Mormon Meteor

By Sigur Whitaker
 
On August 31, 1935, David Abbott (Ab) Jenkins with Tony Gulotta as relief driver, set a record of 3253 miles for a 24-hour run on the Bonneville Salt Flats with an average speed of 135.47 mph. The Duesenberg Special, designed and built by Augie Duesenberg, had a streamlined aluminum body with a 400 horsepower twin-carb engine. The car was heavy at 4800 pounds.  On a 10-mile oval and 120 degrees in temperature, one lap was timed at 152.145 mph, and it hit 160+ mph as it crossed the finish line. Later that year, Sir Malcolm Campbell set a new world record on the Bonneville Salt Flats at 301.13 mph using a 2500 horsepower Rolls Royce aircraft engine.
 
The next year, Jenkins returned to the Bonneville Salt Flats with the Mormon Meteor, the same Duesenberg car modified with a tailfin. It broke all the world records between 50 miles and 48 hours. While establishing a new 24-hour record of 3774 miles with an average speed of 157.27 mph in 1937, Jenkins also established new speed records for 12 hours at an average speed of 160.17 mph, 160.07 mph for 2000 miles, and 161.4 mph 3000 kilometers. His records didn’t stand long. Six weeks later, they were topped by Captain George E. T. Eyston of England.
 
Augie Duesenberg designed the Mormon Meteor III for two Curtiss-Wright 12-cylinder engines in his Indianapolis shop. The car was different from previous racing cars. It was off-center, built closer to the left or inside wheels. It operated from a rear-wheel drive in low and second gear and in high gear with an optional four-wheel drive designed to improve traction. For the first time, the tires had tread. The enclosed car was 22 feet from tip to tail and is six feet to the top of the rear fin and weighed 4800 pounds.
 
On July 25, 1939, Jenkins attempted to set a record for a 24-hour run. For the first three hours, Jenkins ran the Mormon Meteor III at more than 170 mph. When he stopped, Jenkins was concerned that the gasoline hand-pressure pump he had been operating in the cockpit was leaking. There was fuel on the floor, and his clothing was saturated. When the pit crew tried to start the motor as Jenkins continued to use the fuel pump, fuel seeped through the floorboards to the hot drive shaft which ignited the fuel. A flash fire enveloped the enclosed cockpit trapping Jenkins in the cockpit of his enclosed car.
 
As the AAA timers, pit crew and spectators fled, Jenkin’s son, Marvin, grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed the car dousing the flames. Marvin, and chief mechanic Bill Oliver pulled Ab Jenkins from the flames.  Even though he had second and third degree burns on his right calf and upper right arm, he was discharged from the hospital after treatment.
 
Augie Duesenberg and Bill Oliver examined the car and discovered that other than a burned-out universal joint on the main drive shaft, the car was not seriously damaged. They estimated repairs would take about a week.
 
Before the flash fire, Jenkins set four records including 500 kilometers at 177.1 mph, 500 miles at 171.31 mph, three hours at 171.41 mph, and 1,000 kilometers at 172.3 mph. The car was taken to Salt Lake City for repairs.
 
He returned to the cockpit on August 10, but his efforts were dashed when he had to pull into the pits because of oil on the windshield and later when he mistook Marvin’s signal to “slow down” and pulled into the pits. Before these two incidents, he set a new personal 50-mile mark at 174.2 mph in his attempt to beat the record set by Captain Eyston’s speed record.
 
On August 11, he set a new six-hour record at 170.85 mph. His 12-hour record of 170.76 mph shattered that of Eyston of 161.08 mph. As he pushed to set a new 24-hour record, he was relieved by Rex Mays. His attempt ended after sixteen hours, 33 minutes due to a buildup of monoxide gas and a rutted track. He had set seven new speed records.
 
In 1943, the Mormon Meteor III was sold to the State of Utah for $1 with the proviso that the car be kept on display in the Utah State Capitol.
 
In 1949, Ab Jenkins had the car readied for another speed record attempt, however, the attempt was not made as the weather was unfavorable. On September 3, 1950, then 67-year-old Ab Jenkins took the 14-year-old car around the 14-mile circular course and set a new record of 190.1 mph. On the 13th lap, the car reached 199 mph. During this run, Jenkins established additional marks for 25 miles, 50 miles, 50 kilometers, 75 miles, 100 miles, 100 kilometer, 200 miles, and 200 kilometers.
 
On July 19, 1951, Ab Jenkins again piloted the Mormon Meteor III at the Bonneville Salt Flats hoping to set another one-hour record. Unfortunately his attempt lasted 58 minutes, due to an overheated engine. During the run, he rammed some wooden markers delineating the course which resulted in a “bad spin for several hundred feet” and shattered one headlight. He set unofficial records for 50 kilometers to 100 miles during which he averaged 191 mph. 
 
In 1990, when the Utah state government needed additional space for employees, the future of the car was uncertain. Marv Jenkins (Ab’s son) was unhappy with how the state had cared for the car but ownership of the car rested with the state. Marv Jenkins sued the State of Utah for refusing to turn the car over to him contending that the state violated the terms of his father’s sale of the car. An agreement between the State of Utah and Marv Jenkins for the future of the car was reached on December 5, 1990. The title to the car would reside with a trustee.
 
In the early 1990s, Marv Jenkins, Ab’s son, reclaimed the car and had it restored at Dixie College. He then sold the car to John Price, a Utah businessman who was chairman of the Price Museum of Speed. The car remained at the Price Museum of Speed until September 2025 when it was purchased by the Utah Historical Society. It will be displayed at the Museum of Utah beginning in June 2026.
 
In 2011, the car returned to the Bonneville Salt Flats for a documentary about Ab Jenkins, The Boys of Bonneville.
 
After his famed speed runs, Ab Jenkins was the Mayor of Salt Lake City (1940-1944) and worked for years as Utah’s safety director. He died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin while on his way to drive the pace car at Road America. He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Daytona Beach, Florida in 2023.
 

Sigur Whitaker, Author 

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