Another Look at Smokey Yunick’s Capsule Car

One of the most unusual Indy cars ever built, Smokey Yunick's 1964 capsule car continues to fascinate race fans to this day. Here's a detailed look.


Another Look at Smokey Yunick's Capsule Car | Mac's Motor City Garage.com

 

Not afraid to think outside the box, to be sure, but not one of his better efforts. The pod crash exposure and front drum brakes, real design failures.

 

The number 10 car looks safer in the second picture.

 

I had read that other drivers were asked to test drive it, but they (possibly wisely) declined the offer. Not a race car for the faint of heart.

Bob

 

Smokey was from a time when thinking outside the box and with out big $$$ funding reaped many rewards and success's along with some failures. I have huge admiration and respect for the man, his common sense and home grown engineering approach. He is a genuine legend, from a time in automotive history that's gone forever. Its said, "history repeats itself", in the automotive world, Who would be todays Smokey? John

 

A few years ago, this car was sitting side by side with the #40 STP turbine car in the Indy Speedway museum. It was interesting to note the similarities in layout between the worst & most dangerous car ever to run at the Speedway and the most cleverly designed & constructed car ever to run at the Speedway.

mac miller in INDY

 

He was a genius in my book

 

at the time smokey built the car,drum brakes were still the standard on the NASCAR cars he was familiar with and were quite reliable.note that the upper front "control arms"is actually a single leaf spring!for sure the only drum brake,spring front car to run since the mid 50's.Smokey was probably the last person to try carbs at indy,one of his rear engine,twin turbo stock blocks had a pair of holley carbs mounted,one on each turbo

 

Thanks for the link. I will argue that his stuff may have been safer than the norm in many cases!

 

Saw it at the Lemay museum in Tacoma Wa 2012

 

In his autobiography, Yunick blames Rathmann for bad-mouthing the car among the drivers and for allegedly spooking Johns.

 

I'm a huge Smokey fan. His innovations and inclination to think (sometimes way) out of the box are what hot rodders are made of, and things of legend. His articles were always a treat to read. No high dollar words, just plain old common sense garage speak, coming across as if you were sitting there shootin' the shit over a cold one with him. True original is an understatement.
All that said, it would take stones of unheard of size and mass to take his pod creation to speed. Even in the era where drivers carried theirs around in a wheel-barrow. I have a new found respect for Bobby Johns and anyone else who gave it a go. Wow.

 

As far as cheating goes, they’ll never stop it. The only way it can be done successfully, only one person can know about it. – Smokey Yunick

 

Coolest thing about this car is the shifter mechanism that engages/disengages the clutch as the shifter is pulled for gear changes.

 

SMOKEY was and still is an inspirational man to anyone that has ever turned a wrench! With the I CAN MAKE IT BETTER attitude, and the determination to actually do it! He is one person for sure that I wish I had the pleasure of meeting.

 

I have very few heroes but Smokey Yunick is someone I admired since I was about 12. I used to subscribe to Popular Science just so I could read, "Say Smokey" every month. Somewhere I have a picture of me standing beside the sign of "The Best Damn Garage in Town."

 

this guy was ahead of his time and helped in many ways in the automotive field ...

 

Smokey's take on building racecars proves that the biggest blockages in solving problems are the obstacles in your mind. His was remarkably uncluttered and freely flowing....

 

Me too, I loved that column.

 

According To Smokey,the capsule car was supposed to get a turbine. The deal for the turbine engine fell through at the last minute so he stuffed the four in it and let it rip. I like the photo of the turbine car and the almost turbine car.

 

I,too, read this every month in PS. Great column.-I wish they'd been reprinted.

 

Yes, the turbine is covered in the story. There was apparently a major miscommunication between Smokey and the supplier about the cost.

 

There is supposed to be another shifter assembly out there somewhere. How would you like to find it at swap meet?

 

Duane Carter also wheeled the capsule car, but he and Smokey had opposing tire deals, reportedly.

 

Popular Science before and after Smokey is available online.
Google "say smokey" popular science

That's good for a few hours of "wasted" time for me

 

I also really like the wheels, Torque Thrusts! Gary

 

I used his cooling tricks on my O/T car...it worked just the way he said it would. When I'm stumped, I go to the bookshelf and grab one of his books. That's his legacy from my vantage point. He inspired many of us to try and do more stuff we might not have done. Who wouldn't want that kind of praise?

 

I've always been a Smokey Yunick fan, but the pod car was surely not one of his better ideas. Besides the safety factor of having another car's tire right next to the driver in a collision, there's the vulnerability of the driver in any crash.
The leaf spring designed front suspension is unique, and lightweight, but I always wondered about spring twisting under hard braking, and what effect it might have on the geometry of the whole front suspension if that single spring flexed? Seems to me that it might not handle the side loads of hard braking without changing the geometry, and that could be disastrous at high speeds!

 

The leaf spring/control arm concept wasn't really unique. It had been used in formula cars in Europe for many years.

 

Also on production cars here in America, where it was known as planar suspension.