In Memoriam: Jim Stewart

Stewart Racing Engines founder passed away in June

“James was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1974. He had a teacher in high school that he had taken an automotive class [with], and he said that James was really, really talented and told his parents.” 

That’s how Melissa Stewart, wife of the late Jim Stewart, describes the route her husband took to becoming one of the most respected builder of not only Spec Miata engines, but engines of all kinds. 

Jim Stewart closed his business in January to partner with Brett Land, but with Stewart’s passing, there is now a void in the engine building landscape. 

“Jim Stewart is going to leave a big hole for us to fill,” says fellow engine builder Mike Rossini. 

A stint in a school specializing in racing technology led to a job at Cosworth. Stewart became one of the youngest people working there and built engines for Michael Andretti’s IndyCar team. Later, Stewart worked for Jonathan Byrd/Cunningham Racing, which took him to Indianapolis where he met Melissa. A few years later, at the age of 25, he started his own business. Stewart Engines specialized in Saturday night racing – dirt track, stock cars and midgets. That included building his own Honda midget engine.

Eventually, the Spec Miata business caught his eye, and he had several loyal customers. 

“He was a perfectionist when it came to building motors and he gave exceptional service to his customers,” Melissa says. “He would drop whatever he was doing to help them. He decided at the end of last year he was going to break away from having his own business and work for someone else doing cylinder head work, but he said he would keep some of his Mazda customers on the side.

“When he was starting out with Mazda engines, he would go to the track, and when people were at the track and needed help, he would troubleshoot with them.”

Melissa says a lot of people have come out of the woodwork after her husband’s passing to sing his praises as an engine builder. Beyond that, he was also a gifted piano player, she says, often playing at recitals with his daughter, and he also loved to cook. But engines were his passion. He dreamed of going back to the days of less stringent engine rules for the Indianapolis 500, wanting to tackle the race as a small engine builder.

Stewart left the world without life insurance, so Land, his would-be business partner, started a GoFundMe campaign to help his wife and daughter. If you’d like to give, go to gf.me/u/j6dyc4. In addition, Planet Miata has created Stewart Racing Engines shirts to memorialize Stewart, with proceeds helping the family. You can buy one here:
https://stores.inksoft.com/stewart_engines/shop/product-detail/1002736