“It was a Long Journey, and it was a Great Ride”

A life of adventure and passion closes, Woody Harris passes from our world.

 

Builders,

These words were some of the last Woody spoke, when he passed at home with his family by his side. He was a human being of the first order. Measured as a family man, friend, competitor or role model, he captured your respect and admiration on all of these facets of life. His life stood as an indictment of the common belief that high achievement requires mono dimensional focus. Even after decades of knowing him, an hour long car trip would produce stories of adventure not previously heard, lines of thinking not previously contemplated, Ideas to be assessed and experienced. His mind was a river of thoughts that

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I knew him as a mentor and a close friend for 20 years. Initially I was astounded by how much he knew and had done in motorsports, how much of it could be brought directly to bear on Corvair development I was working through. In short order, I understood this was just the tip of the iceberg, and the real lessons, on how a very independent minded man comports himself in a world of conformity and mediocrity, without loosing his inherent lust for life nor his sense of empathy and decency. Looking back, I can not think of a single sentence he uttered nor wrote which I ever questioned the inherent logic nor reason of. He was the kind of friend who was thoughtful enough to never point out he couldn’t offer me the same testimonial in return. He could be a harsh taskmaster when there was something important to be gained if will power and resolve were applied without reservation, but he was also the rare man who could turn that off when the hour for it had passed.

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Many aviators and Corvair builders knew Woody as “My man on the West Coast”, he covered all the events from Copper state to Arlington, when it was not financially possible for me to do so from Florida. When we held west Coast Colleges, Woody did the lion’s share of the organizing and logistics, and worked the events with me. He was more than just tech support, he was emotional support on many tough days, and he always maintained a positive outlook. He had decade is the world of international auto racing, when he counseled “This too shall pass” or “Celebrate today, it’s back to the shop tomorrow, next season started an hour ago”, you knew it all came from personal experience.

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For most of my adult life, I worked to earn the friendship of men older than myself, as they had many things to share, and a lot of wisdom which I would not have discover soon enough on my own. As the years have passed, I have lost most of them, but I have not forgotten what they shared with me. It is the only compensation for the loss of people with lives so rich it’s difficult to accept they are no longer here.

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If you have read my stories for a few years, it should be obvious that I come to terms with the loss of friends by writing about them. In moments of staggering loss, it’s understandable that most people find it very difficult to express how much they cared about the departed, but I have always found some solace in sharing stories of them, and I don’t hesitate to say they I loved them, and was very fortunate to have known them. I have never taken more than a few days to sit at the keyboard, late at night, and find a few words to capture something of their lives. Woody’s passing is a strong exception to this. He passed nearly a month ago, and I have looked at the draft of this nearly every night since, and have not been able to write this. There were plenty of starts, but in a few sentences it came to a halt, I understood there was nothing in my words which was going to capture even a shadow of a very, very bright life. Tonight is no different, I have paused a number of times and stared at the delete key. I finish this only with the admission that I can’t really describe how unique of an individual he was, nor even catalog the was he improved my life simply by being there. I will just say I loved him, I will miss him as long as I’m alive, and as much time as I spent with him it wasn’t enough.

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Above, Woody stands in front of his Corvair 2,850cc powered Zenith 601XL when it was under construction. When the plane was finished, Painted Chrome yellow and British racing Green, Woody flew it all over the western US, an epic 2011 circumnavigation of the country, and several tours through the south. He logged 499.3 hours, I believe his aircraft flew in more states than any other Corvair powered plane. I pretty good achievement for a guy who didn’t take his first flight lesson until he was in his 60’s.

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WW

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