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Windjammer Blower Service founder
Leonard Simmons, now 76, with Scott's stepmother, Sonja “Sunny” Simmons.
(Photo courtesy Heidi Odell-Simmons) |
Among those taking notice
that historic weekend was Don Garlits, whose unblown, carbureted
fueler was no match for the blower boys at Bakersfield. His
next time out, Garlits had a Windjammer blower. When
Mickey Thompson needed more power for the injected Pontiacs
originally bolted into Challenger I, he added four Windjammer
6-71s — and promptly became the first American to exceed
400 mph. Howard Johansen, Gene Adams, Tom McEwen, Joe
Reath and Frank Cannon were other early customers.
Leonard’s many pioneering modifications to 4-71 and
6-71 GMCs are well documented in the October 1960 Hot Rod
magazine, which devoted five full pages to Windjammer’s
exclusive “Free-Turning” design. According
to Scott, it was his dad who discovered that a V-12 blower’s
end plates and gears could be cut down to fit a 6-71, curing
the early problem of broken end plates.
A recent vacation snapshot shows
Scott Simmons and his widow, Heidi, in front of Idaho’s
Sawtooth Mountains. (Photo courtesy Heidi Odell-Simmons) |
If Windjammer Blower Service appeared to drop off the radar
after 1962, it was only because the Simmons family had relocated
to the Sacramento area, 400 miles from the center of hot
rodding and publishing. Nevertheless, Windjammer continued
shipping superchargers to leading racers until the mid-Seventies,
when Leonard Simmons quietly retired from drag racing.
Three decades later, Leonard’s terminally-ill son
was making it his mission to keep our sport from forgetting
Dad’s pivotal role in the development of supercharging. As
recently as mid-January, Scott was still making calls to
friends, urging them to share his dad’s story with
as many people as possible while Leonard was still around.
Mission accomplished, Scott: Although you left us
on January 31st, your final wish to honor your father is
very much alive.
Whether or not he’s inducted into any halls of fame
has never mattered much to Leonard Simmons, Scott told me. I
hope the sorrow of Leonard’s recent loss is offset,
somewhat, by the satisfaction of having raised such a loving
and unselfish son; someone who will be missed even by some
of us who never met him in person.
Scott Simmons was 55. 
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