Passing of Jay Nordstrom

[D Dubya]

I sit here this morning trying to gather my thoughts on what to post about my friend. Nothing I can share will even begin to express what he meant to all of us.

Jay and I became friends when he was my customer at Texas Body Works 20 years ago. He sold me his second Cobra that he and Tom Meadows built in 1999. We have been close friends ever since the day we met.

A veterans' veteran, his work for men and women in uniform was a driving force in his life. His support for Wounded Warriors and Operation Comfort was legendary. Jay would do anything to help a soldier. He was awarded the Silver Star in Vietnam, but of course never spoke of it.

The only thing he loved more than soldiers was his mother Eva. Jay would go have breakfast with her everyday and visit with her for hours. I came by the shop one day and he was in a rare funky mood. He had sold "Baby" that morning. "Baby" was his mother's Cadillac he custom ordered for her years ago. She absolutely loved that car and she would talk to it as we rode around with her.

He could drive anything with wheels, campaigning Cobras all over the country. Jays days of being a Pro-Am driver were some of his happiest. He built more than twenty Cobras and sold hundreds. If you needed to know any information on a car anywhere he was the guy. All of us would marvel of how he knew the history of almost any Cobra in the country.

Jay was one of the founding members of the Texas Cobra Club. The club has grown into the second largest Cobra Club in the world behind Australia. We always debated how we were going to compete with a whole continent. He never wanted to be president of the club, even though we asked him every year. He would help anyone in the club at anytime, arranging everything from an emergency tow to driving instruction. We have some great memories of our annual spring meets in Austin driving at triple digits through the Hill Country.

The times spent with Jay and Dee I will cherish the rest of my days.

He was my brother, my mentor, and my friend.

I only wish I could have just one more bear hug.


Rest in peace my friend