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Perhaps one of the best descriptions of what sets apart innovators from followers in motorsports came from renowned sprint car racer and CNC-porting pioneer Kenny Weld, who said, "Some guys will see the need to fix something long before the other guys even realize that they have a problem."
In the world of drag racing doorslammer campaigners, Bill Jenkins, Bob Glidden, and Warren Johnson would be among the select few to whom that description would apply, and during late 1950s through the mid-1960s, Jere Stahl was among that elite group, both as a competitor and innovative aftermarket parts manufacturer.
Like Jenkins, Stahl initially established his reputation as one of the East Coast's leading experts in the preparation of Junior Stock drag racing vehicles. He became the first person to manufacture and sell four-tube exhaust headers for Chevrolet engines in 1963. Up until that time, all previously manufactured headers were of the tri-Y configuration. He went on to create other header innovations, such as the adapter flange concept, adjustable primaries, step headers, reversion collectors, flow booster collectors, and tri-flow collectors.
After preparing Junior Stock entries for several select customers in the early 1960s, Stahl began driving his own entry in 1964, a national record-holding G/S and H/S '56 Chevy wagon that was followed in 1965 by a D/S '57 Chevy 150 sedan that also set national records. He enjoyed his greatest season in 1966, when he built his all-conquering A/S '66 Plymouth Street Hemi and became the first driver to win three consecutive NHRA national events with victories at the Springnationals, U.S. Nationals, and World Finals. It was with this car that Stahl engaged in a yearlong battle with Jenkins and his first Grumpy's Toy entry, a 327-cid, 350-horsepower Chevy Nova 100, for A/S supremacy. Jenkins was able to outrun just about every other Street Hemi in the country, which helped boost his "giant killer" image, but he was thwarted by Stahl in the final round of both the U.S. Nationals and the World Finals.
Stahl never claims to have been "born" with all of the innovative ideas that made him successful, but he instead credits the many hours of reading and research that he did in areas of mechanical engineering that could be applied...