A Nod to "Bombay" Joe Racine

There are so many people in our industry worthy of writing an homage to, and I certainly don't want to commit to making this a regular event, but I thought I should take a moment to share a story with anyone willing to take a time-out from their busy day to be regaled (and hopefully entertained).

Let me preface this by highlighting that Joe is alive and well!  If you know Joe Racine of Gopher Bearing in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St-Paul, then none of this will surprise you.  Joe is the gentleman on the left side of the picture (on the right is Tom Miller, retired of Motion Industries - another strong industry contributor and gentleman surely worthy of an homage - but this is not about him.  I could have cropped him out, but I don't think Tom would have appreciated that!).

Now a small back story: Ever since I started working about 20 years ago, I would hear tales from industry journeymen of Joe Racine and his kindness and passion for our industry.  The man (the legend?) was allegedly a perfect study of fundamental customer service, and had legendary inventory levels to back that up.  Whatever you needed, whenever you needed it, Joe would have it for you.  Anyone who came into one of our stores and saw our model would tell us "This is all nice, but you gotta meet Bombay Joe!"

So back to the story at hand.  Last Friday afternoon, I was squirreled away in my office, door shut, phone on DND, attending to yet another important conference call with several illustrious bearing and pt industry colleagues.  Suddenly I heard a faint rap at my door... I ignored it and kept focused on the task at hand.  Moments later I could hear and see the door handle start to spin, and my blood pressure started to rise.  Who would possibly dare 'so politely' barge into my office when I had all the LEAVE ME ALONE signals up?  Obviously, it was my dad.  He sauntered in, gave me the "I know you're busy so I'll just leave this here" hand signal and facial expression, dropped a clear plastic bag on my desk, and left without any further explanation.  In the bag were 4 catalogs and a brochure.  SKF, NORMA-HOFFMAN, and FAFNIR.  Pristine, Immaculate, and I guessed 60s vintage... 

I guessed.

Upon further inspection (post-conference call of course), These catalogs span the years 1925 through 1931.  Leave it to my dad to drop such priceless relics on my desk and pretend it wasn't even a big deal (when he knew far too well that these would blow me away!).  When I finally tracked my dad down, he told me that Bombay Joe had given him these catalogs while they were golfing in Arizona the week before.  My dad and I are both big fans of old catalogs and take tremendous pride in our very extensive collection, but these are museum pieces.

The words pristine and immaculate are not even worthy of the condition these catalogs are in.  The corners aren't even frayed.  I would be surprise if there were any fatigue cycles on the staples.  It would take discipline far beyond my comprehension and capabilities to archive catalogs just shy of 100 years only to relinquish them to one of your golfing buddies over a quick conversation  that probably went something like "You have some old catalogs? Hey, I bet my son would get a kick out of those."

Well Bombay Joe - Thanks for the catalogs.  I'm proud to be their new custodian, and I promise I'll try my best to treat them with the same respect that you did, that same respect you have for our industry, and the same respect I have or you.

So here's a nod to you.  One of the true greats of our industry.

Oh yeah and one last thing - If anyone needs to know the "Code Words and Box Numbers for Fafnir Wide Inner Ring Four-Point Double Hangers" or the "Steering Clutch Shaft Inner Bearing" for your 1918 Best "A" Sixty tractor, I'm your guy!