Sadly, the hot rod community has lost yet another of it's pioneers. Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins has passed on the the drag strip in the sky. I was lucky enough to meet "Da Grump" back in the 1990's at a PRI show in Indianapolis. Initially, I didn't even realize who he was. If memory serves me, Scooter Brothers (owner of Comp Cams) sent me to talk to Grump, I think as some sort of inside joke. I was at the show with my college instructor and fellow students from Central Michigan University's Automotive program (which sadly no longer exists either). I was passing out resumes to every performance company that would accept one.
I headed to the booth in which Scooter instructed me to, and was greeted by two elderly men...one friendly, and one grumpy. Sadly , I can't recall who the other guy was, but it was also a highly recognizable name. At some point, the guy said something to the effect "Excuse my friend, he can be a bit grumpy." At this point, I connected the dots, after he had introduced himself as either Bill, or perhaps Mr Jenkins, either way, I figured it out and was honored by the encounter.
I had also met Joe Mondello during that visit to PRI. Sadly, Mondello also passed away in recent years. It seems like with each passing month, as a new car magazine arrives, another legend has passed. Below is an article from BangShift.com.
Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, One of Drag Racing's Greatest Drivers and Innovators passes at 81
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