Jim Paoli, the 1970 and 1971 NHRA Division 3 Top Fuel champion and later Funny

Car racer, died April 3. 

Paoli, who was based out

of Springfield, Ill., was runner-up to Dave Chenevert in the Top Fuel final of

the inaugural Gatornationals in 1970 in his lone national event final-round

appearance.

Jim Paoli, the 1970 and 1971 NHRA Division 3 Top Fuel champion and later Funny

Car racer, died April 3. 

Paoli, who was based out

of Springfield, Ill., was runner-up to Dave Chenevert in the Top Fuel final of

the inaugural Gatornationals in 1970 in his lone national event final-round

appearance.

In addition to his divisional titles in 1970 and ’71, Paoli

also won NHRA’s Eastern Conference championship in 1970 and the UDRA

championship in 1971.

In 1972, Paoli fielded a Vega-bodied Funny Car,

known, like his Top Fuel rides, as Yankee Packrat, with which he won an IHRA

national event in 1972. After his father became ill, Paoli retired from driving

after the 1973 season, ending a short but respectable career.