The recent thread on "Best Cheating Stories" brought to mind an outrageous picture I recall about this great innovator and "rule stretcher", from a 60's stock car race. It shows Smokey standing by a pit wall, back to the camera, one leg up on the wall, casually warming up a can of motor oil for his in-coming car--- with a torch, after lighting a cigarette!! I believe the pic was part of an article of him in HRM, about 1968. (Vaguely recall some pics of his in-famous black and gold Chevelle, as well.) Does anyone remember this picture or article and provide additional details or the pic itself?? I think the younger set would get a kick out of seeing how it was done in the good ole days. Can you imagine the NASCAR safety boys reaction to a similar scene today?? Robb
I remember reading an aricle on this car. There were quie a few tricks Smokey incorporated such as a small spoiler built into the roof,7/8 scale,body offset on frame a well as lowered to create a sort of belly pan effect. Seems I also remember some mention of the car having quite a bit of vey large fuel line to increase the fuel capacity.
Smokey was cool! "If the rule book don't say I can't do it, it's legal." or something like that. What an innovator and a true genius in his field.
I got a bunch of stuff at last garage sale,even have a couple doors that were acid dipped,light as a feather.....
My favorite Smokey quote: "No, we don't cheat. We work on stuff a lot, though. Matter a fact, when the inspector's lookin at the front of the car, we work on the back. And if he's lookin' at the back, why, we're workin' on the front!"
The secret fuel tank story has taken on a life of it's own and will never die, but Smokey called it B.S.
There was a lot of "smoothing" under that Chevelle the front A frames were plated on the bottom "for strength" the floors were flush with the bottom of the frame and the car had a 3 inch fuel line from tank to carb!I believe Smokey said the fuel line alone held an additional 5 gallons of gas!NASCAR rules were "no belly pans" and specified the MINIMUM fuel line requirement but no MAXIMUM.Smokey claims he never cheated but did work the "gray areas" of the rule book alot.When they banned grinding on ports he pumped lapping compound in oil under pressure through the intake and exhauist ports,when they outlawed that he poured a clear epoxy through the ports to "seal "them but did no "material removal".All this info came from a magazine interview with him years after the fact.He also used would draw attention away from "gray areas"by drawing attention to something else like covering the right front suspension if the questionalable modification was made to the left rear (just my sample)the tech guys would get so caught up in "whats he hiding here " that they wouldn't check the rear.Petty did this with his Vynal top on one of his cars the other teams and tech inspectors were so involved in how/why that top would help the car they never noticed the top had been chopped 2 inches!
If I've done this right this should get you there. http://www.motortrend.com/features/consumer/112_0504_unfair_advantage/photo_02.html
And the winner is---BUFFALORACER! That's the one, taken from a different angle, before or after he lit the cig. I had always assumed this was taken during a practice session, or MAYBE qualifying; but damn, it looks like from this shot, it could have been during an actual long distance race. (Hence, the TWO qts. of oil to warm up) MANY THANKS!! (Good article, too) Robb
A lot of what he did was just to rattle people and often just for his pleasure of pulling one over on them. He was the master at getting everyone's attention on something that was 110% legit while doing a sleight of hand elsewhere that everyone missed. Bob
Yunick's cars were competitive through the 1950's, and he won the Indy 500 around 1960.Then some wins with Fireball Roberts. But after that,I believe he didn't win much or at all. If you cheat more than the other guys and don't win,what's the point?
He said in his book that years later he sold it, and Fireballs' crushed Pontiac to the scrap dealer, and went on to say that he should have kept them since they'd be worth a ton of money now (2001)
I sure agree with that 100%. If you've never read his book you owe it to yourself to get it. His WWII exploits alone are enough to leave you in stitches. And later, his interpretation of NASCAR rules is one of the reasons the rule book is so big now, because it "Didn't say you couldn't. His innovations in carburetion, sparkplugs, oil and air filters, cylinder flow and safety, speak for themselves. Later, Phil
Yeah, you can tell it was written over a long period of time and he kind of repeats himself a few times in going over material, but it's a great read. Any car nut or fan of American automotive history would be amazed at the people he worked with or crossed paths with along the way. That kinda rings true with his WWII experience too.
What Wally said! The best bench racing I ever participated in was listening to Smokey tell stories. I could listen to him all day. One thing he did that I missed was the tribute to the guys that designed and built the small block Chevy which was held at the PRI show. I bought the video have wished I had taken the time to attend ever since.
I don't really think he cheated more. I think he got the most publicity for it. Back then the standard loose rule was " go in with ten things wrong, tech inspection finds five things, you still have five things you wanted". From there it was a matter of distraction from the more beneficial things than the least. A lot of NASCAR races were won with 1-3 cars wayyyy ahead of anybody else, yet Smokey wasn't in that hunt most of the time in the late 60's. There are a lot of very good reasons for that I'm sure. Yes, still he was a genius.
Here's Smokey's sign as it looks hanging in Floyd Garrett's Muscle Car Museum in Sevierville, TN. Jim
Smokey was a great guy , driver and builder . If the rules didn't say it exactly he would do it ! He found more ways of doing something and when he was caught , they would add that rule to the book so he couldn't do it again . They still find hidden things in his cars that no one knew about .
You can also get them direct from his daughters' (Trish) store in Daytona. She also sells a full line of other stuff, tapes, shirts, posters, etc. http://www.smokeyyunick.com/ Phil ............................................................................... Highlights Grew up on a farm in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania Flew B-17s for the Army Air Force in WWII Flew for the Flying Tigers Driver, mechanic, crew chief for stock cars in 1950s and 1960s Won two Grand National (Winston Cup today) Championships Won Indy in 1960 Worked in Ecuador for 30 years in oil drilling and gold mining Wrote for Popular Science and Circle Track magazines Accreditations Founding Member and Director of Embry-Riddle University Honorary Doctorate in Aeronautical Engineering, Embry-Riddle Engineering Professor Emeritus, Daytona Beach Community College S.C.O.R.E Judge, for three years, one of ten judges picked to examine annual alternate energy expo submissions from Amercian colleges and universities, related to alternate energy Member of Society of Automotive Engineers Patents & Inventions Variable Ratio Power Steering Hot Vapor Engine Silent Tire Smoketron Engine Testing Device Movable Race Track Crash Barrier Oil filling through oil filter Extended Tip Spark Plug Power brakes from residual power steering pressure Water bypass system for “V” engines Reverse cooling system Centrifuge Type Oil Refinery (Ecuador) Awards Two Time NASCAR Mechanic of the Year Mechanical Achievements Awards – Indianapolis Motor Speedway & Ontario Motor Speedway Engineering Award – Indianapolis Motor Speedway Inventor of the Year – 1983 Presents the Annual Smokey Yunick Lifetime Achievement Award at Charlotte Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Inductions National Racing Hall of Fame International MotorSports Hall of Fame Legends of Auto Racing Hall of Fame Stock Car Racing, Daytona Hall of Fame Darlington Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Legends of Performance – Chevrolet Hall of Fame TRW Mechanic Hall of Fame Living Legends of Auto Racing – 1997 Stock Car Racing Magazine Hall of Fame Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame Voted #7 on list of Top 10 athletes of the Century by Winston Salem Journal, Oct. 1999 University of Central Florida, President’s Medallion Society Rotary Club of Oceanside – Daytona Beach Race Record 1951-1954 – 39 Grand National Wins after 1954 won Raleigh - August 20, 1955 won Darlington - 1955 won Palm Beach - December 11, 1955 won Wilson, N.C. - March 18, 1956 won Langhorne - September 23, 1956 won Greensboro - April 28, 1957 won Lancaster S.C. - June 1, 1957 won Raleigh - July 4, 1957 won Daytona Beach - February, 1958 won Atlanta - July 4, 1959 won Daytona Beach - February 12, 1960 won Atlanta - July 31, 1960 won Daytona Beach - February 24, 1961 won Daytona Beach - February 26, 1961 won Daytona Beach - February 10, 1962 won Daytona Beach - February 16, 1962 won Daytona Beach - February 18, 1962 won Daytona Beach - February 22, 1963 39 + 18 = 57 Stock Car/Grand National races one Indy race win - 1960
Just read his self-published biography. I must say the three books are some of the most profane, funny, irreverant commentaries I've ever read on the sport. What a mind that guy had, and you talk about paying the price for what he did. A highly, highly recommended read. He is very unappreciated for what he did. Pete Richmond, VA
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