Not that Jenks really considered himself to be "a journalist" . He saw himself more as a lifelong enthusiast and habitual writer, who merely wrote about his enthusiasm. DCN
Philippe, Doug's reply is the whole point about Jenks as a writer, his knowledge, involvement, love of experiencing all aspects of speed and competition, his knowing all the people, above all being trusted and respected by those involved, whether they
liked him or not ( even Enzo when he did not regard his as a Maserati spy...), and then his ability to translate that into re-creation of the atmosphere etc of the event described, plus the technical skill to explain
nuts and bolts to his readership, these are what ranked Jenks so highly. Not tolerating fools was a bonus, since it avoided mealy-mouthed platitudes. He invariably had to find out his information and source material - no press or PR handouts, or electronic stuff then.
It is also imperative to see him as being of his time, when there were precious few others, or fewer, who covered the same topics. Philippe's barb about the Mille Mgilia misses the point. It was because he was capable of doing the job next to SCM, trusted by him and the might of MB, that he was able to bring his other attributes into play which resulted in the definitive race report. How many writers, then or now, could have even sat next to SCM without being a distraction for 10 hrs at race speeds, let alone taking it all in in a manner to be capable of total recall?
He was the on-site enthusiast writing knowledgeably to fellow enthusiasts back home. You cannot compare modern writers in the same way.
I cannot offer any disclaimer regarding partisanship. My loyalty to DSJ is well known. I bought my first copy of MS less than 2 months after Philippe was born, and grew up with Jenks and the Bod. Anyway, opinions are always highly subjective. Whatever we do, let it not be compiling a list of the top 10 journos. Spare us that at least.
Gets off high horse and exits left
Roger Lund
Edited by bradbury west, 28 January 2010 - 22:06.