[B][I]As I sit here and type this I still am having a hard time believing He is really gone. Jack and I had a special relationship, it was more then friends. We had a passion to do things different than everyone else. Jack would often ask me, and did the last time we were together, what we needed to do to make KARNAC better then it is. After nearly fifteen years I gave him the same answer “Nothing” He gave me that Jack smile and said “I knew you were going to say that, I was just checking”.
You see Jack’s vision of KARNAC was never to make millions of dollars or become popular. It was to build a community like none other. From day one the front page of KARNAC.com has said “Your online Racing Community” and that is what it is. A community of every aspect of racing from the fans in the stands to track owners. At one time or another KARNAC has been there. Try to imagine racing here in the last 15 years without KARNAC, think of the people you would never have met, the races you would not have gone to, the information you never would have gotten if it wasn’t for Jack and KARNAC.
Jack has left us but he will live on in the “Community” he built for us.
I would like to Thank everyone who I have talked to and who texted and e-mailed me today, you all made a very tough day a little easier.
And thank you Jack for letting me be me and for being one of the cornerstones of “Your” community…
if he was in real estate instead of PC estates he would have been the Donald Trump… we have fought, laughed, cried, whined, loved, and sort of hated although i think hate is a rather harsh word for any of us. But we were all brought together thru this media neighborhood…
Jack had odd ways but they always turned out right for some crazy reason. lol
One day he listened to the Beatles, then Dan Toler, then sarah Brightman! he loved art. he loved to read but it had to be a book about something he could learn from. History mostly.
he would call me and tell me about a book he just read and i would wonder where the heck he found the time to read a book!
Jack loved his family… he didnt have alot of patience for anyone who whined without trying. if you couldnt do it then he would help but you better have tried!
he was a rebel! he didnt want to be the same as anyone. he wanted to be Jack. and trust me…that wasnt the same as anyone!!
when i first started going to Karnac, Jack and Rick “used” me! the more hits you got on your site the more $$$$…it got to the point every time jack started a sentence with “i need ya to do something for me” i would say… oh there ya go again using me… he would just laugh… oh boy what they did to me. mostly because i wouldnt let them shut me up. i fought back every opportunity. ive been banned… ive been monitored, ive been thru it all but guess who jack took to every track, invited to every meeting…etc… ME! he trusted me and i didnt let him down. no one on this planet has told me to STFU as much as Jack. but 10 minutes later he would say gotta go…luv ya!
there arent enough bytes on this thing that would allow me to share the wonderful friendship i had with Jack Smith. even when he was a real jerk! i can say that… you cant! i will miss the daily or nightly phone calls. when he traveled to NSS he would wake me up at 1 a.m. so i could keep him awake while he was driving. next day he would yell at me if i woke him up!!! that was Jack. if he got a brain storm at 3 a.m. …guess what?
well there wont be anymore phone calls from Jack but there will be a million memories! Thank you Jack… its been a great time. i will miss you…for awhile…dont forget what you promised last week when you get up there!
carolwicks
Yes, Jack was one of a kind and I don’t think he ever thought about what time it was when he called, he just called. He would give me enough time to get home and my phone would be ringing but that was Jack and I loved him.
I went to Jack first before I ever started Florida Dirt Track News and asked him if I should do it and did he think it would work. Of course his answer was “hell yea” and he gave me the guts to spread my wings and go out on my own. Many times he handed me karnac and said you deal with it because I have had enough and he would do different things that would make him money. We also shared alot of personal things that had nothing to do with karnac and he always loved my dad and wanted to come and see him and just pick his brain for awhile which he never got to do.
Jack could be stubborn, set in his ways, and sometimes unforgiving when he was done wrong, but he always loved his family and his friends and would do anything for them, anything.
Jack, you did good in this life and left us way too soon but I know you are in good hands and that you are looking down on all of us, watching us, loving us. I will see you again my friend and know that you will always be in my heart forever.
Your Forever Friend,
Jane
Real Racin' USA (C) 1997-2023 KARNAC Media LLC, All Rights Reserved
