Jim Dennis (May 9, 1923 – February 22, 2004) was an American

harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Austral ...

driver and trainer. He was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2002. Dennis was born in

Rexburg, Idaho Rexburg is a city in Madison County, Idaho, United States. The population was 39,409 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Madison County and its largest city. Rexburg is the principal city of the Rexburg, ID Micropolitan Statist ...

. His father and five Uncles drove

Standardbred The Standardbred is an American horse breed best known for its ability in harness racing, where members of the breed compete at either a trot or pace. Developed in North America, the Standardbred is recognized worldwide, and the breed can trac ...

s. Dennis drove his first winning horse at age 13.Jim Dennis page at Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame
/ref> Prior to his serving in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

, Dennis considered a rodeo career. One of the top horses Dennis drove was Sir Dalrae. Sir Dalrae, who had been bred to

trot The trot is a ten-beat diagonal horse gait where the diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time with a moment of suspension between each beat. It has a wide variation in possible speeds, but averages about . A very slow trot is someti ...

, was the 1973 Harness Racing Horse of the Year. Dennis also drove Adios Vic. Adios Vic defeated Hall of Fame horse Bret Hanover four times. Dennis was a leading driver at Roosevelt and

Yonkers Raceway Yonkers Raceway & Empire City Casino, founded in 1899 as the Empire City Race Track, is a one-half-mile standardbred harness racing dirt track and slots racino located at the intersection of Central Park Avenue and Yonkers Avenue in Yonkers, New Y ...

plus Hollywood Park but also campaigned out of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

from 1963 to 1971. By the time Dennis finished his harness racing career in 1991, he had won 2,677 races and the horses he had driven had earned 12.9 million dollars. Dennis died at his

Solana Beach, California Solana Beach (''Solana'', Spanish for "warm wind") is a coastal city in San Diego County, California. Its population was at 12,941 at the 2020 U.S. Census, up from 12,867 at the 2010 Census. History The area was first settled by the San Die ...

home on February 22, 2004.Hall of Famer Dennis dies
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennis, Jim 1923 births 2004 deaths American harness racers People from Rexburg, Idaho People from Solana Beach, California United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame inductees