When he was 21, he bought an Elva Courier[1] for $200 that had been totaled, spent a year and a half putting it back together, and began racing at Daytona Beach in 1963.
Jim Downing has been credited as the first to identify the problems associated with a restrained torso and an unrestrained head in sudden deceleration impacts, following the 1981 death of Patrick Jacquemart at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course during the Red Roof Inns 200 IMSA GT Championship event in May 1981.
With the problem identified, Downing turned to his brother-in-law, Dr. Robert Hubbard, a bio mechanical crash engineer for General Motors, to help him design a Head And Neck Support system that would eliminate or protect against these types of injuries.
Working together, their goal was to create a device that would reduce the chance of a serious injury caused by the violent movement of the unrestrained head and helmet during a crash.
2002 Phil Hill Award 2008 Bob Akin Memorial Motorsports Award 2012 Sebring Hall of Fame Inductee 2014 SCCA Hall of Fame Inductee Internet Source: Road Racing Drivers Club Internet Source: Mulsanne's Corner: An Interview With Jim Downing RRDC Press Release, dated February 4, 2008: Motorsport.com Archived 2011-06-07 at the Wayback Machine