Post by Moe Centers on Mar 29, 2012 22:02:56 GMT -5
Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins, One of Drag Racing’s Greatest Drivers and Innovators Passes at 81
The man who was on the vanguard of stock/super stock, and Pro Stock drag racing from the inception of the class to the modern race cars of today has passed away. Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins will forever be remembered as an icon of straight line competition and one of the smartest thinkers to ever put his hands to an internal combustion racing engine.
Jenkins had been drag racing in his native Pennsylvania and hot rodding cars since the 1950s and slowly gained a reputation as a brilliant mechanic and tuner of stock automobiles. By some accounts, he had built or tuned more than 30 cars that were national record holders before he signed on to be the team mechanic for stand out racer Dave Strickler in the famous series of, “Ol Reliable” cars run out of the Ammon R Smith dealership. The pair began racing Chevrolets and then made the switch to Hemi powered Dodges for 1964 and 1965 and in 1966 after being unable to agree on a contract with Chrysler, Jenkins raced as an independent, choosing a Chevy II as his weapon and the rest is history. Jenkins’ Chevy II with the 327ci 350hp engine was classed with the far heavier Hemi Dodges and Plymouths, allowing the little mouse motor to beat the pants off the Chryslers in many head to head match ups.
Through the late 1960s Jenkins was a dominant force for Chevrolet both in NHRA and AHRA and although no one ever admitted to it, he was getting paid by GM to run and develop their stuff. His most major contribution to the class were the two Vegas he built. The first, a 1972 model equipped with a small block Chevy engine to take advantage of an NHRA weight break for small block cars was a giant killer. He dominated NHRA competition with it and in match race form (with a WHOLE lot more than the legal NHRA engine) he made more than $200,000 with it. Famously, this made him the highest paid professional athlete in the country and got his mug into Time magazine, resulting in more mainstream media coverage than any drag racer had ever really gotten to that point. His 1974 Vega was the game changer that sent Pro Stock down the path to where it is today. A full tube chassis, McPherson strut front suspension, dry sump oil system, and a host of other innovations totally set the stage for today’s cars. There was no looking back from that one and that ’74 was as influential in Pro Stock as was Garlits’ rear engine dragster in Top Fuel.
Through the middle and late 1970s Jenkins had Larry Lombardo and Ken Dondero in the driver’s seat while he worked on developing engines and suspension set ups for the cars. Joe Lepone was a driver for him in the 1980s and they ran well on a limited schedule. After that, Jenkins built lots and lots of killer Competition Eliminator engines. It was that engine building experience, especially working with splayed valve heads that allowed him to jump back into the fray in 1998 to compete in the Pro Stock Truck category. Those trucks used 358ci small block engines and Jenkins’ engines were in many of the trucks. Larry Kopp used Grump power to win the championship in the class that year as well.
Jenkins is in numerous motorsports halls of fame and was voted 8th all time on the NHRA’s list of drivers in 2001. For most Chevy drag racing fans there have been none, nor will there be any better than Da Grump.
Go BangShift your four speed Chevy in his honor today!
Jenkins had been drag racing in his native Pennsylvania and hot rodding cars since the 1950s and slowly gained a reputation as a brilliant mechanic and tuner of stock automobiles. By some accounts, he had built or tuned more than 30 cars that were national record holders before he signed on to be the team mechanic for stand out racer Dave Strickler in the famous series of, “Ol Reliable” cars run out of the Ammon R Smith dealership. The pair began racing Chevrolets and then made the switch to Hemi powered Dodges for 1964 and 1965 and in 1966 after being unable to agree on a contract with Chrysler, Jenkins raced as an independent, choosing a Chevy II as his weapon and the rest is history. Jenkins’ Chevy II with the 327ci 350hp engine was classed with the far heavier Hemi Dodges and Plymouths, allowing the little mouse motor to beat the pants off the Chryslers in many head to head match ups.
Through the late 1960s Jenkins was a dominant force for Chevrolet both in NHRA and AHRA and although no one ever admitted to it, he was getting paid by GM to run and develop their stuff. His most major contribution to the class were the two Vegas he built. The first, a 1972 model equipped with a small block Chevy engine to take advantage of an NHRA weight break for small block cars was a giant killer. He dominated NHRA competition with it and in match race form (with a WHOLE lot more than the legal NHRA engine) he made more than $200,000 with it. Famously, this made him the highest paid professional athlete in the country and got his mug into Time magazine, resulting in more mainstream media coverage than any drag racer had ever really gotten to that point. His 1974 Vega was the game changer that sent Pro Stock down the path to where it is today. A full tube chassis, McPherson strut front suspension, dry sump oil system, and a host of other innovations totally set the stage for today’s cars. There was no looking back from that one and that ’74 was as influential in Pro Stock as was Garlits’ rear engine dragster in Top Fuel.
Through the middle and late 1970s Jenkins had Larry Lombardo and Ken Dondero in the driver’s seat while he worked on developing engines and suspension set ups for the cars. Joe Lepone was a driver for him in the 1980s and they ran well on a limited schedule. After that, Jenkins built lots and lots of killer Competition Eliminator engines. It was that engine building experience, especially working with splayed valve heads that allowed him to jump back into the fray in 1998 to compete in the Pro Stock Truck category. Those trucks used 358ci small block engines and Jenkins’ engines were in many of the trucks. Larry Kopp used Grump power to win the championship in the class that year as well.
Jenkins is in numerous motorsports halls of fame and was voted 8th all time on the NHRA’s list of drivers in 2001. For most Chevy drag racing fans there have been none, nor will there be any better than Da Grump.
Go BangShift your four speed Chevy in his honor today!
