 |
| Photo from his web site. |
Jim ”Jet” Neilson
I met Jim at Signature Bistro in Seabrook, Texas. It is a
small intimate bar and has become one of mine and Marsene’s favorite places to
go have a drink and relax. The restaurant was very crowded this evening and
there was only one seat left at the bar. Afraid that Marsene would not have a
place to sit I took it. Jim was setting right next to me and I simply
introduced myself.
"Hi, I’m Matt Henson."
“Well Hello Matt, my name is Jim Jet.”
From there the conversation just took off. Jim is a very
friendly and engaging person. He came to Seabrook to sell his 41’ sail boat
and his brokerage firm of Flagship Yachts of Texas brought him to the bar for a bit of
entertainment.
“Why are you selling your boat?”
“Well I need the money to finish building my new jet car.”
“Excuse me.”
“A jet car. I race for a living and I hold 4 urban world land
speed records and I working of my 5th. I am presently working with the Columbian
government to build a car that will set a new land speed record. I set the record so I will be in effect beating my own records. Then I plan on doing it again in Panama.”
Now that is not something you hear in normal conversations
and yes I was skeptical but here is his web site. You can check it out for
yourself. Marsene now has entered the
bar and there is still no other seat available and she is hungry anyway so we
excuse ourselves and head over to the restaurant side, But before I leave I get
his contact information so I can interview him for my blog because he is truly
interesting and friendly.
We meet the next day on his Sail boat which by the way is absolutely gorgeous. Here is his sale listing if your interested i assure you it is has been well maintained.
“So what would make a person feel the need to strap himself
to a jet engine and fly down the road at breakneck speeds?”
“I blame it on my Mom. I think she dropped me on my head and
it’s been downhill ever since.” He says laughing. “When I was 5 first she put me in a quarter
midget that some friends had in a parking lot push started it and I shot through the hay bails barrier and across
the Van Nuys boulevard at full speed during Sunday morning trafficand wrecked on the center medium. Scared my mom to death. I’ve been hooked to speed ever
since. It’s like a drug.”
“How many times have you crashed?”
I had one really bad crash in 1984. Crashed at around 260. I
broke a vertebrae in my neck, broke my leg in 5 places cracked all my ribs, I
was banged up pretty bad. Lucky to be alive.
Then in 1985 on my birthday I had the” Joan Jett and the Black Hearts”
funny car. I burnt that car down to the ground in Salt Lake City. I left the track
and hit some electrical poles, I had live wires all around me and the safety
crew could not get to me and the car was burning all around me. I thought “you
done it now Jim.” I really thought I was going to die but somehow only god knows how, I lived.
“But you keep doing it?”
“Well people keep getting remarried.” he laughs “ It’s.. You
know,…. It’s in my blood, I’m addicted to it. I thought I was out of it, but
now I’m being pulled back in. I seem to be drawn to Columbia and feel it is
something that I am led to do. It seems
that I have a life changing event every 7 years. But you know…It’s what I
know.. So what else am I going to do. It’s going to be a big event with paratroopers
and worldwide media coverage.”
“So how do you handle all the notoriety?”
“I love it. I’m not a shy person so.. You know people love what I do. They scream
and yell and I guess wonder what it must feel like to scream down the track.”
That is so true isn’t it? We all get to imagine his feelings
and get a since of excitement even though we are just sitting on the sidelines
and watching. We live vicariously through
them while they take all the risk.
Somehow we get caught up in the excitement of their quests. I know I
will be setting in my easy chair, in front of the TV drinking a beer and watching
as he explodes down the track at breakneck speed yelling… GO!! GO!! GO!!
Then wait with great anticipation for the speed to announced, and the record shattered,
stand up and yell YES!!! WE DID IT!! Then
fall back into my easy chair, exhausted, adrenalin pulsing through my veins
with a feeling of great accomplishment
I’ve met several celebrities in my life time and I’m always struck
at how normal and friendly they are. We all think that they are somehow
different than us. That they are some kind of god, but they are just normal
people. The only difference is that they seem to possess is a belief in themselves
that lets them face their fears head on. We all benefit from their brave experiments of
pushing the human experience and we are all empowered by their achievements. So open yourself up to them and just
introduce yourself, you will find a great but normal person and who knows if your lucky maybe a great friend.
