Born : 1927- (exact birthdate unknown so far)
Deceased : January 28 1997
Biography Bruce Jennings
Bruce Jennings was born in Baltimore and raised in Homeland, and graduated from McDonogh School in 1944. Jennings served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. In 1946, he joined his brother and father in the Mutual Insurance Agency Inc., which his father had established in 1922.
Bruce Jennings was introduced to sportscar racing in 1956 or 1957, when a racer named Duncan Black took him to the Sports Car Club of America races at Andrews Air Force Base. Bruce Jennings immediately fell in love with a Porsche 1500 Normal Coupe. In an active race career of over 35 years, Jennings scored over 200 wins and over 100 second places. He raced against such legends as A. J. Foyt, Stirling Moss, Mario Andretti, Mark Donohue, Phil Hill, Walt Hansgen and Roger Penske and on such hallowed tracks as Sebring, Watkins Glen, Les Mans and Daytona.
Bruce Jennings was nickmaned “King Carrera” because of his extremely succesful race career in the 1958 Porsche 356 Carrera Speedster. Bruce Jennings owned more 4-cam Porsche 356 Speedsters. One of the now resides in the renowned Revvs Institute in Naples, Florida.
Racing at 100 mph in 1960 at Watkins Glen, Bruce. Jenning’s car was hit and he went 30 feet into the air, flipping four times. Knocked unconscious, he awoke to the sound of a priest intoning the sacrament of Last Rites.One week later, Bruce Jennings stepped back in a race car with with a severely sprained back. In 1960, 1961 and 1964, Bruce Jennings was United States champion in the C-Production Class on the Sports Car Club of America circuit.
Later Bruce Jennings bought a Porsche 911, a car that served as a Porsche Werks backup car for the Monte Carlo Rally . That particular Porsche 911 was used extensively by Bruce Jennings in several races, among them the Sebring 12H.
Jennings passed away in January 1997, but his spirit lives on in the cars he raced. To date, Jennings has been the most successful privateer Porsche racer in the United States.
