The Greatest Drag Racing Rivalry of 1966
Drag racing has had some famous rivalries. Long before Don “the Snake” Prudhomme mixed it up 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.
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 with 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.
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.
Top Stock’s Improbable Stars
Jenkins and Stahl were the odd couple of Top Stock. Jenkins was short in stature and gruff in demeanor, and his favored trackside attire was a pair of loud Bermuda shorts and a T-shirt, accessorized with a cheap cigar.
Stahl was tall, gregarious, and buttoned down, a luminous figure in a white shirt and slacks, his pocket protector bulging with pens and mechanical pencils.
Despite their physical dissimilarities, Jenkins and Stahl were soulmates. Both brought an engineering perspective to drag racing and were evangelists for a disciplined, scientific approach to quarter-mile racing that transformed the sport.
