Pro Stock legend Bill ‘Grumpy’ Jenkins dies – NHRA – March 29, 2012
Courtesy of DragRacingOnline
NHRA Bill Jenkins Memorial Video:
Farewell to the grumpy one by Phil Burgess – NHRA – March 30, 2012
“…I’m going to go out on a limb and risk offending some of the many drag racing legends whom I call friends, but I’m going to say that I feel that, strictly on a historic perspective, the loss of Jenkins is the biggest one the sport has ever suffered…”
Bill Jenkins, 81, Drag Racing Driver and Innovator, Dies – New York Times – April 3, 2012
Video submitted by Butch on June 21, 2012:
Jenkins is truly one of the great legends in drag racing who I will truly miss…
Grumpy was one of the masters of every aspect of the car mechanically!
Certainly some of the technology from Jenkins lives on in our ’57. Many of the modifications on our 660 carbs came from an old article Grump wrote many years back regarding recontouring the throttle linkage ramp to delay the opening of the secondaries so you could stage the car and drive around the pits on the primaries alone. There are many more examples but this one in particular comes to mind.
He also had a heavy influence on tunnel ram technology back in the days of Modified Production and the small-block Chev’s in Pro Stock.
Grump was a true legend like Lee Shepherd that perfected the SBC.