With Pro Nitrous star Shannon Jenkins known as “The Iceman,” does that make his son, Heath, an “Ice Chip” off the old block?

That may not be the nickname the 25-year-old is looking for, but there’s no question Heath Jenkins wants to replicate his father’s on-track success. There’s only one major obstacle - his father.

“He’s definitely ready,” the former IHRA and NHRA Pro Mod world champion and multi-time ADRL race winner says of Heath’s aspirations. “I’m just not ready to stop driving yet.”

With Pro Nitrous star Shannon Jenkins known as “The Iceman,” does that make his son, Heath, an “Ice Chip” off the old block?

That may not be the nickname the 25-year-old is looking for, but there’s no question Heath Jenkins wants to replicate his father’s on-track success. There’s only one major obstacle - his father.

“He’s definitely ready,” the former IHRA and NHRA Pro Mod world champion and multi-time ADRL race winner says of Heath’s aspirations. “I’m just not ready to stop driving yet.”

A go-cart racer in his early teens, the younger Jenkins has been working on his dad’s race cars since he was 16 and joined the team full-time upon graduating from high school seven years ago. He now does most of the race engine work between races on the cars of his father and Al-Anabi Racing teammates Mike Castellana and Burton Auxier back at their shop in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and handles the track-side clutch work on the Iceman’s ’68 Camaro.           

While he enjoys the mechanical challenge of prepping a car to make three-second laps at nearly 200 mph, the younger Jenkins admits it’s really just the means to an end for him.

“I enjoy that rush. You know, you’ve got 45 minutes between rounds and you’ve got to do the motor, do the clutch, but the main thing is, all I want to do is go down that race track,” he says. “But you’ve got to start from the bottom and work your way up; you don’t want to start from the top and work your way down.”

That hard-work ethic was instilled directly by the actions of his father.

“My old man is the hardest-working guy I’ve ever seen; I mean, he’s a workaholic,” Jenkins says. “And that’s the way he’s taught me, that you have to work for everything  you get, so that’s all we do, is work on race cars.”

He’s managed to fit a few eighth-mile passes in, too.

“I’ve got my Quick Rod license and overseas I’ve probably made 300 passes in the Sheikh’s (Khalid Al-Thani) dragsters. I’ve been 4.40s I don’t know how many times,” he says.

Regardless, Jenkins recognizes nothing but seat time in a Pro Mod can prepare him for the intimidating nature of an overpowered, short wheelbased doorslammer. “I’ve probably done 50 burnouts in my dad’s and Burton’s cars, scuffing tires. Whenever we go testing and need to scuff tires I hop in there just to get the feel of it.”

So he’s getting closer all the time to making that first pull under power in a Pro Mod ride, but with his dad still winning and loving what he does behind the steering wheel, Jenkins realizes he may eventually have to look elsewhere for his first opportunity as a driver. He says he’s open to driving for someone else or even making his start in a lower class, if that’s what it takes, but stresses, “all I know is Pro Mod racing and that’s really what I want to do.

“I would rather race Pro Mod, but like I said, if someone came along with a good deal on something else, who knows? I’d have to consider that if it happened, but my goal is to race Pro Mod like my Pops.”

While Jenkins’ father obviously has been most influential in shaping his son's  racing ambitions, the younger Jenkins also cites Al-Anabi teammates Auxier and Castellana among those racers he most admires.

“I’ve been watching them both since I was just a kid,” Jenkins recalls. “Burton, to me, he’s an old-school drag racer and I just like how he does stuff. He’s a good ole’ country boy who didn’t have a whole lot of money and sponsorship when he started, but he just got out there and did it and ran good.

“And Mike, he may have had some money on his side, but before he hooked up with my old man he was tearing stuff up and burning motors up, but he stuck with it and became a great driver. Everybody’s got to start somewhere.”

And Heath Jenkins has his start; now it’s just a matter of waiting to see where it takes him.