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Article: Spirit of the salt: long before megasponsors, endurance racing pioneer AB Jenkins raced for love of the sport.(JAY LENO'S GARAGE)(David Abbott "Ab" Jenkins)(In memoriam)
- Article from:
- Popular Mechanics
- Article date:
- March 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Hearst Communications, reprinted with permission of Hearst. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
David Abbott "Ab" Jenkins was one of America's least known motorsports heroes. He spent years setting long-distance speed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats, beginning back in 1932. That was decades before the Southern California Timing Association, which runs today's Bonneville Speed Week, sanctioned racing there. Ab was a motorsports pioneer.
In the early years, Bonneville had a 10-mile circular track, so racers could run 12, 24 or even 48 hours--stopping only to refuel. There wasn't much sponsorship in those days. If you got a case of motor oil it was like, "Hey, I got some free oil!" Years ago, an average guy could build a ...