THE GREATEST DRAG RACING RIVALRY OF 1966

Drag racing has had some famous rivalries. Long before Don “The Snake” Prudhomme mixed it up with Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen, years before “Big Daddy” Don Garlits called out Shirley “Cha Cha” Muldowney, there was Bill Jenkins versus Jere Stahl. In 1966, it was the greatest rivalry in drag racing.

- RICK VOEGELIN

The unlikely battlefield was Top Stock, an eliminator category chiefly populated by garishly painted production cars. The unlikely combatants were a pair of bookish engineer/racers. In comparison to the thundering Top Fuelers and nascent nitro-burning Funny Cars, Top Stock provided little sound and no fury. Yet the season-long struggle between Bill Jenkins and Jere Stahl was a clash of the titans: Chevrolet versus Chrysler, small-block versus Hemi, privateer versus factory. In short, this was drag racing’s version of David and Goliath.

Stahl worked as a mechanic and service manager in Chevrolet dealerships before becoming a Hemi hero in 1966. He learned the rudiments of drag racing with a record-setting ’56 Chevrolet station wagon and a killer ’57 Chevy Junior Stocker. With his trademark sunglasses and cheap cigar, Bill Jenkins became a hero for legions of Chevrolet fans. His “Grumpy” persona was largely a façade that kept admirers at bay while he concentrated on the business of racing.

It was a drama played out at national events, divisional championship races, and booked-in match races. Although intense, their rivalry was never ruthless. In fact, Jenkins and Stahl were friends as well as competitors, colleagues as much as adversaries.