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 for 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!
Da Grump was one of a kind. He was a mechanical genius who really defined the word “competitor”.
For you young guys who weren’t there, or are not familiar with his name. Check him out. Do some reading.
Racers like him don’t exist anymore.
Godspeed Grump!
What a great loss for the automitive world. The man was a genius and a rich part of our automotive history
Even though Grumpy was on the wrong “team,” it’s still a sad day.
Hopefully, Wally Parks is flagging off another Dyno Don or Ronnie Sox whipping of “Da Grump” at that big drag strip in the sky . . . .
You must watch your historical footage in an alternative universe.
BTW, Grump’s Vega RUINED PRO STOCK RACING FOREVER. (Of course, that’s what racers always do if they’re not reigned in by enforcement of proper rules).
I blame the rules a lot more than a racer smart enough to read through them and take full advantage. They could have outlawed the car the next season, but they didn’t. I think that is what you’re saying in the parenthesis. 🙂
Rest in peace, Grumpy, You can now bang gears with Ronnie Sox in the great 1/4 mile in the sky.
Man, that hurts. I can’t express how cool I thought Grump was. Got to meet him a handfull of times, and those rank as some of my favorite Bangshifty moments. Sure didn’t see it coming, guess you never do.
One question about him I’ve never had answered with any logic was how he got his nickname. From what I understand, he was a pretty nice guy.
Wlliam Tyler Jenkins never attended college yet was one of the sharpest engine builders, most accomplished race car engineers and best drivers drag racing ever had. He was successful across multiple motor sports disciplines. And despite his “reputation” for being brief, could hold forth with well thought-out positions on many subjetcs beyond racing. He has left us much to soon and we are the poorer for it.
Via con dios, Bill.
His obit on NHRA says he attended Cornell
The man could make a skateboard fly. When I was about 15 they had a National Open or Points race race at National Trail Raceway. Back then these guys would rent space at local garages to repair their cars rather than have to tear them down in the Holiday Inn parking lots next to the competition. Well Da Grump was at Ours Garage in Hebron, Ohio with the car outside working on a Friday morning and I was a nosey kid watching along with many many other kids and adults. Grump was under the car and told Lombardo to hand him a 9/16 wrench. It was next to me on the ramp of the truck so I handed it to him. He kept asking for stuff and I kept handing it to him. Finally he got pissed about all the people and decided to move inside. He told everyone to have a nice day in his usual voice. I started to leave too when he said, hey kid — not you get in here, you’re pretty good help. I got to hang out all day and clean parts, be a gopher, etc. He gave me a shirt signed it with a greasy hand and bought me a burger from the DQ next door.
BEST DAMN DAY OF A KIDS LIFE.
I will never forget it or him. And yes he was a cool guy when nobody was around. Godspeed my friend and say Hi to all my other racing heros.
Cool story, Jim; thanks!
Ronnie Sox and Buddy Martin will have their hands full now that Grumpy and Dave Strickler are back together again.
I truly believe the “Grumpy” part was a front he put on so he wouldn’t have to deal with a bunch of people & questions at the races. I’d taken an engine back to him in 1968 to have it freshend before the Nationals, I’d met up with the Grump & Crew that Sunday at the Division 1 points meet at York and followed them back to Berwyn and helped unload Grumpy’s and Strickler’s Camaro and my engine, the rest of the crew left for the night and it was just Grumpy and I, he was talking about everything including his Wife’s Corvair. Here I was with my Hero and I could have gained a wealth of knowledge that night but I’d pulled the Engine Saturday and then drove all night to get to York so I was barely able to keep my eyes open and had to excuse myself and go get a room, what a missed opportunity, I’ll always regret that! The next morning his 68 Camaro was still sitting outside from the night before and untouched, Tryson walked in and felt the Coffee pot and said “it’s still warm, Bill’s been gone about an hour”! Bill had a couple of phone calls that Sunday night from guys wanting to pick his brain on carburetors and such, his response was “mail me $20 and call me next week” and who wouldn’t have done that! We truly lost a Legend today, R.I.P William Tyler.
Here’s a link to some pictures that I forgot to include in my earlier post.
http://www.philcooper.com/gallery/GRUMPY
Your photo of the Speed Shop between Berwyn and York was Hank’s Speed Shop in Berwyn, Pa. on Route 30. The building is still there today as I past it on my way to work everyday. Great photos. Boy do they bring back some memories. I worked for Bill as well. 1989-1991. I learned a lot from him and he helped me with parts for a 540ci bracket motor for my ’57 Chevy.
I’m too young to have seen him race myself, but I’ve built a few of his cars in scale. Had a long and successful career, at least.
We all knew these days were coming but it doesn’t make it any easier when we loose an icon like Bill Jenkins. I never knew the man personally but I did have the pleasure to watch the man race when he came out here to the left coast. I wished I could have been there when he came up with the idea to take two 4bbl carburetors, cut them in half with a hacksaw, modify them to make one carburetor with 4 secondaries, then go out and put everyone on the trailer.
I think anyone who knew him well will agree with me when I say; Bill Jenkins was thinking outside the box before there was a box!
He will be missed.
I’ll immediately grasp your rss feed as I can not find your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Kindly let me recognise so that I could subscribe. Thanks.