by Jay Wolf, publicity director, the Little Brown Jug

Delaware, OH — James W. “Jim” Simpson, president and chief executive officer of Hanover Shoe Farm, has been selected as the 29th Little Brown Jug Wall of Fame honoree by the Delaware County Fair.

LBJ photo

Jim Simpson has been selected as the 29th Little Brown Jug Wall of Fame honoree.

Like many of the greats in the sport, Jim Simpson followed his father John’s footsteps as a successful driver and trainer. The younger Simpson handled such stars as Sugarcane Hanover (1:54.3, $1,706,465) and Noxie Hanover, whose speed record of 1:55 as a 2-year-old filly trotter stood for nearly 20 years. He also trained many of the fillies who became noted producers in Hanover’s star studded broodmare band.

In 1992, Simpson traded his maroon and white driver’s colors for the orange and blue attire of Hanover Shoe Farms where he became vice president. The famed Hanover, Pa., nursery has bred a record 14 Little Brown Jug champions, ten Hambletonian winners and has been the world’s leading Standardbred breeder every year for as long as records have been kept. Simpson was promoted to the position of president and CEO at Hanover in 1997.

Jim Simpson is a director of the Hambletonian and Little Brown Jug societies and achieved the pinnacle of recognition in the sport when he joined his father and brother, John Simpson, Jr., in the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in Goshen, N.Y., in July 2011.

Simpson will be presented the Wall of Fame jacket and ring during the 2013 Little Brown Jug week (Sept. 15-19).