Smokey and the Reverse Torque Special

Aug 15th, Bonhams will auction some cars at the Quail, from Vic Edelbrock's cool collection... and damn, there is not a better time to snap up the Smokey Yunick/Don Yenko Camaro that's Edelbrock has owned for 32 years

The Z06 Bondurant split window 63 is also coming up for grabs, and so are the Brizio Deuce, and the 32 Hi Boy

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/bonhamscars-offering-up-impressive-vic-edelbrock-jr-collection

two trucks ran in the beach trials at Daytona in 1956, one was Smokey Yunick's

 

 the Ford, 

below, the Cameo in 56, only got to 116

But the next year, a 57 Chev truck went 132 with Yunick's help  https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/03/smokeys-duct-tape-aero-enhancement-on.html

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/holman-moody-the-history.571847/page-25

built by Smokey Yunick, for A.J. Foyt, in Big Daddy's museum

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=9996507013705636&set=gm.1919596498775798&idorvanity=218971585504973

Bobby Unser in Smokey's Car

 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10230093415619462&set=g.293156547881991

new to me Smokey Yunick alteration to his famous Chevelle, that I just learned of.

I just heard that Smokey added a couple inches to the bottom of the front bumper, effectively making it an air dam!

 

I think I posted this before, Smokey added a tiny airfoil to the back of the roof

69 Z/28 parked since 1984 by the owner, Larry Schreib, who published magazine articles and wrote how to books including Smokey Yunick's Power Secrets.

Parked since 1984 in a backyard.

The owner published magazine articles and wrote how to books including Smokey Yunick's Power Secrets.

It's got a hi-po built 302 by Gale Banks Engineering's engine guy, Hank The Crank, hence the crank and special rods and pistons. 

Dick Guldstrand suspension mods.

This special sbc tripower intake setup is one of 3 or 4 developed by Smokey Yunick, bought from Smokey in the early 1980's while putting together his book.

 After visiting the car and owner for 5+ years the new owner was finally was able to purchase it

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10160737918664627&set=pcb.7194559750608867

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3603991166332428

1964 - Safety officials watch as Smokey Yunick's #47 Hurst Floor Shift Special is pulled along the grass by a rope. But what's the truck in the background? "Official Truck" Indy 500, 1964

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=290400313759798&set=a.128703169929514

some of the most ingenious exploits of legal ambiguity throughout racing history include at least 4 of Smokey Yunick's tricks

the inflated basketball in the oversized fuel tank

the 67 Chevelle with all the tricks, like moving the body on the chassis for better weight distribution

and the 2" diameter fuel pipe that alone, could hold gallons of gas, allowing the fuel tank requirement to be ignored

The lightweight Camaro was 270 pounds under a stock Camaro, mostly through acid dipping

the stuff others came up with was the trunk rule - that a car had to be able to carry a suitcase, so,  they made the gas tank big enough to fit one, and avoided having a trunk wasting space and adding material to the race car

the T Rex Jeff Gordon car

the Double Diffuser

the suspension trick that Gordon Murray came up with in 1981, to allow speed to push the car to lower than spec height, but return to spec for pre and post race inspections

the Red Bull flex wing, 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/10-most-ingenious-loopholes-in-racing-history/ar-AA11Cok5

I love racing cheat information, how they innovated to get around the rules, and what they did that succeeded, or were caught doing

For what I've posted in the archives, click on the "cheating" link tab under this post

oh, Santa? I've been good this year, and kept blogging when I wanted to stop, and I just found something that would be REALLY cool for christmas!

that's Smokey Yunick's autograph on that intake!

https://www.mecum.com/lots/ES0922-530183/henry-smokey-yunick-signed-intake/

Hey, it doesn't hurt to ask, right?

AJ Foyt rolls out of the old Gasoline Alley to practice for the 1963 500. That's Smokey Yunick is behind Bud. And that looks like Fireball Roberts

https://www.facebook.com/indianaracingmemorialassociation/photos/a.290372607754768/4046266375498687/

In 649 nascar races, the No. 13 has just one victory, in 1963, when Johnny Rutherford won a 100-mile Daytona 500 qualifying race in a Chevrolet owned and prepared by Smokey Yunick.

https://www.nascarhall.com/blog/nascar-car-numbers

It's been a long time since I've posted a photo of Smokey

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by.428585/page-6585

Fireball Roberts and Smokey with the #3 Pontiac

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-nascar-1959-daytona-500-128496135

wow! Someone out there make a Smokey Yunick tribute Chevelle!

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2019/08/20/photos-from-the-25th-woodward-dream-cruise

I didn't know that Smokey had an AAR Eagle! It only raced once, then sat for 30 years in his shop, partially dismantled

Only four of these cars were built in 1969, with the car shown here being delivered to legendary racing team owner and master of racing engine trickery “Smokey” Yunick. It was equipped with a 159-cubic inch DOHC turbocharged Ford V-8, producing upwards of 800 brake horsepower! Numbered as the #44 “City of Daytona Beach” car, it qualified 11th for that year’s Indianapolis 500.

Veteran Joe Leonard qualified Smokey's gold speedster 11th and ran as high as second before mechanical issues. Finished sixth despite having to change the radiator

Equipped with Hilborn fuel injection, four-speed Hewland LG500 transmission, rack-and-pinion steering, front and rear independent double-wishbone suspension with adjustable coil-overs

The Santa Ana, the second Indianapolis car created by British designer Tony Southgate for Dan Gurney’s All American Racers (AAR), was named after AAR’s hometown. Based upon the original Eagle design, it featured a wheelbase extended by 3½ inches, with an all-new chassis and extended offset bodywork, making it the lowest and widest AAR racer to date. USAC rule changes required the use of wider wheels, now 10 inches in front and 14 inches in the rear, while other new features included ventilated disc brakes, an improved roll bar design, and Gurney’s brilliant helical-toothed steering box, which provided more rack-and-pinion travel.

During the race, Leonard moved up through the field to 2nd and was chasing the leader, Mario Andretti, when an errant hose clamp punctured a hole into his radiator. Living up to his slogan, “The Best Damn Garage in Town,” Yunick had his car and driver back on the track within 14 minutes, and Leonard would finish the heated race 6th overall. Nonetheless, Smokey was disgusted that the aforementioned hose clamp had cost him the race and took the Eagle Santa Ana back to his shop. There, after only one race, it was partially dismantled and then left to sit for the next 30 years.

It wasn’t until just before his death in 2001 that Yunick agreed to sell #44. The Eagle was then fully restored by a team that included famed Indianapolis car builders A.J. Watson and Willie Davis

https://www.facebook.com/groups/808547945893612/permalink/2261256230622769/

there are a few unsung heroes that history may let fade away from history books, but they'll outlast us all among the stories told at race tracks...

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/petty-shelby-smokey-garlits-granatelli-parnelli-set-pace-1967/#016-struggles-1967-static-side-smokey-mug-car-13-daytona-jpg

I heard a new story about Smokey Yunick, and the innovations he did to improve speed on his race car

he mounted his generator (or alternator) behind the grill, with a fan on it where normally it would have a pulley, and let the wind spin the damn thing instead of it's parasitic loss on the engine power

another story new to me, and probably not true nor accurate, is that he asked to borrow the Chevelle templates before the race to check his car, at which point he made duplicate templates that only fit his car, and returned the new templates that only fit his car to NASCAR.

another new to me story was that on one car he'd stood on the roof, creating a high pressure zone over the car at speed, and ending in a nearly inverted air dam at the back of the roof. Inspectors balked, but Smokey said he'd rebuilt a wrecked race car, and hadn't fixed the roof.

one I've never heard of before is that he used a helmet made of lead, hanging inside the car during inspection to make weight, then left that in the trailer and handed his driver a regular helmet for the race

http://digg.com/video/henry-smokey-yunick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=40&v=lePZF17Tz3U

thanks Steve!

Smokey's Duct Tape aero enhancement on a 1957 Chev Cameo pickup at the Daytona Beach NASCAR speed trials.

Paul Goldsmith Smokey Yunick and NASCAR Official Mauri Rose next to the masking tape and cardboard instant streamlining 1957 Chevy Cameo for 132.353 mph.

The flagman is 16 time Indy driver Cliff Bergere.

they had tried speed testing a 55 earlier, and only achieved 117

Salute of the Day! I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it, a Smokey Yunick tribute car at the Settrington Cup at the Goodwood Revival

Who ever did that deserves a pizza!

Seriously, that's just amazing to get a shot at sponsoring a car there, or whatever the situation is, and decorating it up with lettering, and the Smokey black, gold, and 13.

fantastic!

https://www.facebook.com/320574491294246/photos/a.327217990629896.85151.320574491294246/1162513900433630/?type=3&permPage=1