02/23/2026
We’re devastated to learn that Dr. Ben Jones passed away. Dr. Ben Jones and his wife Denise were some of the first people we met in January 2022 when we first started to film our documentary on the Badwater 135. We were stationed north of LA and drove a couple of hours from Tujunga to meet them in Lone Pine, a tiny town of 2000 inhabitants at the foothill of Mount Whitney. We got there early and set up the interview in the backroom of a local restaurant. Ben got in first, his large frame a little hunched over, his feet steadily sweeping the ground. Although he was in his 90s, you could tell he’d been an athlete all his life. He greeted us with a large smile and as he sat down, asked us a bunch of questions, curious to know what a Belgian and a Brit were doing in Death Valley, and how we’d come to learn about Badwater. Denise arrived soon after. As she took place next to Ben, she adjusted his hearing aid. He said she knew how to tune it better than himself. Self-proclaimed the Mayor and First Lady of Badwater, Ben and Denise shared some of the incredible - and often hilarious - stories from the early days of the race. They both had run it several times back in the 1990s and earned the nicknames that went with it. Denise was known as the “Blister Queen”, Dr. Jones as Badwater Ben. Ben had been a doctor in Death Valley for most of his life. He’d personally delivered most of the newborn in the area (over a 1000), had used a coffin filled with water attached to the back of a U-haul to cool down during the race, once interrupted running the Badwater 135 to conduct an autopsy (he conducted over 2000 in his career), and then resumed the race once he was done. And those were just some of the stories they had from over the years. Ben incarnated the spirit of Badwater probably better than anyone. He was full of dark humor and wit and was one of those bigger than life characters that instantly made you feel like family. When we ended the interview some two and a half hours later, we understood this race wasn’t just a race, it was a way of life. Thank you Ben for inspiring so many athletes. You’ll be sorely missed. Rest in Peace.
