Some thoughts about the passing of somebody I knew… Jerry Nell, Jaguar Driver.

Note: If you knew Jerry, please add to this memoriam by commenting. Feel free to share your “Jerry Stories” too. If you don’t want to login or create an account here send me an email “cg at goolsbee dot org” and I’ll add it in for you. I know a lot of folks in the Jaguar community and GTTSR “family” knew Jerry far better than I and can do a better job at memorializing him.

I always have a hard time explaining to people what I do for a living. It is an esoteric industry that has existed only for the past 15 years. When people ask I say “we operate an Internet server colocation facility”… and they look at me with a blank stare. In my more flippant moments, I say “We transform electricity into bits, on a very large scale“… only real computer geeks get that joke. But if you were to compare the Internet to a big old Ocean Liner of old, I’m basically one of those poor saps way down in the bowels of the big elegant beast shoveling coal into the boilers. I’m only saying this as an introduction because I was deep into the activity of coal shoveling yesterday when Shaun Redmond interrupted me to suggest I write this post. I was in the datacenter, taking measurements on some high-voltage equipment as part of a large-scale assessment project I am working on; I logged into AIM on the DC Admin workstation, literally just to call for one of our staff to come into the datacenter to be with my when I re-installed a panel cover (since there was a slight risk of electrocution, this sort of thing should always be done in pairs for safety reasons… in other words if suddenly I started getting cooked by a full 480V three-phase contact they could knock me off the gear with a fiberglass ladder… not really to save me, so much as to maintain uptime for the connected servers… again a joke that I bet only a few people get… ) Anyway Shaun popped up on AIM and said to me: “I know what you should do… write a tribute to Jerry Nell on your blog.”

I had passed the news to Shaun earlier, that I had heard through Jag-Lovers that Jerry had lost his battle with cancer and passed away earlier this week. Shaun was my traveling companion for last year’s Going To The Sun Rally. Shaun had no idea how busy I was at that moment, nor how distracting it was for him to be making suggestions for what I do in my spare time. But, here it is at 5 AM the next morning and I woke up to realize Shaun was right, I should write something about Jerry. I can’t really write a “tribute” to Jerry Nell, as I did not know him well enough to do that justice… I only spent a few moments over two weeks of his life with him. However, those moments stand in stark contrast to everything I’ve said above… those moments were in the context of a passion that Jerry and I both shared: driving old Jaguars. I have no idea what Jerry did for a living. (And he looked at me with a blank stare when I told him what I did for a living!) As much as we define ourselves by what we do, in a lot of ways it is irrelevant… we should be remembered for what we loved to do. Jerry obviously loved Jaguars, and loved to drive them. He was the sort of guy who loved to pull your leg, and press his – down on the accelerator.

Jerry always reminded me that I was there to have fun. Last year Shaun & I pulled in a little late to the the GTTSR’s “welcome” in Helena. Shaun and I had just driven the E-type for two days to get to the rally (“I don’t trailer cars, I DRIVE them!”) and both the Jaguar & I were hot, dirty, bug-splattered, and tired. Shaun was checking us into the hotel and I was under the Jaguar’s bonnet trying to sort out some fiddly little issue. Jerry was sitting on a bench just across the way from me, enjoying a smoke break on a nice late summers’ eve. I hadn’t even noticed him since I was focused on the car. He said something very Jerry-like such as: “Hey kid, get your head out from under that bonnet and get inside and socialize with everyone else!” Any other “car guy” would have asked what I was doing or how the car was running, but not Jerry. He was reminding me of what was important. The car obviously got me there from a thousand miles away… whatever was the issue, it could wait. Jerry was right of course. The car was fine, I needed a beer. 🙂

I looked through all my photos from the two GTTSR’s I shared with Jerry Nell, looking to see if I had any photos of him to put here. I only found a couple of shots where he was easily spotted. I don’t usually take pictures of people… I prefer to shoot cars. However I did find this shot from the The Lodge at Whitefish Lake, taken at the end of the first day of the 2007 GTTSR. At first I thought it wasn’t very good; it is shot into the sun, it is grainy, and the composition and lighting don’t really show Jerry that well.

But now that I have looked at it for a while I realize it actually captures Jerry’s essence perfectly! I don’t recall the circumstances that lead up to this moment but looking at it I can imagine it. Jerry is on the right, on the far left is his wife Kathy, and in the foreground with her back to us is Francoise Reyns. It appears as if both Kathy & Francoise are laughing… Kathy is even hiding her face in embarrassment. Jerry looks calm however… as if he’s just delivered some outrageous comment and now is letting it lie there and sink into his audience. If you knew Jerry, you know that scenario is quite likely correct.

The best “Jerry Story” I have was from the last day of the 2007 GTTSR. This was the magical morning I spent with Philippe Reyns in his Jaguar XKSS. he invited me for a ride, which I leapt at the chance to accept. Francoise rode with Shaun in the 65E, I hope enjoying the relative comfort, peace and quiet compared to the raucous and outrageous XKSS. Jerry & Kathy had brought their XKSS as well, but on the second day, it suffered what the rally mechanics thought was a blown head gasket. Despite their heroic efforts, including an all-nighter and trailer-run to Calgary, they could not get it running again. I do not recall the final diagnosis, but the engine required a rebuild. Making the best of a bad situation Jerry rented a car, and he and Kathy stuck with the rally. That was a tribute to Jerry’s optimism and sense of fun. Most other folks would just bail out, but Jerry was there to enjoy himself, and stuck to the plan.

On this last day I was making the most of my time in the Reyns’ XKSS. To me it was a magical experience, and I was conflicted between just sitting there and soaking it all in, and properly documenting it with some photography. Photography for me is a passion – It is the only way I can tap into that creative streak that I spent half my life dedicated to, but abandoned as life and family pressed me into more financially stable pursuits. When I compose photos, I have to concentrate on the task. So there I was, concentrating on taking the perfect shot of the XKSS’ curvaceous bonnet, and to my left appears a car passing us! It shakes me from my focus. First of all, the XKSS is FAST, and Philippe is a veteran race car driver… nothing has passed us yet! In fact we’ve passed everything in sight… so what on earth could posses this Subaru Forester of all things to pass this rare and treasured machine?

Jerry Nell of course!

As the Subaru settled back into the lane, a car length or so off the nose of the Jaguar, Philippe and I leaned our heads close together to speak (the only way you can communicate amid the outrageous mechanical clamor that is a Jaguar XKSS at speed!) and we simultaneously said only one word:

“Jerry!”

We both smiled, as it was a truly comical moment.

Jerry had ruined my photography session, since you can’t really compose a beautiful shot of an XKSS bonnet with a Subaru Forester as your background! But for this I owe Jerry a debt of gratitude, because for those minutes that Jerry’s rental Subaru prevented me from composing photos I was able to turn off my desire to shoot and its required need for concentration, and really focus on the experience of being there in that amazing car. To close my eyes and listen. To feel the tingling in my spine in resonance to the exhaust note. To soak it all in. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and much like his reminder to me a few nights before to quit worrying about the E-type and go have a beer, Jerry was instrumental in reminding me of that – allowing me to imprint this experience in my memory. Thanks Jerry.

Not long after the GTTSR ended I received an email from the Reyns’ telling me about Jerry’s diagnosis. The outlook was not good and honestly we knew we’d lose him soon. I can not imagine what these past months were like for Jerry & Kathy. I spoke to Francoise Reyns the day I heard that Jerry had passed away. She said that she & Philippe are going to Jerry’s funeral. I told her to extend my condolences. I don’t have much more to say, but I do have a selection of photos of the two Jaguars that Jerry & Kathy brought to Montana for the 2006 & 2007 GTTSR. I’ll miss seeing him and what car he’d bring next at this year’s rally.

What a great guy. Good bye Jerry.

Above: The two XKSS’ together on the road. When I showed this to Jerry he said ‘I was never that close to Philippe!’ which is true… I edited the photo to put the cars closer together. He chuckled at that and slapped me on the back.

Good bye Jerry.