Any fan of drag racing knows the legend of Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins and the early days of NHRA Pro Stock. Jenkins competed with a variety of early Camaros, including this 1969 model. We call this car a “tribute” since it’s still unclear whether it is one of his original cars. However, we bought it from a man who worked with Jenkins in Pennsylvania. He had turned it into a bracket car before blowing up the engine and storing it in his garage for several decades. It had been repainted, and the owner had removed all the original stickers, but he swore it was the real deal. After some investigation, we found a few secret clues that make it fairly obvious that it was indeed a legitimate Grumpy Camaro.
We built it as a tribute to Grumpy with a big-inch small-block Chevy and a Powerglide transmission (not the 4-speed that Jenkins was known for). The engine was built by a local engine builder known for NASCAR and drag engines. When we asked our shop guy, Crimson Sanders, about the recommended shift point, he just smiled and said, “I’m not going to tell you”—meaning it is built to spin very high RPM. The car has just been finished, so we have yet to make a full at-power pass on the dragstrip, but in brief shakedown runs at the track, we’re pretty sure it’s a high-9-second car. The car is ready to run as it sits now but is truly meant to be in a museum where the complete Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins story can be told.
Check out our photo album for more pictures and details of the build.
Jenkins was well-known for building high-winding Chevrolet small- and big-blocks. For this car, we chose to build a small-block with well over 350 ci (more like 427 cubes) and had a local engine builder known for his drag and NASCAR engines put it together with all the best parts. Knowing it needed to spin a lot of RPM, when we asked our shop guy, Crimson Sanders, about the recommended shift point, he just smiled and said, “I’m not going to tell you.” The car has just been finished, so we have yet to make a full at-power pass on the dragstrip, but in brief shakedown runs at the track, we’re pretty sure it’s a high-9-second car. While Jenkins was well known for shifting his own gears, we went with a TCI-built 2-speed Powerglide since we had it, and it’s a proven transmission.
Just like back in the day, the car has a basic ladder bar setup with a Dana 60 rearend with 4.30 gears and stock-style, non-adjustable shocks. The tires are Hoosier 31.5-inch tall, 13.5-inch wide slicks on Cragar SS wheels. The front is stock ’69 Camaro with disc brakes and Hoosier skinnies.
There is no fluff in a race car, so the interior only uses parts for speed. A fiberglass bucket for the driver, full cage with window net, a TCI Outlaw shifter, a dash-mounted SUN tach, a switch panel, and just enough gauges to tell the driver information on oil pressure and water temperature. An MSD 6AL ignition box is also mounted on the passenger’s side of the trans tunnel.
The car is painted in traditional Grumpy colors of white with a black hockey stick stripe, and we tried to duplicate all of the vintage sponsor stickers that were on the car in 1969.