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Folks Of Interest question about smokey.

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by edweird, Feb 24, 2017.

  1. edweird
    Joined: Jan 4, 2009
    Posts: 3,186

    edweird
    Member

    did smokey yunick ever work on drag cars ?
     
  2. In Smokey's book "Best Damn Garage in Town" the main emphasis is on Nascar,his innovations,his involvement in pushing for safety equipment and safer walls and of course his bumping heads with the rules,he was known to bend them.

    He was also involved in Formula One,Indy Car,Can-Am and also drag racing but Stock Cars was his main focus. HRP
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2017
  3. VTjunk
    Joined: Jul 5, 2013
    Posts: 287

    VTjunk
    Member

    Awesome read, really enjoyed his Air Force stories
     
  4. edweird
    Joined: Jan 4, 2009
    Posts: 3,186

    edweird
    Member

    I LISTENED TO THE AUDIO, I THINK IT WAS HIS STORY TOLD BY HIM. VERT INTERESTING STUFF. LOVED THE PART WHEN HE HAD A CAM IN A TUB OF SOLVENT NEXT TO A OLD WOODEN WALL. HE PLACEED THE TUB BY A HOLE IN THE WALL.ONE OF HIS GUYS SLIPPED ANOTHER CAM THROUGH THE HOLE AND HE SLIPPED THE STOCK CAM TO HIS HELPER. GENIOUS !!!
     
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  5. willowbilly3
    Joined: Jun 18, 2004
    Posts: 4,356

    willowbilly3
    Member Emeritus
    from Sturgis

    I read a great interview with him, I think in Circle Track. Once he switched the Hudson cam in a teardown by having an associate throw firecrackers under the viewing bleachers as a diversion. He and Kekhaufer (sp?) who was the tech inspector for Bill France, didn't get along well. Another time his cam was in question, he threw it on the ground and broke in several pieces. He hands Kekhaufer a chunk with 3 lobes and says "If your half as smart as you think you are, this is all you will need" It was a cheater cam and Kekhaufer wasn't that smart. He did some crazy stuff to those Hudsons like moving the crank centerline and porting them with some kind of sandy sludge under pressure
     
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  6. tfeverfred
    Joined: Nov 11, 2006
    Posts: 15,791

    tfeverfred
    Member Emeritus

    I wish he would have. That would have been a game changer.
     
  7. DDDenny
    Joined: Feb 6, 2015
    Posts: 19,143

    DDDenny
    Member
    from oregon

    Hey ed.
    Stop yelling, my head hurts this morning.
    And no, it's not from a hangover either.:confused:
     
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  8. Speedwrench
    Joined: Nov 21, 2009
    Posts: 1,032

    Speedwrench
    Member

    Smokey and his " superior reading of the rules" !

    My hero.
     
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  9. "Its not cheating until you get caught"
    I was suppose to interview him for a magazine article just before he died and he was too sick to meet me.
    His vapor car is still running, an O/T Pontiac.....
    He invented the extended tip sparkplug.....
    your hero....my idol
     
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  10. glrbird
    Joined: Dec 20, 2010
    Posts: 601

    glrbird
    Member

    There is a lot of difference between racing in the gray areas or any area they don't tech, and then there is out and out cheating. Smokey never saw a line he didn't cross.
     
  11. Speed Gems
    Joined: Jul 17, 2012
    Posts: 6,433

    Speed Gems
    Member

    He clamed to have helped Don Garlits solve the seering problem in the rear engine dragster in his book but i don't think so. Theirs a reason he had his wife publish his book after he was already dead. So nobody could sue him!
     
  12. tfeverfred
    Joined: Nov 11, 2006
    Posts: 15,791

    tfeverfred
    Member Emeritus

    Isn't it great that the folks we admire were the ones who, "Pushed the envelope."? Genius, innovator.... outlaw? I think a good adjective that best fits is.... LEGEND. He is and so were the folks around him on his short span of time. I think it can be said, that he left a mark that many have followed. The will to be the "best" is strong. It's what get's you out in your shop or garage and in first place.
     
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  13. AV8 Dave
    Joined: Jan 3, 2003
    Posts: 680

    AV8 Dave
    Member

    IMG_20170225_224625.jpg
    This is the copy I have. I believe it's a compilation of previous smaller ones which, individually, focused on different aspects of Smokey's "life and adventures". Mainly NASCAR (as Danny observed) and Indy. No references in this one to any involvement in Formula One or drag racing (not saying that it didn't happen, just no references to it in this book that I recall reading). Written as if you were sitting beside him and he was telling you his life story. A life that we car nuts can only imagine. An awesome read! Regards, Dave.
     
  14. jimmy six
    Joined: Mar 21, 2006
    Posts: 14,802

    jimmy six
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    His way of thinking definitely helped me see there were words in rule books that people just knew they were there but I just couldn't find...gray is the most beautiful color in every book.
     
  15. willowbilly3
    Joined: Jun 18, 2004
    Posts: 4,356

    willowbilly3
    Member Emeritus
    from Sturgis

    Her said he figured if it didn't say you couldn't then you could and always stopped if they told him to. This didn't end with him. Listen to some of DW's cheating stories about Bertha. At one time so many of them were lead shotting the frames for weigh and that the stuff was flying out of every car on the track.
     

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