Gary Sumek would like to see a very special individual receive some well-deserved recognition.
Sumek, the owner of Lenco transmissions, would like to see Leonard Abbott, inventor of the innovative transmission that he markets, recognized with an induction into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame.
“His innovation helped revolutionized drag racing back in the late 60’s and early 70’s,” said Sumek. “He’s been overlooked because he wasn’t in the limelight. After 40 years, his product, his idea, is still out there and still functioning. How many other things in this industry can you even think about has the longevity this product has?”
Gary Sumek would like to see a very special individual receive some well-deserved recognition.
Sumek, the owner of Lenco transmissions, would like to see Leonard Abbott, inventor of the innovative transmission that he markets, recognized with an induction into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame.
“His innovation helped revolutionized drag racing back in the late 60’s and early 70’s,” said Sumek. “He’s been overlooked because he wasn’t in the limelight. After 40 years, his product, his idea, is still out there and still functioning. How many other things in this industry can you even think about has the longevity this product has?”
For Sumek, his mission for Abbott’s inclusion ranks as important as marketing the product in an industry which has grown extremely competitive over the last two decades.
Sumek first went to work for Abbott assembling transmissions. He worked his way through sales and service and made a positive impression on Abbott to the point that when Abbott became terminally ill, Sumek was his choice to purchase the company.
“Leonard was a very special man and for him to give me the opportunity to do something like this means a lot,” Sumek said. “I was going to be a high school teacher. I wasn’t going to be fronting a transmission shop or manufacturing. It has been an opportunity of a lifetime.”
Today Sumek does his best to uphold Abbott’s honor in the way he conducts business and advances Lenco into the marketplace.
“Leonard was a huge innovator,” Sumek explained. “He helped design the first floater kit. He even had traction control back in the early 70’s, way before everybody else was even thinking about it. Leonard was not a rich man, but he had a wealth of knowledge and curiosity to try to innovate and progress to do something better. Eventually, he ended up getting into programming the equipment that we had, the turning and bell equipment and he ended up developing programs for CNC equipment until his demise in 1984.”
And, for Sumek, honoring Abbott’s legacy means never quitting in the face of adversity.
“The first time they put a Lenco into a car, in Leonard’s car, it broke,” Sumek said. “But, he knew from the leave and the launch of the car it was a revolutionary idea. He went back, took it apart, fixed what needed to be fixed, went out the next weekend and set low et, top mph and won Long Beach. One of the first persons to come over to see how he could get one was Don Prudhomme. It progressed from there all the way into Funny Car, Pro Stock and alcohol cars to a product that has been around for almost 40 years.”
That kind of longevity, Sumek believes, deserves recognition on the grand stage of the drag racing Hall of Fame.
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