by Dana Rowe
You remember Hawk . . . Jim Hawkins: red number 49 Sport truck from a few seasons back. He made just about every race, but had no wins. He also raced dirt sprinters up in New Hampshire. He raced the physically grueling Iron Mans – triathlons – and marathons. He has a lotta finishes in those races, but no wins.
Well, Hawk retired from teaching math at Attleboro High School and found himself with a bit of spare time and decided to try his hand at a new kind of race: when Paul Heroux was elected Mayor of Attleboro, the state representative seat he held became vacant. Jim jumped into the race for the position. It was actually two races: a primary to win the chance to compete as a Democratic candidate and the final election against Republican city councilor Julie Hall. This time, The Hawk won a race: in fact, he won both races.
Not exactly with the breakneck speed involved at Seekonk; and, you can race for the legislature without all the punishing physical practice needed for triathlons. But it does take all the strategy and decision-making required to outwit a field of drivers enroute to the checkered flag or to complete the grueling triple events in an iron man. Jim had plenty of knowledge to back him up from his master’s degree, and all the skills he needed to be a teacher.
Jim had been a businessman in his early career. He ran a garage – Hawkins Arco, located at the junction of routes U. S. 6 and Mass. Route 136 in Swansea. Just a couple miles east of The Speedway – a location now held down by a Dunkin Donuts. He then became general manager for an auto parts chain named Daniels Automotive of Needham. There were four stores.
Hawk also became a fanatic runner, starting at age 40. Instead or running 10K local races, he went all the way to triathlons: three events in one. Begin with a lengthy open-water swim, then a bicycle race of about 100 miles, then polished off with a 26-mile Marathon. “I got my MBA and started doing triathlons the same year,” he says.
Five years in, he had to step away from triathlons to fight a battle against cancer – one which he won. Then, when he was 50, he got certified to teach and, at the same time, began doing the Iron Mans again.
Jim was quite persistent at running and triathlons: there are a couple dozen medals from the triathlons and marathons he’s run adorning his trophy wall next to the two, identical custom bikes he uses to train and compete on. “They have to be identical,” says Jim. You can’t train all those miles and then hop onto a different bike and expect the same results.
And in 2007, he married Gretchen, the love of his life – right at the finish line of the Lake Placid Ironman.
In 2009, Jim got hit by a car while doing some bicycle training. “The driver turned across the street to go into a driveway and I got broadsided.” Again, he had to set running aside.
However, as a fierce competitor, he needed something to do in his time off from teaching Math at Attleboro High School. So he started auto racing. He picked up a 600 mini sprint and began running in the dirt at Legion Speedway in Rumney, NH. It was a three-and-a-half hour drive each way.
He decided to get a truck and compete at nearby Seekonk Speedway. Mike Ronhock was selling one (Mike’s earlier Number 5) which was a 4-cylinder, steel-bodied model. Hawk began competing. The next year, he put an aluminum body on it and got a motor from LC Engineering, who built off-road, Baja-style racing motors.
Then, he bought Jody Tripp’s ride. “It was a fast truck,” says Jim, but he was moving ahead and bought a new, Lee Hayes-built fiberglass bodied truck which became his number 49. “Everybody wanted it (the Tripp ride), so I sold it. Bob Andreozzi bought it, eventually. I think it finally went to Rob Murphy.”
Hawk seems to be a collector as he also came up with the 48 truck, which he got from Dave Haywood and is now in the hands of Rick Albernaz, both occasional racers. “I, on the other hand,” says Jim, “would never miss a week. That’s why I got a top 10 a couple of years, because I wouldn’t miss a week.” He shakes his head: “It’s a fair amount of work just to be there.”
Jim aways had some help, especially coming from Radical Rick Martin. Albernaz and Haywood added more assistance. But Rick was sidelined a year with health problems and others couldn’t make it, so Hawk was on his own. “When Rick was sick, that was 2013. So I had to do my own maintenance but I really had nobody to do the setup and I could keep it reliable but I lost some of the edge for speed. Dave Haywood and Rick Albernaz have always been loyal helpers.”
The following year, he sent the truck to Martin for a complete rebuild. Now he had a fast piece of work, but in the off-season, the rules changed: coil springs were now allowed. His fast truck had the disadvantage of leaf springs
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“So, I didn’t come back,” he says. But the red 49 didn’t languish. When Mike Cavallaro suffered a catastrophic wreck, three years ago, they scrubbed the 49 off the doors, put Mike’s 80 on the side and used it while he rebuilt his own. That truck is now being campaigned by hotshoe Josh Hedges. You might notice the Re-Elect Hawkins for Representative sign circling the track this summer on Josh’s truck. Interesting thing about auto racing and electioneering: they enjoy the same season – mostly spring, summer and fall.
He has followed many pursuits and that suits him just fine: “I like change,” he says. And now, he gets to foment some change from the State House in Boston. He was elected in April and this makes his third month on the job after being sworn in by House Speaker DeLeo and Governor Baker. Jim needed the speed he learned at Seekonk and the duration he gained from being a triathlete to capture the seat. He thought about making the run in November, rejected it, then decided to go for it in December of 2017. He plunged in like he would the swimming leg of an Iron Man and took out nomination papers.
“I know a little bit about politics because I was a lobbyist for the Massachusetts Teachers Association,” says Jim. “I started knocking on doors at the beginning of December. At 10 below zero, I was still knocking on doors every day.” His efforts got him a win against two candidates in the primary. One opponent, who had done the best against him, gave him an endorsement and then went out knocking on doors for him. (continued)