NASCAR's Greatest Innovator: The Smokey Yunick Story
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- Опубліковано 3 сер 2024
- Smokey Yunick is one of the most storied characters in NASCAR. He dabbled in all aspects of the sport- crew chief, owner, driver, engineer, engine builder, and car designer. He was an avid inventor and advocate for driver safety. Today, we are looking at his beginnings and some of the best stories of his time. Please share anymore stories if you have them, thanks for watching!
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The simple fact that he's not in the NASCAR Hall of Fame is a National Tragedy. As Americans NASCAR H.O.F should be ashamed.
Unbelievable isn't it?
Its a ashamed he’s not in.
I agree. I rarely even watch nascar but I know about Smokey and his innovations, accomplishments and the fact he was the reason so many rules were established. If Smokey isn’t in the hall of fame the only two people should be in. The king and intimidator.
@Ian Strong I've always heard the story of Big Bill building Daytona and Smokey snuck onto the track and ran the 1st laps ever on it. BILL SR, wanted to be the 1st . Supposedly, that made Bill France Sr so mad that he vowed never to let him in the HOF.
@@joshhuffine4522that just sounds like a Smokey thing, get the first lap to figure out what he can do
It’s an absolute crime that he isn’t in the hall of fame
The highest compliment I ever received in my life was when my attempted entry for a local circle track race for the new (at the time) truck class was going through tech. The rules stated that the truck had to have a production frame and the cab and chassis had to be from the same manufacturer, and that factory style suspension was to be used. The rules DID NOT specify that the cab and chassis had to be from the same model, however. So my truck was a short box f150 body mounted on Ranger extended cab chassis, with the chassis setting off to the left (so that the ranger suspension lined up with where the tires were supposed to be) and a longer I beam on the right side to compensate, and the rear end lengthened on the right rear. The rules said the engine had to be mounted in the factory location in the chassis, but never did say that the chassis had to be mounted centered under the truck.
The inspector took a lap around the truck and was already suspicious (I might've taken some "liberties" with the length of the rear end and the geometry on the right front corner), but when he popped the hood, he just grinned and said "no". He called over an older gentleman from the tower who laughed and snapped some pictures, and told me that he hadn't seen that kind of interpretation of the rules since Smokey was building them.
I didn't get to race, but I felt like I won. Smokey was a genius, and to be mentioned in the same sentence was a hell of a compliment.
I hate shit like that. They give you a set of rules and you follow them and they go "Noooo! Not like that!"
I honestly believe that if a car follows the rules as they are laid out that a car shouldn't be allowed to be disqualified just because it doesn't follow the rules how THEY envisioned them.
My favorite "Smokey" story is about his SCCA Camaro. Legend has it he drove the car on street tires to the track where an upcoming race was about to be held. He asked for track time to practise which of course, was allowed. He then proceeded to swap tires on this Camaro from street tires to race tires. Meanwhile the officials at the track and the few racers in attendance were quietly laughing at Smokey, thinking this stock Camaro is going to outrun their special machines. Well, imagine their surprise when Smokey starts laying down a couple lap times 2-3 seconds FASTER than the fastest lap ever done at this track. Jaws are on the FLOOR. He runs his laps, pulls into the pits and begins swapping his street tires back on.
"See you guys Sunday!" he says, and then just leaves.
Thats fucking hilarious, what a legend
Smokey was my racing hero. I followed his lead when it came to rules. I ran in a stock division at my local track. The rule was every engine part had to have a factory part number. I found a factory aluminum intake manifold that came off of a Corvette. They said I couldn't run it until I pointed out the part number. The rule was changed the next year. RIP Smokey!
I ran dirt track sportsman stockcars in the 80s with similar rules. I was lucky to have a guy on my crew that could really work a salvage yard and find obscure chevy factory made high performance engines and engine parts.
GM was doing some interesting things with small block chevy motors in the early 60s..
@@stratostatic Yes they were!
@@stratostatic the performance division was making 700hp NA v8s back then
I honestly hate that shit. They give you a set of rules, you follow said rules and do something WITHIN those rules to give yourself an advantage then they change the rules SPECIFICALLY to fuck you over. It's like they hate any kind of innovation.
Smokey said one time that the reason he did most all of his 'creative engineering' was because the rule book 'didn't say you couldnt'
The story isn't that Smokey drove the car back to the pits without a fuel tank.
He drove it back to his shop, some 5 miles away.
Rules say you're only allowed a 10 gal tank?
Fine ,they say nothing about an extra 100 feet of fuel line stuffed in a frame rail 🤣🤣
I mean that's not the exact story but that's good enough to get the point across about how to read rulebooks 😄
@@MrTheHillfolk I read somewhere, that he also noticed that there was no size mentioned of said fuel line. It said that he ran a 1 inch line all over the car that would hold an extra 5 gallons!
@@jimkemerly6636
Yeah ,I mean I wasn't 100% exact on what he did ,but that's the basic idea.
He read into the rules and did things like this.
@@jimkemerly6636 It's been well documented that he said he made the fuel line from the rear to the front out of 2" line. It was 11' long. That means he had 1.8 gallons held in the fuel line.
No, he didn't drive the car back to his shop without the fuel tank.
@@e-curbOK captain buzzkill, we get it. How come the only 2 comments you've ever made are trying to discredit Smokey Yunick? What do you have against this guy?
i grew up in Daytona , Smokeys garage was right on the Halifax river near the old ray fox garage . when Smokey would put an engine on the dyno , the sound would reflect off the river , and you could literally hear it all over town . you always knew when Smokey was working .
If I ever win the lottery I am buying that lot and finding the original building layout. He is my hero!
@@fasttommys a Smokey museum would be cool
I applied for a job there once. I had Skip from Atlantic Machine shop put a 440 together for me. Skip was a good engine builder. Great with Mopars.
A nascar hall of fame without SMOKIE YUNICK is a joke
nascar is a joke nowadays
@@murmaider2 yep
Back in the day, what Smokey did was not cheating. It was considered “working the grey area”. Everybody did it. It was a period of innovation. He was just better at it. Geoff Bodine is another innovator, (and a damn good driver). Both of those gentlemen should be in the HOF.
Honestly every race series has been like that from the beginning to the end. Everyone would try to explore and find advantages. Even with BOP. I mean how do u explain cars that are unopimitized for races still going cause the team wants to and the BOP means it eventually could mean competitive.
Smokey Yunick is The Legend , among Legends. He was a genius , in the field of the automotive industry. I have his autograph on a $1.00 bill . Most people today , don't even know who he is . I wish a movie would be made about him .
He also held many patents . GM would have been alot more successful, if they had taken heed , to Smokey's automotive ideas . He deserves to be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame . Rest in peace Smokey , we miss you .
His books are awesome … you can order them direct from his daughter.
Guys like him was the reason that I use to love Nascar, now it's just a dumpster fire craping on its history, it's fans, and those who were true innovators of the sport !
The day the COT came out is the day NASCAR died in my eyes. Those aren't stock cars. Even the FWD cars converted to RWD of the 90s-00s had some of their original self left at least.
Noosecar
I used to watch NASCAR religiously. Two things killed it for me. Number one was going all out corporate and leaving tracks that had been around since the beginning (like North Wilkesboro) and other long time tracks like Rockingham in favor of boring intermediate cookie cutter tracks. Taking one of two dates from tracks like that to expand the NASCAR market is totally fine, but to leave the tracks entirely was pure bullshit because it was abandoning their history, and history matters. The other was the COT. While it makes perfect sense for the cars to be nowhere near as stock as they once were due to changes in automobiles over the years and more importantly, safety, the COT took away EVERYTHING that linked the race cars with their civilian counterparts. At least NASCAR is starting to understand that their fans HATE watching the same boring racing on the same boring cookie cutter tracks so they're going back to places like North Wilkesboro (they should have never left) and adding more road courses since having only two is a joke. Bringing back dirt is awesome too, but making Bristol into a temporary dirt track probably isn't the answer. Maybe Eldora and build up another dirt track somewhere else? The new car is an improvement over garbage like the COT, but has all but eliminated innovation entirely which is bad, but has helped keep costs down so smaller teams can have a shot at competing which is obviously good. They're finally heading in the right direction after years of Brian France doing his best t destroy NASCAR.
In the early '60s, my friend had a 55 Chevy 150 two door post sedan (rear seat delete etc) that was built by Smokey. It had a screaming 283 sbc and a very modified suspension. It was a lot of fun to ride with him on Friday and Saturday nights to pick up street drag races. My favorite memory was the night he beat a new 409 Chevy Impala in the quarter mile. We never knew exactly what was different about Smokey's 283, other than my friend saying that it was "stroked and had a Duntov 3/4 race cam". Another memory was the night we were pulled over by the Texas Highway Patrol who said he clocked us at 150 mph. He was so impressed with the car and the fact that we didn't give him any lip that he let us off with a warning. Those were good days.
I idolized Smokey growing up. While returning home from a trip to Disney world I stopped at Don Garlits museum. In the very back of the museum was a mannequin of Smokey and one of Smokey's dynos. I remember that to this day
I saw an interview with members of the old Brabham F1 team a couple years ago, one of those people was Charlie Whiting, Formula One race director, in charge of running the races including tech inspections.....his best line regarding his days as a Brabham mechanic was "We never had a legal car", he knew every trick to beat the tech inspectors, which is why he was given the job of Race Director...imagine if NASCAR hired Smokey Yunick to perform the same job.
I can still remembering his great articals in Popular Mechanics. I couldn't wait for the next issue.
I read him also!
@@brucewelty7684 one statement he made that was quietly accepted by the NASCAR teams, but until Smoky made it it was only whispered.
"Your Not cheating unless your Caught".
I still remember when Petty won one of the bigger Cup races and then was disqualified for an illegal engine during the post race teardown inspection. He didn't oppologize. He only stated he had fired the engine builder (His own Brother) for not telling him before the race. "If I'd known it was an illegal engine I wouldn't have won the race". Back then they only tore down the winner!!!
"Say, Smokey?"
He was my hero Too, I've got his book, read it several times (it's a tough, rambling read), every time I read something interesting pops up that I somehow missed. He believed that if there wasn't a rule against something he could do it. Both NASCAR and USAC (Indy) had skinny little rule books before Smokey, hundreds of pages when he left.
Smokey is one of the best innovators in racing and is a Motorsports icon.
There needs to be a full length documentary on Smokey! If that exists please let me know 🍻
Read his autobiography. The man had been there and done some stuff. Amazing read.
Really deserves a movie like Ford vs Ferrari, but, Smokey vs Regulations.
@@PiDsPagePrototypes ford VS ferrari was the most pretentious underdog story in history. Wish cool cats like Yunick got the fame they deserved.
@@THESLlCK fair call ;)
i believe yt did have a 30-40 minutes of different drivers through out the video, idk if it got deleted a few years back but i remember seeing it, it had Smokey, Mario Andretti his teamate (i can’t remember his name) and some others, it was a documentary of the Daytona 500 that, Mario first started in. If i find it again ill link you it
Him and Junior Johnson are some of the brightest minds in racing. Yes, Junior Johnson was kind of more ruthless, but Smoky was just a genius. No wonder why he gave up racing, just could not wield his knowledge he used to.
Junior being able to swap out an engine in a matter of minutes, during a race, generated a whole lot rules.
J.J. was a legend in his own right (I have the utmost in respect for him), but Smokey was a born genius and a natural engineer.
Smokey's problem solving abilities are mostly overlooked, when the Big Three relied on him heavily to solve that which whole departments of college educated engineers could not.
Smokey never finished school - he researched and tested until he was more knowledgeable and proficient with a given technology than those whose career was that tech.
The man's capacity to invent is legendary...
Recognition of the VAST majority of his accomplishments have been overlooked, many just lost in time.
When it's said Henry Yunick is legendary, it's true.
This man should be in the Hall of fame.
Adam Patterson, oh, hell no.
When I was young, my mother would go shopping at the plaza that used to be next door to his shop. I used to just go over there and watch them work on cars. I usually frequent the bar that is across the street from where his garage once stood. It's now an empty lot with a for sale sign on it. I sometimes look over at the property and remember the old days.
There a park there last time I checked. The side street is named Smokey Yunnick Blvd.
The Townline. It is still there.
As a teen and young man Smokey Yunick was a personal hero.
This man is a genius and that’s an understatement!!!!!
Smokey was such an amazing man! I was fortunate enough to spend multiple hours speaking with him one on one at a trade show, it was definitely one of the highlights of my life.
Yunick was great. Talked to him several times at PRI. I really enjoyed talking to him, it was fun, and I learned a great deal.
Smokey not in the Hall of Fame doesn't surprise me one bit, he was always a thorn in the Nascar empires side, he wouldn't just roll over to their will and when he constantly highlighted their incompetence in their rule making and their belief of their own intelligence by finding the grey areas which just hurt their egos even more, I don't think It would worry Smokey not to be in THoF maybe even be against it as he never wanted their praise or approval just a fair go !
Some thing I disagree, #1, With the basketball trick was not invented by Smokey, it was used by others and to keep up you either do it or don't. #2. the super long fuel line, The rule said only the minimum sizing, (5/8 I think) rules on max diameter or anything (Min or max on length, he used 2" pipe and run it 4 times between the engine and the axle, it was said there was between 3 an-4 gallons just in the lines alone. And the 7/8 Chevelle, while it was smaller it was never 7/8, the story i heard was he looked at the factory blueprints, there were min and max dimensions for every body part, he just simply built the body using only the minimum specs. hence why it came out smaller and lower than everything else, BTW he built the chevelle in the parking lot (the stocker he told them to test the templates on) to the same specs to pass tech
The parked "stocker" was his ringer? I never knew that, awesome!
You're absolutely correct
Smokey designed and built wastewater treatment plants in Florida, I operated one of his for 10 years, what a mind this dude had..
I'm just a gen tech ,but I go to those places and find the science behind it interesting.
Not like I'd draw myself a glass of the water coming out of there ,but the operators(they aren't thirsty either apparently lol) say you could if you wanted to and not die 😄
did it win any races?? 😂
12 or 15 years ago, I was working at a higher end small muscle car restoration shop and a customer who always had neat cars came in with a really cool one. It was a really nice first generation Camaro, well restored. Under the hood was one of the few remaining prototype hemispherical head small blocks that Smokey built for Trans-Am before GM pulled out of the series. What made it really cool though, was apparently all the headers that exist for these that made it into cars - were hand made by Smokey and the magnesium valve covers were made by Chaparral (Jim Hall.) Needless to say, while I was working on it - I took a lot of pictures as very, very few of these exist in running form. I believe the car was sold at auction that year or the year after so I never seen it again.
Man I'd love to see those pictures.
This man straight up wrote the rule book
Him and Junior Johnson
He actually changed the way NASCAR's rule book was written. The rule book used to tell you what you couldn't do: now it is written in a way describing the only acceptable way to do something.
Smokey was, for sure, a genius. I always looked forward to reading his column 'Say, Smokey...' in Popular Science magazine. A true legend.
The 7/8 Chevelle was a rumor. Never happened. The car had body modifications; but was not shrunk in any way.
Thank you so much for putting this video up, great footage. Makes me miss my dad and his own fabulous Hudson
I have a couple of engine rebuild books from Smokey dating back to the 80s. Very interesting guy.
I bought his book and I built a small block I drag raced it I drove it on the street then I upgraded it and put it in a pulling truck and now it's in a mud bog or I sold it never been rebuilt he's got a lot of good information he's the man
as a scandinavian when I came across him In 2017 then whow.
Smokey Is pure genious and thinking using loopholes. Just like me when I buy goods overseas to avoid VAT
Appreciate these historic videos
I was very lucky to have read his autobiography about 15 years ago. He was a very good writer, and I had grown up with his “Ask Smokey” column in Popular Science. He was something else.
He's one of a kind,they don't make them like that no more!
What an excellent video.thoroughly enjoyed it.
Great video, thank you!
Man this guy was a Legend
Smokey is definitely the way I race.looking for loop holes makes me want to push limits and rules.
My grandfather was Lowell Smith, better known as Smitty. He worked with Smokey before opening Smitty's Fleet Service on North Charles Street in Daytona!
That "stock" Chevelle sitting in the parking lot while NASCAR ran the templates on his racecar, was a plant. It had the same mods as the racecar but looked entirely stock. When NASCAR ran the templates on the "stock " Chevelle, it perfectly matched the racecar, so NASCAR thought the templates were wrong.....
Brilliant gentleman!!
Neshaminy, PA kid like Andy Belmont. 50 missions in a B-17, thank you for your service
Agreed; Very interesting. Cool smokey !!!
It should be noted that Smokey was also a B-17 Pilot in WW2...
He would pre heat engine blocks so the machining was correct at operating temps.
Genius. He just read the rule book better than almost everyone.
He thought outside the box.
I now own and drive. Even when I was just fixing ball joints and shit, Smokey was the hero. He becomes more so with every step forward.
I love stories like this! Thank you! I always wonder where guys like this found the time to build all these cars with all the innovations. Think about it a scaled down car, I picture years of work without metal stamping etc.
The so-called 7/8 car is a myth. If it was true, the car would be 2' shorter than a normal chevelle. It would be smaller than a Chevy II. Everyone would see that right away.
I am Smokey’s biggest fan. Truly was an innovator. Never broke a rule. Merely circumvented them.
He used the rulebook as a color film negative bible
I recommend reading his self published book. It's really good! Lots of things he did in he's live where amazing. If you contact his daughter to buy the books you can purchase ones that have smoke suit on them from when his shop burned down. If there still is any left? His daughter is a really nice person to talk to:)
If you are an engine builder, you owe it to yourself to read Smokey's book "Power Secrets". A fantastic book even today.
@@Reaper-cm4jr I followed his instructions and learned to port cylinder heads and I know it's nothing compared to modern cnc tech but for guys who can't afford big $$ parts or machining it's worth it's weight in gold to have that book of accurate information!
Smokey deserves a movie about him like Ford vs Ferrari. I remember when everything in his shops were being auctioned off, people got some historical engines and great items from those auctions.
Awesome video. Thanks
The greatest. Yes, sir!
What a cool guy!
Need to make a full blown movie !!!
fire vid keep it up
This guy was such a troll😂 I love it, he helped push the sport forward as well
I still have my Smokey Yunick V8 power secrets book from back in the day!
Ya gotta read his book, ' Life and times of Smokey Yunick '! The stories he tells, from his war time as a B-17 pilot, to being a 'cave looked inner' as Smokey described himself, and his feuds with Nascar.
Have been a lifetime student and admirer of Mr Yunic. Raced unlimited, limited asphalt modifieds for several years after service....had too innovate discreetly, although "unlimited" a complaint and $500 got your car impounded and picked apart....
"It ain't cheating unless you get caught"
Hell yes, it was Racing to win, rules bend, what they don't know yet....it's racing
A True Inovator
Well done video
The 7/8 Chevelle story is BS...
That car was plenty cheated up, but it was regular size.
my hero !
He said in the books many times. “If they didn’t say you couldn’t, then he considered it fair game” example: the rule book said, gas line must be certain diameter. It didn’t say anything about how long it could be. He was a genius. He was just smarter than most people. He also developed the hot vapor engine, which was way ahead of its time. And his daughter is a sweetheart
Grate video
Pure genius
So basically Smokey wrote the Nascar rulebook!
His fights with Bill Thomas were legendary.
Bill France hated Smokey. Smokey was the greatest of all time. Read his book or just research his name. Great man.
Smokie dosnt look at the rule book to see what it says he looks to see what it dosnt
Playing the "grey" areas is done in all forms of motorsport, F1, WRC, Indy. Some of the most legendary and innovative cars where based on this.
Smokey was brilliant
I recall my brother-in-law talking about going to the auction at the old garage. I believe it was 3 or 4 day affair! Hemi small block heads! All sorts of cool stuff!
There was no 7/8 car.
That stock chevelle in the parking lot was also Smokey’s
Neat video
Best damn garage in town!
“Any loophole is big enough to drive a car through” is credited to him. I trust if that’s not true someone here will correct or dispute that.
I've heard a lot of people claim Smokey is a controversial figure.
But I've literally never heard anyone say they didn't like him.
Some people view the rules as "what you CAN do".
Some people view them as "what you CAN'T do".
These are complete opposite ends of the spectrum.
Thanks for putting this together. I used to had a lecture slide for 2nd year engineering students to discuss being innovative and it had a picture of Smokey and his quote about "being able to drive all the way to Jacksonville with the fuel in the line". But there always seemed to be this folksy persona around him and I never realized how much of a true engineer he was, clearly thinking about the underlying physics of race cars and engines all the time. Great job!
The word is “especially”!
The "Smoke Ram" Manifold.....
The fuel line was 2 inches thick. He was ingenious and not just a cheater. many patents and some things he did not want to patent as it was a secret.
The many, many comments may have already noted this but Smokey's enhanced mileage was not the result of a minor quantity of fuel contained in extra length fuel lines but was attained by mods to his frame rails which converted them to fuel reservoirs containing significantly more extra fuel.
The holley double pumper carburetor was designed and prototype in his garage along with the very first flowbench which became the superflow dyno
“If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying”
Da Smoke just had a "Creative" interpretation of the rules.
He’s gotta be one of the few pilots who competed 50 flights
Smokey was a genius. But he never built a 7/8 Chevelle. It would have been two feet shorter, that's gonna be too damn obvious,
Let alone having to fabricate every body panel.
Sneaky Bastard; Mad Genius.
If Smokey worked on the Manhattan Project, World War 2 would have ended a year earlier.
Imagine if a brain like that was available for the Apollo Project.