Jack Zink of Zink Ranch

[vstreet]

Just got word that Jack Zink of  the infamous Zink Ranch passed away Saturday from a pulmonary embolism.  Don't know details yet but will follow up when I get the word.
 
A legend has passed!
 
Vern Street

[Steve Minor]

What a terrible loss for motor racing, the Boy Scouts and Oklahoma....He did so much for all three. He will truely be missed.

My thoughts and sorrows goes to the family.

[TGTech]

I suppose that the only good thing that can be said about this, is that I'm happy that many of us got to see him last fall, before the end. He will be sadly missed in the motorcycling community.

Dane

[Dwight Rudder]

God's Speed, Jack !  
You will be missed.
Dwight & Debbie Rudder

Dwight Rudder
7 time ISDT / E medalist
8 time National Enduro Class Champion.

[LynnCamp]

Thought you all might want to see the AP wire service release for John Zink.  The memorial service is Friday in Tulsa.

8 February 2005
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - A memorial service has been set for Friday for Tulsa industrialist, philanthropist and racing enthusiast John Zink Jr., whose cars won the Indianapolis 500 twice.

Zink died Saturday at age 76. From 1962 to 1980, he headed the John Zink Co., a manufacturer of combustion equipment used in the petroleum industry.

In 1981 he founded a new combustion engineering company, ZEECO. The John Zink Co. is now run by Koch Industries. By the time he passed control of ZEECO to his son Darton in 2000, Zink had 35 patents on the latest developments in burner-related technology.

He also served on the corporate boards of Telex, Sunbeam, Liberty Bank, Matrix and Unit Corp., a Tulsa oil drilling firm.

King Kirchner, the retired founder and chief executive officer of Unit Corp., said he was lucky to get his college friend involved in his company in 1982.

"Business was tough for oil drillers in the '80s, and he helped us get through with his business acumenand moral support," Kirchner said.

Zink also found success in racing, be it soap-box derby, midget racers, stock cars, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, trucks or sailboats.

"It didn't matter what it was; he was passionate about racing it," Darton Zink said.

John Zink broke the world speed record for a Pontiac Fire Chief at Daytona Beach, won the Baja 500 in a dune buggy, amassed frequent wins in sailing regattas and built the cars that won the Indianapolis 500 in 1955 and 1956.

His racing career included two spectacular crashes, one in which he flipped a car at 120 mph on Zink Ranch, and another in Las Vegas when his car sailed off a 150-foot bank and landed nose-first.

Zink attempted a run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Henry Bellmon in 1980 and supported the effort with his own money. Although he lost to Don Nickles in a runoff after a contentious campaign, he remained an active supporter of Nickles and other Republican candidates.

John Zink's charitable work was conducted through the John Steele Zink Foundation, the Jayzee Foundation, the John Smith Zink Foundation and the John Zink Foundation.

Zink's most visible contribution to the area is the Zink Ranch, founded by his father, John Steele Zink. Under the younger Zink, the ranch grew to more than 32,000 acres between the shores of Skiatook and Keystone lakes and houses facilities and programs of four Boy and Girl Scouts camps.

A memorial service is set for 4 p.m. Friday in the Donald W. Reynolds Center at the University of Tulsa under the direction of Ninde Garden Funeral Home.