Vale VHRR Life Member Jim "Stumpy" Russell.
- Feb 23
- 3 min read
The VHRR Committee and members mourn the recent loss of VHRR Life Member, Jim "Stumpy" Russell. Jim was a legend of our sport, starting out by competing in a car built by his father Wally in the late 1950s.
Jim's driving standard and ability was apparent from the very start, with the home built Nedloh I (Holden spelt backwards) being very competitive at all the major Victorian circuits and Hillclimbs.
Even more impressive was that this early car had a Grey Holden Taxi Cab engine that had a hole in the side of the block that was patched over! Wally and Jim's ingenuity and hard work paid off, even if the racing budget was not there. Jim would often try to be as competitive as possible in what was Divisional Racing at the time, while trying to take home the most amount of prize money - without being put up into the higher class!
Jim and Wally would then build Nedloh II, which was equally as competitive, however with a few more refinements and a swap of driver positioning, swapping sides of the car. Around this time, Jim met Joyce, who would soon become Joyce Russell. Joyce was Jim's biggest supporter from day dot, and also a very handy driver in her own right, as she would pilot the Lipco Special.
In the mid to late 1960s, the car of choice for Jim was Nedloh III, with a huge change in direction and the engine being placed behind Jim, as was becoming commonplace. Jim would also compete in Endurance races throughout this time in a Mini, with the poor little Mini being fitted with a heavy long range fuel tank that severely hampered its performance!
Later in life, Jim would bring Nedloh II out to compete in Historic Racing, with the formidable combo setting the Fastest time of Day at Mt Tarrengower Hillclimb multiple times. Jim would then purchase and compete in the red Ford Flathead V8 special, which was a replica of Black Bess (1950 AGP winner driven by Doug Whiteford). In this car, Jim would terrorise and beat any International that would come out from the UK in their factory ERA's or Alfa Romeo, not bad for an old Flatty! Jim's accolades in this car are stuff of legend, with him winning a record number of VHRR Club Championships and being an immortal of our club.
Jim felt he could do better, so he then sold the red car and bought the silver 'Testa Piatta' (Flat-Head) which Jim felt would do better due to its quick change style diff and the engine being further back than the red car, however, this was not to be, Jimmy always reckoned the red car handled better!
Jim was a man of the people, well liked, respected, while also being a fair but serious competitor. Jim always was generous, with himself and Joyce being major supporters of the VHRR Junior Programme and always letting younger members go for familiarisation runs up Rob Roy Hillclimb (often at decent speed!) and then also generously allowing a few junior members a drive of his car. The person to park with at race meetings was always Jim, as the folding table (with tablecloth!) coming out and many tubs of 'Joyce's Cakes' being offered to his fellow competitor.
Jim had an incredible nature, which his love for his Family and 3 grandchildren being above no other, even when times got tough. Jim was intrinsic to social events too, with his Wednesday Lunch Group with Ray Sprague, Ray Dean and others being an honour to be invited to at the Quiet Man Irish Pub (complete with Soup of the day and Extra Hot Cappuccino every time!). We will all miss his "G'day Son!" catchphrase and his never-ending supply of flannelette shirts.
The VHRR was lucky to have Jim be the Patron Of The Meeting at our Rob Roy event in May 2025. Once we announced that Jim would be the patron, the amount of entries and support we had from Jim's friends and competitors was absolutely astounding, and showed the great respect that everyone has for him.
We would like to pass on our love and support to the Russell family: Joyce, Ben, Megan, Liam, Mae and Molly.
