John Smith Zink

John Smith "Jack" Zink (October 17, 1928 – February 5, 2005), founder of Zeeco, Inc., was an American engineer who received 35 patents for his inventions in the field of combustion, and was also known for his achievements and contributions in business, auto racing and charitable enterprises.

Business After graduation, he joined the John Zink Company, which his father had founded in 1929. By then, the company had specialized in manufacturing burners, flares, and incinerators for the petroleum and related industries. Jack received 35 patents for his inventions of combustion equipment. He continued to run the company from 1962 until 1979 when it was bought by Sunbeam Corporation. After his father's company was sold, Jack purchased a small company called "Product Manufacturing" and changed the name to Zinkco. "When the new owners of the John Zink Company complained that the "Zink" name was an international trademark for combustion equipment in the same way that "Kleenex" was a trademark for tissue and "Xerox" was a trademark for photocopiers, Jack changed the name of his company to Zeeco." While their headquarters are in Tulsa, OK, the company manufactures in the United States and other global locations. Jack served on the board of directors for several companies including Telex and Sunbeam. He was inducted into the Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2004. riding a Husqvarna 400 with fellow Oklahoman Vern Street. Racing in category 8, motorcycles over 125cc's, they finished the grueling 1000 mile event in 6th place in their class and 24th overall out of 259 entries. Their total time was 25 hours/11 minutes. It was Jack's first off road motorcycle race, while his partner Vern, was a highly accomplished national caliber competitor. The bike now resides at the Zink Ranch Museum in Oklahoma.

In 1994 Jack agreed to host the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) at the rugged Zink Ranch. The Tulsa Trail Riders motorcycle club, founded in 1956, ran overall logistics and computerized rider scoring. Over 600 participants from all over the world competed for medals and trophies in this most prestigious off road event. The ISDE is widely known as the "Olympics of Motorcycling" as it tests not only rider skill/stamina but also machine reliability. Founded in 1913, this was only the second time in history the event was held in the USA.

Charitable enterprises and civic activities Jack Zink became chairman of the John Zink Foundation, which his father, John Steele Zink, had founded. The foundation owned the John Zink ranch in Osage County, Oklahoma. Jack's father had started the working ranch many years before, but Jack had expanded it to . He also converted it to a private game preserve and recreation area. It also contains campgrounds for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. He ran for election as a Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate in 1980, but lost the nomination to Don Nickles, who went on to win the general election. Jack was survived by his wife, Jan, three sons, three stepchildren and a sister, Jill Zink Tarbel. A fourth son, Colin, died in 1993.

Zink died in Tulsa on February 5, 2005.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series NASCAR Grand National Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 Pts 1956 John Zink 88 Pontiac HCY CLT WSS PBS ASF DAB PBS WIL ATL NWS LAN RCH CLB CON GPS HCY HBO MAR LIN CLT POR EUR NYF MER MAS CLT MCF POR AWS RSP PIF CSF CHI CCF MGY OKL ROA OBS SAN NOR PIF MYB POR DAR CSH CLT LAN POR CLB HBO NWP CLT CCF MAR HCY WIL 195th