27 replies to this topic

[Joe Fan]

Dead at the age of 77 from a bout with Leukemia. What a shame to hear this news. Smokey was one of the real pioneers in aerodynamics.


http://www.speedvisi...ar/010509a.html

[Gary C]

Sad news indeed. I met him at the Good Festival of Speed last year. A nice man indeed.

[Buford]

Oh no! A couple days ago when I was typing out my old autograph book I saw his "Smokey The Bear" signature and had to put (Yunick) behind it so people would know who that was. I was just thinking of him then. Bummer.

[Don Capps]

Smokey was definitely -- along with Curtis Turner, one of my All Star Favorite Characters With Character.

Dang, I was just thinking about him as I delved into the story of that wonderful #13 1966 Chevelle of Smokey's. It was a sad day when I washed my "Best Damn Garage In Town" tee shirt once too many times...

With Banjo Matthews and now Smokey Yunick gone, too many of my favorites are leaving us.

Godspeed, Smokey! We will probably never see your likes again, for which we will the poorer. You definitely made Life interesting! For that, I thank you!

[ray b]

perhaps the number of new rules he caused to be made
will never be equaled.7/8 scale cars what a brilliant mind
i wonder what he got away with that we will never know about.

[fines]

Don't forget he was also a great USAC innovator, ran the first car with an outrigged aerodynamic wing at the Speedway in 1962, four years before Chaparral and six years before Formula One! And who could forget his (in)famous Hurst Floor Shifter two years later... Sad news indeed!

[Rainer Nyberg]

From www.indy500.com :

Legendary Indy Builder-Mechanic Yunick Dies At 77

By Dick Mittman
indy500.com

Legendary car builder-mechanic Smokey Yunick, who lived in Daytona Beach, Fla., but loved the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, died of leukemia in his home May 9. He was 77.

One of racing’s most innovative car designers, Yunick is best remembered for the "sidesaddle" car that he built in 1964 for the Indianapolis 500. Its unique design attracted much attention, but drivers Duane Carter Sr. and Bobby Johns were unable to make it raceworthy.

That episode was just part of Yunick’s involvement at Indy. He first came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1958 with Paul Goldsmith. He was a member of winner Jim Rathmann’s crew in 1960 and was chief mechanic for Rathmann the next two years.

New Zealander Denis Hulme drove Yunick’s Gurney Eagle to fourth place in 1967, and Joe Leonard broughthis Eagle home sixth in 1969. Yunick returned in 1973 with an Eagle powered by a stock-block engine entered with dual turbochargers. Jerry Karl piloted that car. Karl drove to 13th place with Yunick’s last entry in 1975.

Still, Yunick, always wearing his trademark cowboy hat, was visible in the pits at Indy nearly every May, including last year.

"Back in the old days I would have pulled my car to Indy with a rope if I had to," Yunick once said in an interview. "That was the ultimate, to stand there on the starting grid on Race Day at the Indianapolis 500 and pull up your pants and say, ‘OK, you mothers, let’s have a race.’"

Yunick participated when Tony Hulman was owner and president of the Speedway. But current track president Tony George, Hulman’s grandson, appreciated the individuality of the man who operated "The Best Damn Garage in Town" in Daytona Beach.

"Smokey was quite a character," George said. "That’s what racing needs today, more characters. He will be missed."

Yunick, a member of the 500 Oldtimers Club, first visualized his sidesaddle car when he was flying a B-17 on a bombing raid over Germany in World War II. He spotted a German fighter plane built with a side capsule for the pilot and was fascinated by its design. Yunick, incidentally, once bailed out over Poland and was rescued by Polish partisans.

Sixteen years after the war ended, Yunick made a trip to Germany to purchase some gears and, by chance, met the man who designed the fighter plane. Inspired, he returned home and began designing his unusual car.

"The idea was to get light and be very functional," he said. "I wanted a car that the capsule could be sittin’ over here, and I could start and operate the car over there."

He designed the first removable steering wheel for the car.

Carter shook the car down, and Johns was the appointed driver. Johns had to force himself to drive it fast, and on the last day of qualifying, Yunick sent Johns out for an attempt. Johns spun into the wall in Turn 1 on the warm-up lap ending Yunick’s great experiment.

"Oh, that car would have worked, no question about it," Yunick insisted many years later. "I don’t agree it was radical."

Born in Tennessee, Yunick chose to live in Daytona after flying over the town in a B-17. He opened his garage and became involved in NASCAR racing. He scored victories in old beach course races and his black Pontiacs won the Daytona 500 in 1961 with Marvin Panch and 1962 with Fireball Roberts.

The "Stock Car Racing Encyclopedia" lists Yunick with 61 starts and eight victories as a car owner. Fifty more victories came as a crew chief, chief mechanic or engine builder.

Yunick entered Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach two weeks ago suffering from pneumonia. He was transferred to his home on Tuesday.

Survivors include his wife, Margie; sons Smokey, Sam and Steve; and daughter, Trish.

The family will receive friends 5-8 p.m. Friday at Ormond Funeral Home, (386) 673-1100, with a memorial service scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday. The Rev. Hal Marchman will conduct the service. E-mail condolences may be sent through www.ormondfuneralhome.com.

In lieu of flowers, it is asked that memorial donations be made to the Stewart-Marchman Treatment Center, 3875 Tiger Bay Road, Daytona Beach, FL
32124.

[buddyt]

I too will miss the man called smokey...my favorite story is the one when the Nascar tech crew had taken his chevelle apart AGAIN to try to find why it was so fast and got great gas mileage also...They presented Smokey with a list of twelve things they thought he should change before being allowed to race. He got mad and fired the chevelle up and drove back to the hauler.....with the fuel cell still on the ground where nascar had left it to check its size....he shouted back at them make that 13 things......in the sixies he had wind generators on top of the best damn garage long before they were in style....RIP

[FordPrefect]

Cathy,
you knew Smokey?

A true innovator and I imagine a hell of an interesting person.

FP

[maxpapis]

Originally posted by FordPrefect
Cathy,
you knew Smokey?

A true innovator and I imagine a hell of an interesting person.

Yes, I knew him. I went to school with his son and daughter. He was a character and one hell of a guy. Some of his inventions and accomplishments were incredible.

[StuffedBeaver]

Cathy,

Is there a website for him if not what were some of his inventions?

[Brackets]

Dunno if it is urban legend or not, but didn't he once show up with a 7/8th scaled NASCAR, hence leading to the introduction of bodypart molds for officials?

[FordPrefect]

Beave, go to Google or wherever, try a web search, it won't hurt.

There are a lot of good sites out there on this man, it's worth your time IMO.

Oh hell, I can't say no to the man who is giving me free room and bored whenever I get over there.
try these for starters

http://www.edelbrock...est_camaro.html

http://www.speedworl...7cheating.shtml

[TNSFH]

Smokey wrote a book back in the early 70's entitled "Power Secrets". All of us weekend racers had a copy in the garage. It is the book to have if you're messing around with normally aspirated small block V8's.

[Uncle Davy]

I've been searching the web for a picture of Smokey's sidecar Hurst Floor Shifter Special that he entered in the Indy 500 back in the mid-sixties, but I haven't found anything yet...if anyone can find it, please post a URL...that was one weird freakin' car.

And yes Jimbo, he did enter a 7/8 car in NASCAR...IIRC, it was a Chevelle, 1966 I believe...the Nostalgiateers could probably give you the details.

Oops! Info on the 7/8 Chevelle can be found on FP's Speedworld link...

...uh-oh...better get off the motor sports stuff lest this thread be moved another forum...;)

[FordPrefect]

UD, Apollo is putting out a model of his 1962 Indy 500 Car#44 the first car to ever run at Indy with a wing.

http://www.apolloinc...n_roadsters.htm

I also read that at the first(?) Brickyard 400 Smokey was there signing copies of posters of the Hurst car ........

I'm sure that doesn't cheer you up

[Uncle Davy]

FP found this pic of the Hurst Floor Shift Special for me:

http://www.goodwood-...com/gr2k87b.htm

Scary, huh?

[mkane]

With cars like that, it is no wonder as many drivers died.

[Buford]

Scary, huh?


Nascar driver Bobby Johns was about the only guy with the balls to drive it. He crashed in turn one in qualifying. The car hit the wall with the rear and opposite side from the capsule. If it had hit on the side he was on, he'd have been splattered all over the first turn surface. There was no protection at all.

[Pit Babe]

Merged with bits and pieces of an unrelated thread in the Paddock - apologies if it seems disjointed...

[ry6]

What a clever and innovative man Smokey was.
I once read thru a book he wrote on "musclepower" tricks.
I think one clever trick was to use a wind driven propeller to drive a waterpump, but am not sure. Maybe someone who has the book can tell more.
In fact a photograph I cut from a newspaper when I was a little chap was the first picture I ever pasted into my autograph book and it showed "Duane Carter in Smokey Yunick's radical side-car creation". It was many years later that I found that this car had never been successful, but boy did it look good!

[Buford]

Yes that is correct. I had forgotten that Duane "Pappy " Carter did drive the side car but he got out and Bobby Johns attempted to qualify it.

[maxpapis]

I went to the memorial service today, as expected a lot of people were there. All of his friends were there joking and laughing about Smokey and his antics. I drove by the garage (Best Damn Garage in Town) which has been closed for some time now. It's still the same hasn't changed a bit. It will most likely be there forever as Smokey's daughter Trisha now owns that building and the one behind it where she runs her pet business (The Bird Factory).

If anything good can come from a funeral it was the fact that I saw Smokey's son (a very dear dear friend) for the first time in probably 20 years.

It seems as if there is a racing person dying every month lately. Hopefully, this will be the last for a while.

[bob_gilliland]

Here is the URL for a photo of Smoky's wild looking Sidewinder Indy car.

http://www.martsrods...co.uk/gfs21.jpg

[Ray Bell]

A very early image from my first American magazines comes to mind... Smokey Yunick warming a can of oil with a blowtorch to put into the engine of his car that was out there in contention for one of the big NASCAR races...

Was it Fireball Roberts at Daytona?

[Rainer Nyberg]

Posting this once again, Bobby Johns during the 1965 Indy 500.

[HistoricMustang]

I believe that is Smokey's Chevelle sitting in garage at Daytona in 1966.

From the Tinker Faulker collection.

Henry

[Batch68]

Smokey did a multi-part "History of NASCAR" in his regular Circle Track column in, I believe, 1994. He goes through all the things he was doing to cars from the very beginning, just fantastic stuff.
Batch

Edited by Batch68, 18 July 2009 - 15:57.