The Novi Mobile Special at Bonneville

When they showed  up to Bonneville in 1947, salt flat racing pioneer Ab Jenkins wasn’t feeling well, so he decided to pass his driving duties of the Novi Mobile Special onto his son Marv to race that day. The canopied version of the Kurtis Kraft car looked beautiful, but she had a troubled past. At the Indy 500 earlier that year, Herb Ardinger started and finished in 4th place with his #54 Novi Governor Mobil Special. Teammate Cliff Bergere drove the #18 Novi Governor Mobil Special with mixed results however, spinning out during qualifying, then starting in 2nd position only to a piston on lap 62 of the race. He later quit the team after a number of spins, sighting the car was just too unwieldy. The Bud Winfield-designed motor had a reputation for being extremely fast, teeth-rattlingly loud, and powerfully dangerous, if not slightly unreliable.

When the supercharged beast took off down the salt that day in ’47, there were many ears plugged, as the gear driven supercharged V8 wailed like a fighter plane. There were also many fingers crossed that the less-experienced son Marv could make it safely across the final mile marker in the notorious racer. The final results stunned everyone as young Jenkins set no less than five National Class D records, with the fastest being set at 179.434 mph!