For the record, this is the part of the job that I hate. Just heard that John Williams lost his battle with cancer.
Who was John Williams? Go back to any of our Z-car editorial from the '90s and '00s and you'll find him. Why him? Because he was the fastest 240Z driver of the day. He also helped with our Classic Motorsports 240Z project.
On a personal note, my first job out of college was a sports car place in Atlanta called Automod. This was 1992. John would buy some Z-car bits from us. When I mentioned that I had just started autocrossing and would love to try some sticky tires, John stopped by and gave me his takeoffs. Yeah, they were old and tired and kinda rubbed my strut tubes, but I had my first sticky tires.
Wow he looks young. 
My condolences and prayers for him and his family.
Yeah, John was too young to go. I'm now near a scanner, so some photos.
For several years he ran a red, white and blue 240Z in Improved Touring S. Later he had a black one. If I remember correctly, he drove a white Z with triple Webers on the street.
Back in the day John also had a super-sweet horseshoe mustache. This is from the 1994 American Road Race of Champions. Pretty sure he beat Nick Crawford to win Improved Touring S that year. (And, yes, that's Tim on the right.)
JFX001
UberDork
12/10/14 5:26 p.m.
My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
From one Z racer to another- see Ya around buddy!
Great guy. That tennis ball green is my favorite z car color.
Sad news, but thanks for sharing. I was running an American Sedan Mustang in SEDIV in the early 90's and ended up grouped with ITS most of the time. That was one fast Z with one smooth fast driver.
Sad indeed. I was lucky enough to watch a few of his races, and he was one of the fastest drivers at a time when ITS was full of super fast drivers. I watched him, and I believe Chet Whittle (sp?) put on a hell of show lap after lap at the ARRC one year.
My thoughts and prayers to his family....
John was a great guy and Z car enthusiast. He will be sorely missed...thoughts and prayers to his wife and family.
bobpink
New Reader
12/11/14 9:16 a.m.
I was first "introduced" to John Williams at the 1993 IMSA race weekend at Road Atlanta where he and perennial rival, Paul Reckert, Jr., were going at it hammer and tongs during the featured ProIT race. As they continued to do for the next couple of years racing each other. In 1994 I started writing articles about the Z car racers for the Georgia Z Club newsletter and started to get to know the drivers. John was the most difficult to get to know and was standoffish for about a year. Once we got past that, he was a great and generous friend over the years. From sharing racing exploits to being a neighbor where we spent many an evening out partying. John was generous, kind and great fun. As a result he touched many lives along the way and left a good many of us with great memories. While we had an idea his battle with cancer was likely going to end this way, it is still a sad day as we go forward. RIP John and we'll miss you.
Awesome pics, Bob. Thanks for sharing.
Very sad - John was a great guy and willing to help anyone anytime. Big loss on z-car knowledge especially on race car set-up.
Wow, sad news. I haven't talked to him in years, but I had the pleasure of working with him as an apprentice a few days a week for about a year. In Oct. '06 I bought my first Z car from a guy in Athens, GA--a beat up '77 280 converted to early 240 carbs. I was in tech school at Gwinnett Tech at the time, just getting into mechanic work. Ian, the PO of my Z and a Panoz fabricator, put me in touch with John--I think they had worked together at Road Atlanta or something. Anyway, I contacted him, he said he could use some help, and he let me work Mondays and Tuesdays with him in his little shop behind Balanced Performance in Sugar Hill. I got to work on his race car, some awesome mint early Z's that a local collector owned, and even the Classic Motorsports Z, along with lots of other cool stuff! I helped John install the 5 SPD trans swap in the CM car, and I had the pleasure of eating lunch one day with John and Tim Suddard, who had come up to bring John the Z. His white DD 240 had a built motor and was probably faster than plenty of full on race cars! The dude could tune an SU carb in his sleep, and if you pulled a random bolt out of a pile of bolts he could tell you exactly where it went on a 240Z. He even gave me a pair of tires once just because I needed them. I learned a lot from him, and I love Z's even more because of the time I spent working with him. I moved out of GA in June '07, so I wasn't even aware he had cancer. Thanks for the update GRM..I think he deserves a full page spread in a future mag.
