* John ‘Tim’ Gill; Carpenter, Stock Car Driver

John “Tim” Gill of Somis, a carpenter and stock car driver at Ventura Raceway who was well-known among the local racing fraternity, died of a heart attack Wednesday while working in Camarillo. He was 39.

Gill had driven in the mini stock class for about five years. The raceway phased the classification out this year, so he modified his Pinto for his wife, Fran, who is racing in the pony stock class, said his brother-in-law, Gary Elliott of Simi Valley. She plans to take to the track again June 8.

“He was an ace mechanic who knew how to fix a car and what to do with it, so he put his skills toward it as a hobby,” Elliott said. “He always [finished] in the top four.”

Gill was a lifelong county resident who was born Feb. 2, 1957, in Oxnard. He graduated from Camarillo High School in 1975.

The owner of Gill Construction, he was an accomplished jack-of-all-trades, said Bob Fulkerson, owner of Fulkerson’s Hardware in Somis, who sponsored Gill’s car at the raceway.

Gill volunteered his time and construction skills at the Somis school his children attended and did odd jobs for Little League.

“He was the most helpful, the most generous person I think I’ve ever known,” Elliott said. “If you needed something built and you were short on cash and you could pay him next week, he would build it for you.”

In addition to his wife, Gill is survived by his son Gary, 9, and daughter, Vanessa, 7; his mother, Maxine Gill of Somis; a brother and sister-in-law, Chuck and Cindy Gill of Yuba City; and three sisters and brothers-in-law, Lynn and Stephen Lee of Hawaii, Jeanne and Gary Elliott of Simi Valley and Jan and Bill Mecier of El Dorado.

Services will be at 10 a.m. today at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Camarillo, with Father John Morgan officiating. Burial will follow at Conejo Mountain Memorial Park.

Memorial contributions may be made to an educational trust fund set up for his children at Camarillo Community Bank.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Pierce Brothers Griffin Mortuary, Camarillo.

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Ventura County obituaries are published free of charge as a public service to readers. Obituaries are based on information provided by mortuaries.