In reply to Feedyurhed :
Why is that 308 on tippy toes?
Didn't recognize the "Jennings" name, but yeah, I much enjoyed Ms. Lindamood's work in C/D.
In reply to Feedyurhed :
Why is that 308 on tippy toes?
Didn't recognize the "Jennings" name, but yeah, I much enjoyed Ms. Lindamood's work in C/D.
In reply to Duke :
Yeah, it is sitting a little tall in the saddle.
I wonder if I still have this issue. Maybe?
vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:One of the greats for me alongside Egan and Davis.
Yes, exactly but I would have to add Satch Carlson to that list also. Met him several times at book signings.
Sad news, and too young. 
I always enjoyed her writing. The same thing took Brock Yates.
brandonsmash said:Jean Jennings and David Davis were hugely formative in my automotive upbringing. I miss their work but will always remember them fondly; Jean, in particular, was a major groundbreaker in automotive publications. I'd quite like to hear what Elena Scherr has to say about Jean Jeannings' passing, in fact.
Elana is quoted on the C&D website:
Car and Driver senior editor Elana Scherr adds: "When I first considered writing about cars as a career, wait, consider is too strong a word. When it first even came to my awareness that this was something people did and got paid for, there were two women in mainstream automotive journalism, Denise McCluggage and Jean Jennings. Between them they gave me hope there might be room for one more. And look where we are now! There are women hosting car shows, writing reviews, and racing in high-level motorsports.
"It's important to me to mention that she wasn't an inspiration simply by being female. Jean was a good writer. She was brave, she was funny, she had imagination and ambition. She wasn't afraid of fast cars or wild people. It's what gives her stories so much energy. She was excited to be there, doing things, and she made it seem possible for me, and many other writers, both men and women, to pursue a career in having adventures."
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a63202068/jean-jennings-obituary/
Thanks for finding that, Stuart. Jean had a great sense of humor in her editorials; I sure loved reading them.
It's a shame that she, David Davis, and in fact Automobile magazine have all passed.
That makes me feel sad. And old. Dammit.
Cogito Ergo Zoom forever, Jean!
Say hi to Denise (McCluggage).
Jean was one of the good ones. Admittedly, my formative "aspiring automotive journalist" years leaned more towards guys like Freiburger and his crew, but I later came to understand and enjoy the professionalism on display in the "new car" magazines like Car and Driver and Automobile. Jean was a big part of what made those magazines great.
A lot of the writers still I look up to (and can count as colleagues today) cite her as a big influence. I never got to meet her myself, but by all accounts, she helped change the game for the better. RIP.
Feedyurhed said:vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:One of the greats for me alongside Egan and Davis.
Yes, exactly but I would have to add Satch Carlson to that list also. Met him several times at book signings.
Satch Carlson is still around. He is the editor of the BMW Club of America Magazine.
https://carsyeah.com/ourportfolio/satch-carlson/
https://www.bmwcca.org/roundel-online
Paris, thanks for writing this. Jennings and Denise McCluggage gave me an appreciation for the perspective of women in the automobile and motorsports journalism industries.
As I started reading them in the early 80s, they came to be favorite writers of mine.
Godspeed, Jean.
Natalie, Elana, Paris - you're up. And I'm looking forward to continue reading the great work you've all started.
- Bill C
To the staff at GRM/CM:
you can see how much a writer can impact a community. Don't get discouraged if you catch yourself thinking "no one reads my stuff," or "my articles don't get as many clicks" as another staffer, or "my comments don't seem to get "liked" as much as someone else's.
Even with online tracking, what doesn't readily show up is how much something is valued beyond the clicks and likes.
Even with this thread and others like it, Jean's reach extended far beyond what she ever knew. Don't go down a rabbit hole of doubt.
Now if it's clicks and likes you want, post about putting JG on a dunk-tank platform for the entirety of the Daytona 24 and you'll prolly break your server. 
Hemmingway said to write for the one you love whether they are alive or dead. With Jean's writing and David E. Davis, I always had the feeling their writing was at a different level. Almost conversational, but brutally honest. The kind of person you would want to meet but would be intimidated at their conversational skills. Her articles should be in lessons for English majors. It makes me realize that the worst part of getting older is losing those that mean so much to you, not your own aging. Her level of writing cannot be duplicated by AI, which should be lesson to us - if your writing can be duplicated by AI - you need to improve or stop.
In reply to BillCuttitta :
Jennings writing truly gave me so much perspective when I started getting into motorsports and automobiles in general. When I started writing, I found myself looking over a lot of her past work for inspiration and it's amazing to see just how much perspective she gave others as well. She created an amazing avenue for young women and writers in this industry and I will do my best to help pave that road even more.
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) saidSatch Carlson is still around. He is the editor of the BMW Club of America Magazine.
https://carsyeah.com/ourportfolio/satch-carlson/
https://www.bmwcca.org/roundel-online
Wow, that is so cool. Always wondered what happened to him. Thanks for the links!
Oof, Yates and Lindamood-Jennings were two of my all-time favorites.
Duke said:In reply to Feedyurhed :
Why is that 308 on tippy toes?Didn't recognize the "Jennings" name, but yeah, I much enjoyed Ms. Lindamood's work in C/D.
That's how you get bumpers to meet federal standards.
I'd imagine that would be a topic that Jean would have written about very well.
I betcha I have that mag, as well.
As she once mentioned in a long ago Automobile article, she was indeed related to the Color Me GONE Lindamood.
Tony Sestito said:Jean was one of the good ones. Admittedly, my formative "aspiring automotive journalist" years leaned more towards guys like Freiburger and his crew, but I later came to understand and enjoy the professionalism on display in the "new car" magazines like Car and Driver and Automobile. Jean was a big part of what made those magazines great.
A lot of the writers still I look up to (and can count as colleagues today) cite her as a big influence. I never got to meet her myself, but by all accounts, she helped change the game for the better. RIP.
I was in college when I got a subscription to Automobile as a gift. I was used to Hot Rod and Car Craft but Automobile was a lot more sophisticated. I actually learned from that magazine. It was not written for dummies.
Jean was in the top bracket of a list of people that are directly responsible for me doing what I do. That '80s Car and Driver crew wrote with such a breezy familiarity that it was easy to forge parasocial relationships with all of them before we even knew the term. Reading Jean's stories was like being lucky enough to sit next to the most interesting person on a long flight and then being lucky enough that they're in a chatty mood.
Jean showed me that reporting on cars was as much about how a car made you feel as what the specs were, and that even though you may be writing about something boring and normal, YOU could still have an identifiable personality.
She was also one of the very few people I met at a press function that I absolutely flubbered over. She probably thought I was a total dumbass (in hindsight, she wasn't entirely wrong), as I tried in vain to have an actual conversation with her without totally nerding out. It didn't go so well from my recollection.
I also still remember a specific line from one of her stories about the One lap of America in, I think, 1985. She mentioned one of the teammates as "Steve Smith (not THE Steve Smith)..." and the ersatz Steve Smith in question turned out to be Steven Cole Smith, and that was a line that came shooting back into my brain the first time I met him. Luckily I didn't geek out too bad with Steve and scare him off, too, as we've become friends over the years and I've managed to resist geeking out on him too bad. I think i learned my lesson on that one.
Anyway, Alzheimer's sucks. It's a fitting end for literally no one. Jean was a giant and her impact and personality will never be duplicated.
Such is the way of the world. She, to her credit left a lingering reminder of her presence here that was overwhelmingly positive and memorable. That she went thru the horrors of dementia is truly sad. I hope that the mental confusion imposed by Alzheimers was the worst part of that which took her away from us all. She certainly deserved a better end than she received. She will be missed. Rest in peace Jean...
stuart in mn said:brandonsmash said:Jean Jennings and David Davis were hugely formative in my automotive upbringing. I miss their work but will always remember them fondly; Jean, in particular, was a major groundbreaker in automotive publications. I'd quite like to hear what Elena Scherr has to say about Jean Jeannings' passing, in fact.
Elana is quoted on the C&D website:
Car and Driver senior editor Elana Scherr adds: "When I first considered writing about cars as a career, wait, consider is too strong a word. When it first even came to my awareness that this was something people did and got paid for, there were two women in mainstream automotive journalism, Denise McCluggage and Jean Jennings. Between them they gave me hope there might be room for one more. And look where we are now! There are women hosting car shows, writing reviews, and racing in high-level motorsports.
"It's important to me to mention that she wasn't an inspiration simply by being female. Jean was a good writer. She was brave, she was funny, she had imagination and ambition. She wasn't afraid of fast cars or wild people. It's what gives her stories so much energy. She was excited to be there, doing things, and she made it seem possible for me, and many other writers, both men and women, to pursue a career in having adventures."
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a63202068/jean-jennings-obituary/
Elana writes a lot in her columns about old 70's vintage mopars and also actually owns a Jensen Interceptor.
Great stuff!
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