Jay Leno's Garage

Long before megasponsors, endurance racing pioneer Ab Jenkins raced for the love of the sport, sometimes driving for more than 24 hours straight. Jay Leno had a chance to test drive Jenkins's custom Duesenberg, the Mormon Meteor III, a 750 hp monster that takes some real elbow grease to steer.

By Jay Leno
Photographs by John Lamm
Published in the March 2009 issue of Popular Mechanics.

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 land-speed car in his garage and go set a record.

Like other racers of his era, Ab raced for the love of the sport—he did it all himself. Not only was he the driver, but he had to be the engineer, the R&D guy—and he had to build the car too. He knew when it broke, knew when it was running perfectly, and he could drive it for 24 hours straight at 160 mph.

Ab had that great all-American-boy stuff of the 1930s. Today we have kids who are almost inherently computer whizzes. In Ab’s day, there was a generation of boys who were mechanically adept. Almost from birth, they could pick up something and go, “This is off by a few thousandths of an inch here.” Ab wanted to be a good role model for those kids. So he always drank milk. He didn’t touch liquor, caffeine or drugs. Ab Jenkins was a Mormon, and his car was aptly named the Mormon Meteor.

Ab’s Mormon Meteor ties together two great elements of American automotive history: Bonne­ville and the Duesenberg brothers. Ab’s Meteor, a 1935 Duesenberg Special, had a streamlined body and a supercharged 420-cu-in. straight Eight that developed around 400 hp. On his third attempt in the Mormon Meteor, Ab beat British racer John Cobb’s record, averaging 135.58 mph for 24 hours.

Of course, Ab wanted to go even faster, so he got a Curtiss Conquerer aircraft engine—a 1570-cu-in. V12 that put out 750 hp. Augie Duesenberg designed a new bellhousing and flywheel to replace the old propeller drive. Working with Ab’s son, Marvin, Augie oversaw the V12’s installation. They changed the car’s name to the Mormon Meteor II. And in the summer of 1936, Ab averaged 164.47 mph for 500 kilometers (about 310 miles), breaking the record of British driver George Eyston. With Babe Stapp as his relief driver, Ab averaged 153.82 mph for 24 hours, and stayed in the car to do 148.64 mph for an amazing 48 hours. In 1937, with Indy winner Louis Meyer co-driving, Ab averaged 157.27 mph over 3700 miles in the Meteor to break his own record.