Joe Lencki was a long time Chicago racer that had cars that ran everything from dirt bullrings to Indy and his reputation in the race community may have helped him get a job as a supervisor at the Dodge Chicago plant in Chicago. That factory was erected to build Wright R3350 radial engines for the B29 Superfortress bombers and I think Joe made some good contacts there. The way the story goes Joe somehow was put in contact with a professor at the University of Chicago who helped with the formula for the "Speedway ****tail" and that was the initial name for Lenckite. Joe and his wife Helen actually blended and bottled, (yes, originally it was sold in gl*** bottles) at home in their garage. They eventually switched to cans but the whole time Joe produced Lenckite it was strictly a mom and pop operation. For what it's worth Lenckite was tested and approved by the FAA, apparently the only oil additive that has that distinction. Joe's claim was it acted as an oil enhancer and could "enter the pores of metal" giving superior protection at startup. Not only did Joe race and market Lenckite, he also was a friend of Joe Milan and Preston Tucker a**** others. If Milan sounds familiar it is because he invented the Kinmont brake and I believe Joe had the first car at Indianapolis with disc brakes, a larger version of the Kinmont. While I don't know who exactly knew who first Tucker intended to use Kinmont disc brakes for his Tucker automobiles. When Dodge Chicago closed right after WW II Joe landed right back at the plant when Preston Tucker leased part of the huge facility to build his cars. Joe worked in engineering and development for Tucker, at times doing fabrication at his race shop near 73rd. & Western on Chicago's south side. Years later as Joe and Helen started to advance in age they were befriended by another, younger Chicago racer that helped look after them. Having no children they left their estate to him and ultimately the Lenckite formula and name was sold to Bruton Smith and re-branded as Z Max. The photo shows an early bottle top can and the later screw cap version.
Check this out the man and his stuff. I posted this here:https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/unusual-engine-photos.1123661/page-33 post 966. The way it was posted on another site had him with HIS engine like he designed or built it.
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