You should have heard him tell those stories in person! Experiencing that will be a life-long memory.
I read his book a long time ago, his ideas on cheating, tolerance stacking, simple things that help, expensive complex things that waste time... I have some skyscraper customers in NYC that couldn't put tanks for diesel fuel near engines, so put in 36" fuel "manifolds" that go around the room twice !!!
I have an old Hot Rod zine (mid-70's) with an article called "Gett'n Competitive". Odd that HR would have an article about NASCAR in the middle of the van craze but whatever. In the article, there were a few bits about Smokey, who by then had been out of the NASCAR scene for close to ten years. * Ganing extra fuel capacity by "snaking a large fuel line all over the car that might have held an extra 5 gallons" and "we made the fuel tank bottom out a thinner gauge steel, so after the inspectors measured the outside, a crewman would stick an air hose in the filler, pressurize the tank to bulge out the bottom, and add the extra 5 or 6 gallons of gas". * "Bellypans were illegal, so we made a big rotisserie to turn the cars upside down and then we'd spend several days blending and smoothing the underside of the car with plastic filler. Not a car went outta here that didn't have a hundred pounds of Bondo underneath it". * On the 7/8 scale Chevelle: "The NASCAR profile templates didn't fit Smokey's Chevelle, but the templates didn't fit Smokey's daily driver Chevelle either, so he didn't have to change a thing". Do you suppose Smokey built a street version of the 7/8 scale Chevelle to fool the NASCAR inspectors? What the fuck, over. * Since the cars were weighed before the race and not after, they'd drill holes in the roll cage and fill the tubes with sand. Once the race got underway, the driver would pull a string or wire attached to a plug, and the sand would drain out over the course of several laps dropping the weight of the car by several hundred pounds (Or so they clamied - I don't see how you could get enough sand into a roll cage to add that much weight). Whether everything Smokey claimed to have done was true or not, he really did take a lot of skills and a lot of secret shit with him when he left.
I create competitive sporting equipment of a totally off-topic nature. Being a long-time Smokey fan I've incorporated this philosophy into my stuff from the very beginning. Guess what? It still works!
Another version of the Petty vinyl top was that they acid dipped it too long and the vinyl was the only way to keep it from collapsing. Petty said the dimples in the vinyl top were like those on a golf ball and made the car faster. Whats true or not I dont have a clue. Ive also heard the chopped top version
On the 7/8 scale Chevelle. I keep hearing all sorts of things and many times it seems Smokey added a few different versions to the lore. The one that makes the most sense to me is where he actually did NOT build the car to 7/8 scale, but let the rumor make its rounds anyway. The templates didn't fit either of his cars,race or daily driver, BECAUSE, the templates were taken off another RACE CAR! A back field creation that when it came down to it, if their car fit the template even if it wasn't stock, who cared? The focus on the 7/8 scale story, may have helped to divert the outside world away from other issues. Must have worked fairly well, we're still talking about 42 years later.
The choped top version came from petty himself in an interview.the pebble grain acting like a golf ball was proposed by other teams.
I just want to say that I recently purchased Smokey's 3-volume set of the biography of his life and they are a fantastic set of books. I've always admired the man and his racing exploits but I'll yell 'ya, his World War II stories and jungle adventures are even better than the racing! The man lived an absolutely incredible life. Great reading of a great American. Anyone interested in them can just go to Amazon.com and do a seach for Smokey Yunick. I think I paid about $68 for all 3 three books and they come in a really nice black dust jacket. Highly recommended!
Same here. I bought them from Amazon a few weeks ago myself. I enjoyed the WW2 era stuff more than the Nascar and Indy parts.
I know its not HAMB material but I like the camaro and stories about what he did for it. I have a super chevy magazine that talked about Chevrolet asking him to work on some HEMI heads for the 302 small block chevy. And that he had to do some much work to them that tooling would have to be changed so they dropped the idea.
I read the whole story years ago. The part that really made me laugh was when they sai he had an illeagal gas tank so he pulled it out and gave it to them !! THEN drove 2.5 miles back to his shop with no tank!!!!!!!!
Not sure if it was Smokey who did that(may have been);but I remember Leroy Yarborough ran that set-up in '68 or '69 under his Mercury stock car. If I remember,he ran out of Holman-Moody,another group of "creative" individuals. I imagine that Leonard Wood,H-M and some others have some just-as-interesting tales to tell.
Vic Edelbrock Jr. runs, what I was told, a 67 Camaro that was Smokey's in the Vintage Sports Car Races while his two daughters run 65 Mustangs
No doubt Smokey was the best all round innovator of all times and his stories will live forever.Many of his ideas still lives today and are still used.
Altho it may well have done what you say, the real reason was, its the area of lowest pressure at the rear of the car so you get a bit of exhaust extraction. Since it reduces back pressure a bit it allows just a little more intake; a few more HP for free - always Smokey's goal. And on the other end of the car Smokey also used 'cowl' induction - taking air in from the plenum at the base of the windshield (when you cant get it in from the grill area). The base of the windshield is the area of highest pressure at the front of the car next to the grill itself. Thats why many hood scoops face backwards.
Um, isn't the base of the windscreen the LOW pressure area? Look at the aerodynamics of the shape, an eddy of sorts is created there. Makes the higher pressure moving air flow over it. I always thought you got better quality non turbulent air through that type of intake where taking air from the front may have given you 'ram air' of sorts but very turbulent as it entered the carb. I may be wrong, probably are but its what I have been told. As for Smokey's books, the book sold on the link by his family is only 25 bucks while the Amazon one is almost 100 bucks. Whats the difference? Completely different books or just how they were presented? I REALLY want to learn how he managed to not only fly for the AAF but also the AVG? As the AVG was a private company and the AAF looked down on them and even would not accept applications for service from AVG pilots! Doc.
The name Henry Yunick as a pilot is listed in various AAF WW2 sites dedicated to bomber crews in Europe. Looking at various sites for Flying Tigers or AVG,his name isn't mentioned ,at least that I could find.I think there's some confusion here and Smokey was more likely flying supplies to the AVG than an actual pilot for the AVG?
I love hearing stories from all the older guys, Smokey included. I think Hary Hyde was more entertaining, but you don't hear much about him. One of Smokey's stories I have a little trouble buying outright is one concerning nitrous. He once said in a magazine article that he plumbed a bottle in for qualifiying only and that the bottle sat under the driver's seat, with a tube running to the engine bay. The driver opened the bottle and the engine would sniff in the gas through the carb. OK, while that may or may not happen due to all the turbulent airflow from the outside air, fan, etc, adding nitrous only does nothing to an engine. Nitrous allows the engine to USE more fuel, so he would have to add fuel as well, and I'm pretty sure he didn't spray gasoline into the enigne bay as well. I love the old Smokey stories and I have nothing but respect for him, but I don't think the nitrous story happened as he said it did, if at all.
With plate or nozzles you need to flow additional gas which only cools the piston tops. Of course during ignition it does burn and the NOS releases additional oxygen which creates heat and power. Smokeys tube will work as he describes it because it freezes the venturi and tricks the carburator into flowing more fuel. Additional HP ranged in the 100 hp area with that type of induction. NOS has a top shot which also flows additional gas with the nos but produces 150 hp. As long as the flow was cotrolled to the carb it was actually controlled.
I'd like to buy that, but I've spent too much time with nitrous to beleive it. That's the problem with experience vs. theory I guess.
Best thing to do is try it then it becomes experience but it does work.Remember a few years back a prostock car had an explosion in the pits and blew the pan off his motor-in the pan was a sneeky peat NOS --plumed into the intake-No additional fuel-Think he lost all points and got 6 mo. suspension.
The nitrous story is completely feasible. You'd only need a little bit sprayed in the vicinity of the carb and the carb could be set up on the rich side so when the nitrous is being used, the air-fuel ratio is adequate enough. The car just runs rich most of the race 'til you need just that extra little puch to pull away from someone when you need it most. An NHRA Pro Stock team did the exact same thing with a small nitrous bottle and single solenoid hidden in the hood scoop. Only a little bit of nitrous is necessary to make a difference between a qualifier and an "also-ran". Now something I would love to see in pictures actually, is the bellhousing supercharger that he talks about. Now that is interesting!
No And regarding the NOS story....If you jet the carb too rich for max power and then hit the button you'll utilize the added oxygen. You'd never setup for race day like that but for qualifying laps with time to rejet before the race...it's an attractive cheat. Those guys aren't looking for a drag racer's NOS boost, more like 20 horse
I'm not sure where I read this but the part I liked about the Edelbrock Camaro was they had a really good time taking that car apart. There were so many things done to that car they lost count. The story goes they found something clever and mischievous every day.
all of these stories, true or not, are great!! the "truth" really has nothing to do with it. i raced stock cars for years. the thirty-sixty minutes of racing you actually get to do on a regular Saturday night, isnt worth the cost of doing it. however...the sitting around the shop and telling stories, true or other wise, is well worth the price! racing is only 10% about "being at the track". the other 90% is why most racers do it. most know that they wont make it to the big time. and its so much money?? its all about hanging around cars and friends. telling stories. true or false.
nitrous was considered an additive that was legal in nascar back then smokey told us the story of his discovery of nitrous in the hudson , on a back road in daytona he tried just the nitrous [from the dentist office ] and leaned out so bad , it shut the motor off , so , he sat and thought , figured more air needed more fuel , he removed the needle and seat from the carb , got it started somehow , once he hit the nitrous and it went like the old raped ape smokey is the only old time racer who ever copped to using the bottle , please give him the benefit of that he knew what he was doing
The Jalopy Journal
