Bill "da Grump" Jenkins photo tribute

[Charlie A]

Originally Posted by Liteweight

My pet peeve in ALL professional NHRA classes is that most of the drivers now are nothing more than hired guns. Gone are the days of the innovators such as da Grump, Dandy Dick, S&M, The Swamp Rat, The Snake ,,etc where the owners were the R&D department, fabrication department, engine shop, chassis shop etc. These guys did it all. Not so much today huh??
Anyway, I'm done with my B fest, let's try & keep this thread positive.
I have another idea in keeping this thread going & would like to make a suggestion of keeping it soley for our passed 1/4 mile heros from a era & time we will never see again . I quess you could say it's somewhere where we can pay homage to the guys & girls that were the innovators of the sport we all love.

liteweight

New Topic Started.
Great Idea!!!

[jmcarter]

Think the kind of racer you are describing still is alive and well in Comp; they rank right there with Stanfield and Morgan. Just watch those guys flog their stuff sometime, they are unbelievable, well; at least 50% of them that don't buy the latest Panetta bullet or gimmick but innovate and work hard. I have zip interest in most of today's PRO's, they don't have zip invested in terms of what Grumpy invested....

[cicero819]

Mr Carter is quite right, stock,s/s and comp are where the action is, anyways that's another story. I had a close encounter of the Grumpy type many years ago at the Keystone when he was helping Joe Lepone with his new Beretta, I was sitting by the fence near the old tower leaning on the fence when next to me Grump was standing, well knowing his fondness for conversation all I could manage to say was" hello Mr Grumpy oops I mean Mr Jenkins" well he laugh and started to talk about how hot it was and how much it was going to play havock with the cars. We ended talking about helicopters, since my brother and I were wearing Hughes Helicopters T shirts, he was asking all the right questions about the mechanical of keeping those birds flying, we never talked about cars once, best 30 minutes we both had talking with someone about flying. He loved the story I told him about an old mechanic told us "if you knew what was going on under there(the cowling) you wouldn't be getting in it. CR

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by cicero819

I had a close encounter of the Grumpy type many years ago at the Keystone...

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

M68

[mopar68]

I'll take the first generation Camaro.

M68

[2drpost]

[2drpost]

[rod]

I found this bit of info from April 1975. Bill Jenkins and his Pro Stock Vega won a match race at Maple Grove Raceway against Barry Setzers Funny Car, driven by Tommy Grove. Jenkins car received a 2.2 second head start and defeated Groves 6.60 with a 8.73 at 159.10 mph.
later the same month Jenkins put 2 cars up for sale. 1975 Vega, turnkey with all the trick parts for $26,500. he also asked $16,000 for his 1973 Vega, also turnkey.
FYI, the NHRA National reconrds as of January 1975 were: Pro Stock Bob Glidden 8.81/154.90, AA/FC Dale Pulde 6.16/233.76, and T/F Don Gatlits 5.78/247.76
Rod in AZ

[Paul Ceasrine]

Photo Shoot from Eastern Drag News {March 1965}

[mopar68]