Henry "Smokey" Yunick (May 25, 1923 – May 9, 2001) was an American professional
stock car racing
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...
crew chief, owner, driver, engineer, engine builder, and car designer as well as being a pilot in the
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...
in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Yunick was deeply involved in the early years of
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
, and he is probably most associated with that racing genre. He participated in nearly every facet of the sport as a driver, designer, and held other jobs related to the sport, but was best known as a mechanic, engine builder, and crew chief.
Yunick was twice NASCAR mechanic of the year; and his teams would include 50 of the most famous drivers in the sport, winning 57
NASCAR Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...
races, including two championships in 1951 and 1953.
He was renowned as an opinionated character who "was about as good as there ever was on engines", according to
Marvin Panch, who drove
stock cars for Yunick and won the
1961 Daytona 500
The 1961 Daytona 500, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on February 26, 1961, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Marvin Panch won the race in the one-year-old 1960 Pontiac built and owned by Smoke ...
. His trademark white uniform and battered
cowboy hat, together with a cigar or
corncob pipe
A tobacco pipe, often called simply a pipe, is a device specifically made to smoke tobacco. It comprises a chamber (the bowl) for the tobacco from which a thin hollow stem (shank) emerges, ending in a mouthpiece. Pipes can range from very simp ...
, were a familiar sight in the pits of almost every NASCAR or
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...
race for over twenty years. During the 1980s, he wrote a technical column, "Track Tech", for ''Circle Track'' magazine and wrote an occasional "Say, Smokey..." guest column for ''Popular Science'' magazine. In 1990, he was inducted into the
International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Early life
A son of Ukrainian immigrants, Yunick grew up on a farm in
Neshaminy,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
and had to drop out of school to run the farm at age 16, upon the death of his father. This, however, allowed him to exercise his talents for improvising and optimizing mechanical solutions; for instance, constructing a
tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...
from the remains of a junked car. In his spare time, he built and raced
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
s; this is where he got his nickname, "Smokey," derived from the behavior of one of his motorcycles.
When the Americans joined
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Yunick joined the
Army Air Corps Army Air Corps may refer to the following army aviation corps:
* Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), the army aviation element of the British Army
* Philippine Army Air Corps (1935–1941)
* United States Army Air Corps (1926–1942), or its p ...
in 1941, piloting a
B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
named "Smokey and his Firemen" on more than 50 missions over Europe. He was with the
97th Bombardment Group (Heavy) of the
15th Air Force
The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Force ...
, at
Amendola Airfield
Amendola Air Base (ICAO: LIBA) is a military airfield of the Italian Air Force ( Aeronautica Militare). It is the home of 32nd Wing.
Overview
Amendola Air Base was primarily a training base for pilots of the AMX International AMX ground atta ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, before being transferred to the war's
Pacific theater
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
following
VE Day. In 1946, Yunick married and moved to
Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...
, because "it was warm and looked good" when he had flown over it on training missions.
Smokey's Garage
Yunick ran "Smokey's Best Damn Garage in Town" at 957 N. Beach St in Daytona Beach, Florida from 1947, when he opened the garage repairing trucks, until 1987 when he closed it, claiming that there were no more good mechanics. The garage property was sold according to his estate plan in 2003. Most of the buildings were taken down a few years later, leaving only a single building that erupted in flames on April 25, 2011, at about 7 p.m. and was destroyed. There is nothing left today.
Automobile racing
When Yunick's reputation as a good mechanic spread through the town,
Marshall Teague, a local stock car race team owner, invited him to join the team and Yunick accepted, despite being completely unfamiliar with stock car racing. He prepared a
Hudson Hornet for driver
Herb Thomas for the
second running of the Southern 500 in
Darlington, South Carolina, which won the race.
Between 1958 and 1973, Yunick also participated in
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...
racing, his car winning the 1960 race. His innovations here included the "Reverse Torque Special" of 1959, with the engine running in opposite rotation than normal, and the Hurst Floor Shifter Special, a car with the driver's capsule mounted as a "
sidecar" in 1964. In 1962, Yunick changed
open wheel racing
An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...
forever when he mounted a wing on
Jim Rathmann's Simoniz Vista Special Watson Roadster. The wing, designed to increase
downforce, allowed Rathmann to reach cornering speeds never before seen at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and and formerly the home of the United State ...
but created so much
drag that it caused the car to record slower lap times. The
United States Automobile Club (USAC) immediately banned the use of wings but they soon began to appear on cars competing in
Can-Am
The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an Sports Car Club of America, SCCA/Canadian Auto Sport Clubs, CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987.
History
Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two r ...
and
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
and by 1972 USAC once again allowed their use. He also participated in
drag racing
Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most c ...
.
Yunick's racing career brought him into contact with representatives of the automotive industry, and he became
Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
's unofficial factory race team, as well as heading NASCAR efforts for
Ford and
Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
**Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
. Much of the high-performance development of the
Chevrolet Small-Block engine involved Yunick in design, testing, or both. Yunick raced Chevrolets in 1955 and 1956, Fords in 1957 and 1958, and Pontiacs from 1959 through 1963. It was with Pontiac that Yunick became the first team owner to win the Daytona 500 twice (1961 and 1962), and first to put a driver, his close friend
Fireball Roberts, on the pole three times (1960–1962); this also made Pontiac the first manufacturer to do so.
Following Fireball Roberts' 1964 crash at
Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
— where after 40 days in pain from burns, he died — Yunick began a campaign for safety modifications to prevent a repeat of such disasters. After being overruled repeatedly by NASCAR's owner,
Bill France Sr., Yunick left NASCAR in 1970.
As with most successful racers, Yunick was a master of the
grey area straddling the rules. Perhaps his most famous exploit was his #13 1966
Chevrolet Chevelle
The Chevrolet Chevelle is a mid-sized automobile that was produced by Chevrolet in three generations for the 1964 through 1978 model years. Part of the General Motors (GM) A-body platform, the Chevelle was one of Chevrolet's most successful ...
, driven by
Curtis Turner. The car was so much faster than the competition during testing that they were certain that cheating was involved; some sort of
aerodynamic enhancement was strongly suspected, but the car's profile seemed to be entirely stock, as the rules required. It was eventually discovered that Yunick had lowered and modified the roof and windows and raised the floor (to lower the body) of the production car. This car has many legends about it, and they were definitively debunked by the 2019 Dinner with Racers episode on Amazon Prime TV. Since then, NASCAR required each race car's roof, hood, and trunk to fit templates representing the production car's exact profile.
Another Yunick improvisation was getting around the regulations specifying a maximum size for the fuel tank, by using 11-foot (3 meter) coils of 2-inch (5-centimeter) diameter tubing for the fuel line to add about 5 US gallons (18.9 liters) to the car's fuel capacity. Once, NASCAR officials came up with a list of nine items for Yunick to fix before the car would be allowed on the track. The suspicious NASCAR officials had removed the tank for inspection. Yunick started the car with no gas tank and said "Better make it ten," and drove it back to the pits. He used a
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
in the fuel tank which could be inflated when the car's fuel capacity was checked and deflated for the race.
Yunick also used such innovations as offset chassis, raised floors, roof spoilers, nitrous oxide injection, and other modifications often within the letter of the rule book, if not the spirit. "All those other guys were cheatin' 10 times worse than us," Yunick wrote in his autobiography, "so it was just self-defense." Yunick's success was also due to his expertise in the aerodynamics of racing cars.
In another incident, Yunick showed up for a race with stock rear fenders that partially covered the rear tires of his Chevelle. The car qualified well due to improved aerodynamics but the other teams were laughing and wondering how he was going to change the tires during pit stops. After qualifying, Yunick promptly cut out the rear fender openings. The other teams complained to NASCAR but Smokey said, "The rules say that I CAN cut out the rear fenders but it doesn't say WHEN I can cut them."
Yunick also built a 1968
Camaro for
Trans-Am
The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).
Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includin ...
racing. Although Yunick set several speed and endurance records with the car at
Bonneville Speedway, with both a 302 cubic inch (~4942 cubic centimeter) and a 396 cubic inch (~6489 cubic centimeter) engine, it never won a race while Yunick owned it. It was later sold to
Don Yenko
Donald "Don" Frank Yenko (May 27, 1927March 5, 1987) was an American car dealer and racecar driver best known for creating the Yenko Camaro, a high-performance version of the Chevrolet Camaro.
Biography Early life
Yenko grew up in Bentleyville, P ...
, who did win several races. In typical Yunick fashion, the car, although superficially a stock Camaro, had acid-dipped body panels and thinner window glass to reduce weight, the front end of the body tilted downwards and the windshield laid back for aerodynamics, all four fenders widened, the front subframe Z'ed (to physically move the front suspension higher and lower the front of the car) and the floorpan moved up to lower the car, and many other detailed modifications. The drip rails were even brought closer to the body for a tiny aerodynamic improvement. A connector to the engine oil system was extended into the car's interior, to allow the driver to add oil from a pressurized hose during pit stops. To allow the driver enough freedom of movement, the shoulder harness was modified to include a cable-ratchet mechanism from a military helicopter. In 1993,
Vic Edelbrock Jr. purchased and restored the car.
Contrary to popular opinion, Yunick designed the first "safe wall" race track barrier in the early 1980s using old tires between sheets of plywood but NASCAR did not adopt his idea. Also, Yunick developed air jacks for stock cars in 1961 but NASCAR did not deem them appropriate.
Awards
He was inducted in the
International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990
(inaugural year) and the
Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles, Sp ...
[Smokey Yunick]
at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles, Sp ...
in 2000. Yunick is a member of over 30 Halls of Fame across the United States and the rest of the world. Some of his items, including hats, pipes, boots, engines, etc. are on display (loan from family most of them) at museums from race tracks to the Smithsonian (history of racing).
Smokey was the NASCAR Mechanic of the Year twice.
Patents
Yunick is the inventor of at least nine US patents.
Author
His column "Say, Smokey" was a staple of ''
Popular Science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
'' magazine in the 1960s and 1970s; it consisted of his responses to letters sent to him by readers regarding mechanical conditions affecting their cars and technical questions about how
automotive performance could be improved and also about particularly tricky automotive issues. He also wrote for ''Circle Track'' magazine and published his autobiography ''Best Damn Garage in Town...The World According to Smokey'' in July 2001. The
audiobook version, Sex Lies and SuperSpeedways volume 1 was narrated by a longtime friend
John DeLorean
John Zachary DeLorean (January 6, 1925 – March 19, 2005) was an American engineer, inventor, and executive in the U.S. automobile industry, widely known for his work at General Motors and as founder of the DeLorean Motor Company.
DeLorean mana ...
.
In 1984, Yunick published ''Smokey's Power Secrets'' ().
Legacy
After Yunick's death, his shop's contents were auctioned off, according to his wishes. He had witnessed his friend
Don Garlits
Donald Glenn Garlits (born January 14, 1932, Tampa, Florida) is an American race car driver and automotive engineer. Considered the father of drag racing, he is known as "Big Daddy" to drag racing fans around the world. A pioneer in the field o ...
' difficulties developing and maintaining a
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
and did not want either his family to be saddled with such a burden, or a "
high roller" to gain control of his reputation. Instead, he preferred that his tools, equipment, cars, engines, and parts go to people who would use them, and before his death, he undertook to restore as much of it as possible to working conditions. The proceeds of the auction went to a foundation to fund innovations in motorsports.
The character Smokey in
Disney/Pixar's 2017 film
Cars 3 is based on Smokey Yunick. He is portrayed by
Chris Cooper
Christopher Walton Cooper (born July 9, 1951) is an American actor. He has appeared in several major Hollywood films, including '' American Beauty'' (1999), ''October Sky'' (1999), '' The Bourne Identity'' (2002), ''Seabiscuit'' (2003), '' Cap ...
.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Grand National Series
References
Further reading
*(Uncredited), "Smokey Yunick, 1923-2001", ''Stock Car Racing'' (ISSN 0734-7340), Volume 36, Number 8, August 2001.
*''Best Damn Garage in Town'', Henry Yunick. .
External links
The Official Smokey Yunick Web Site*
*
*
Henry Yunick profile at ''Hot Rod'' magazine websiteSmokey Yunick and the Hurst Floor Shifter Special
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yunick, Smokey
1923 births
2001 deaths
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American autobiographers
American columnists
American automotive pioneers
International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees
NASCAR crew chiefs
NASCAR drivers
People from Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania
Racing drivers from Pennsylvania
Sportspeople from the Delaware Valley
United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II
Writers from Pennsylvania
Journalists from Pennsylvania
20th-century American male writers
American male non-fiction writers
American people of Ukrainian descent
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists
21st-century American male writers
Military personnel from Pennsylvania