Saying Goodbye to Gearloose

There have been racers through the years that have never even known "Gearloose's" real name. His proper name is Gerlof Palfenier but he went by Jerry. Well let me clarify that. He actually went by "Gearloose", at least in the slot car world. Even when my phone would ring, the first thing I would hear when I would answer was "this is Gearloose". I think he really liked that nickname! I heard two different versions of where that nickname came from. When I asked Jerry about it he told me: "I guess my gears were just loose a lot". But the version I like best was told by Bob McFarland who said one of the racer's young daughters was keeping score and asked Jerry what his proper name was. Jerry replied "Gerlof Palfenier". She replied saying that was too hard so she was just going to call him "Gearloose". Needless to say the nickname stuck, and Jerry wore it with pride!

Jerry was one of the three people instrumental in developing the slot car racing scene in the Portland area as well as the entire state of Oregon. Starting with the formation of the PASER club in Portland, and eventually helping to develope the inter-club sanctioning body of OSCAR, Jerry helped racing grow throughout Oregon. Although Jerry had given up the travel schedule of his racing, he was a constant at the local club tracks right up into his 80's! Even in his mid 80's he was a contender and front runner in any race. In adition to his racing skill and abilty to build first class competitive chassis, in many races he would win the concourse competition! Gearloose built beautiful cars with perfectly executed fantastic paint schemes. He was a world class slot car builder for sure!

We are all going to miss Gearloose a lot! He was always front and center in the action, whether it was in conversation or on the track. From nerf to nap time Gearloose was the best!