The 1967 RO/WO race package cars did not have the success of the 1966 Street version in the first year of Super Stock as a stand-alone eliminator. © Geoff Stunkard
The A/S action was fiercest in NHRA’s fabled “Land of NED” Division 1, where two Pennsylvania residents were fighting it out on a regular basis. In the new Hemi was Jere
Stahl, the well-known header builder, who was driving a white Belvedere coupe that BillStiles was tuning. The challenger was none other than Bill Jenkins in a new ‘Grumpy’s Toy’ L79 Chevy “deuce”; Jenkins had campaigned Chrysler products in 1964 and 1965, but had gone back to the Chevy camp when he did not get a deal from the factory in 1966. Besides, the Chevy II was a better fit since a majority of his customers were Chevrolet racers, and Jenkins maintained good long-term ties with GM.
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They would meet several times during the season, and Stahl would beat ‘da Grump’ in their three final round battles culminating in a decisive win at the 1966 World Finals in Tulsa, leading the magazine scribes of the day to label Jenkins a “bridesmaid” (I guess they didn’t have any crystal balls). All said, the Street Hemi, even with the dual-plane inline intake and nose heavy weight distribution, thumped pretty hard against the other factory competition and surprised some drive-in heavyweights on the “midnight circuit” that year, too, when they had enough leg room to hit 4500 rpm.
The ’66 Street Hemi legend continues – Jason McCormick getting it done with Hemi power in B/S at Indy 2004. © Geoff Stunkard
