Drag Racing Online - My First Time

In all of auto racing, there is no single racer that is any more associated with Chevrolet than Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins. He, more than anyone else, put them on the drag racing map. In addition, the Malvern, Pa., native is considered by many as the father of NHRA Pro Stock and he did it with that mode of transportation. Jenkins won the 1970 NHRA Winternationals Pro Stock title, the inaugural race for that category, beating another great, Ronnie Sox, in the final. In 1972, he became the class' first superstar with his tube chassis Chevy Vega, a car in which he won the NHRA World Championship. (1972 photo above taken by Steve Reyes.) In 1998, it was his engines that powered Larry Kopp to the first NHRA Pro Stock Truck title. A possessor of 20 Car Craft Awards Banquet trophies (a record he shares with Don Garlits), the unsinkable Jenkins had eight trucks with his engines in them at the recent NHRA Prestone/Route 66 Nationals. Below are his recollections of his first (or one of his first) drag races.

God, I can't think of just one in the beginning. Like a lot of guys I got into street racing when I was a kid. I raced all over suburban Philadelphia between roughly 1948 and 1955. The one race that does stand out a little came at the end of what you could call my so-called street racing career. It was one I had with Chris Ganz, who later became the "G" of G&K Speed Shop back East. I was driving a '55 Chevy, I think it had a 265-cid in it, he had a '57 Chevy, and I'm guessing at the year, but I'd say it was right around 1957.

We raced about for about ten miles on City Line Avenue, just off the West Chester (Pa.) Turnpike between West Chester and Philadelphia. It was one of those deals where we go all-out until we came to a light. We'd stop and go at it again, and there were long gaps between the lights, so we could build up a pretty good head of steam. We went the ten miles one way and decided to race back to where the whole deal had started. This time, the cops were waiting for us and they pulled us both over. Fortunately, and I don't remember how, but I was able to talk them out of writing up a ticket.

As far as my first drag race goes, my first shot was in Manassas, Virginia in 1953. I raced at tracks as well as street raced. Well, Manassas was a dirt track and an eighth mile long, and they were holding some type of meet there.

All I remember was that I raced and beat a lot of those goodie two-shoes hot rod club guys and I liked doing that. I was running in C/Gas that day and wound up winning the race. So much for that, I thought. But as I Iook back on that race, it was a pretty big deal for me at the time.

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