[E1pix]

You're welcome, but all Thanks back to you, Bud!

Hoping to put my entire Print Folio on their site -- but it's still months away from completion.

[Vitesse2]

The Justin Wilson Children's Fund auctions have now been completed:

 

A total of 509 different items were sold to raise a total of $546,967.49. The auction also generated significant and active bidding interest, with some 13,000 different bids. Additionally, private auctions of the helmets of Graham Rahal and Wilson teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay, as well as a private auction facilitated by Will Buxton, moved the total amount raised to $637,067.94.

[E1pix]

Fantastic!!! 

[retriever]

I also have just read the email sent to me by the Justin Wilson Children's Fund. What a great amount to have been raised for his children.

 

We must thank Vitesse2 in his efforts to bring to our notice via his special Justin Wilson topic the existence of the Fund.  I sincerely hope it was successful in motivating members of this Forum to donate.

[JacnGille]

Great news

[Vitesse2]

Good to see that the BBC remembered Justin - and Jules - during SPOTY tonight.

[Vitesse2]

Just over a year on from Justin's death, an extraordinarily generous gesture by a driver with real class, after his dominant win at Watkins Glen yesterday.

 

Scott Dixon donates prize money to Wilson Children’s Fund

 

One of the good guys!

[E1pix]

Awesome, way to go, Scott!!!