What's the story on it? I've got a 66 myself and the first thing I notice is how the rear end is kicked up
It was mentioned in an interveiw in a magazine in the 1970's,he had a Hudson running backwards with the diff head upside down .This was to create an effect in turns and he said even the driver didn't know anything about it. And then there was the 3" diameter fuel line.
It was an attempt to gain downforce & lower the nose for streamlining...most, if not all, of the body panels were modified in one way or another...at the time it was completely different than the competitive cars of the day, which essentially had stock body panels. It's a fairly complex story, just because NASCAR/Bill France, Ford, & Chrysler were in something of a three-way battle over first the Hemi...then Ford's counter, the 427 SOHC...with Mopar having the DOHC Hemi on the drawing board, in case France decided to let Ford use the SOHC. Ford boycotted much of one season and Chrysler boycotted another. In the midst of all this, Junior Johnson decided to approach the problem of the Hemi from a different angle. NASCAR didn't have 35 body templates back then... The book Ford: The Dust & The Glory, Vol. 1, by Leo Levine, has a pretty good account of this, as well as detailing Ford racing from the beginning through 1968.
Floyd Garrett owned the 7/8 scale Chevelle (that is what it was known as back then) about 20 years ago and may still. I remember one of the greatest racing stories ever told was about that car. Many of you have no doubt heard it. Smokey pulled the car from the pits to the tech area at Daytona in '67 I believe. The fuel cell had to be removed for tech. After failing tech a very pissed off Smokey got in the Chevelle without the fuel cell and drove it back to the pits. Just one Smokey story.
Other sources are telling there was 12 (twelve) things to be arranged in some more than an hour: including the frame, the bumpers abnd a lot of other parts not so easy to fix:
Welcome to the HAMB frank, plenty of room for another 'factually challenged' individual. I'm sure you'll find some old friends here. As far as Smokey goes, does that book talk about the motor he had running backwards and they only figured it out because the rear end was in upside down? With the motor torquing away from the turns he was running away from everybody in the corners.
smokey's hot fapor engine. a friend was working with some guy's while he was taking classes at Sanford Univ. He built a 40 - 1 compression single cyl engine ..everything had to be very strong to take the heat and detonation pressure.. It had good numbers on economy and hp but the thing was high on N_OX emmisions ..their theory was that the chemical reaction produced at higher temp and pressure resulted in higher power. he used to say you could cook your K ration with a piece of C 5 burning slowly or make a big bang I have a weed burner on the farm that super heats diesel fuel and at the higher temp it is a lot more efficient than pouring it on the ground and lighting it, the same theory with smokey's design.
The story I read said at the time the factory had to tear down the winner and verify that factory parts were used. The factory engineer took the engine apart and never noticed the cam was ground backwards, it had a factory part number cast in it, or the fan blades were bent the wrong way.
If you're interested in professional selling, I'll link you to my book, which has sold over 5,000 copies (sales training is my main business). Closer to the topic here, I've written over 200 articles for magazines like Stock Car Racing, Circle Track, Speedway Illustrated, Dirt Late Model, Vintage Motorsport, Street Rodder, and a few I've forgotten about by now. SO, it's fair to say that when I write something, people read it - otherwise those magazines wouldn't pay for it. Put it this way - I've had more contact with Smokey hisself as well as those who knew him best than most of the people on this thread. I have tons of respect for his knowledge; he was certainly a better engineer than thousands of degreed professional engineers. He was also nearly as full of BS as he was technical knowledge, and those who knew him best knew that you usually had to work to separate one from the other. Rip me if you wish.
Kind of surprised no one has mentioned his Black and Gold 67 Camaro from the Trans Am Racing series. Vic Edelbrock and his daughter the current owners still race it. If you get a chance to see it and look at the rear end it does in fact have a Ford 9 inch in it with a Chevy 12 bolt cover bolted to the back. The car also has z'ed frame, recessed firewall, and recessed drip rails that are all visible. I am just glad it is out there racing still.
That hot vapor Fiero is still around, and in the hands of a private owner. It was mentioned in an issue of Grassroots Motorsports magazine not long ago, and I'm pretty sure it was featured on the Powerblock on Spike TV last year. In the GRM magazine article they ran it on a chassis dyno; I don't recall the figures but it did make pretty good power.
I've read this evaluation by more then one person that actually knew Smokey, and no way do I doubt it's truth deep down. But as a worshipper of what Smokey did and the way he said things, I guess I choose to believe what he says as fact. Sure wish I could have met him! He never tried to hide what he was thinking, good or otherwise.
Hi have a couple doors for the Trans Am Camaro race car,got them at the 2nd to last Garage Sale at Smokeys,they are acid dipped,thin as hell,have special reinforcement straps on inside so they dont cave in....if anyone has a good way for me to get in touch with Vic,I would give him the doors skip63@lakedalelink.net
I'm reading the paperback (ISBN 0-9724378-3-5 1st Edition, 5th Printing) and the story about Chicky "the jap" Hiroshima (so it's written) it's a whole different, from page 377 to page 385: e.g. Yunick writes the Indy racing special paper read "Rathman and Smokey win Indy 500". At page 384, about Indy Badges there is a kind of explanation.... Caution: it's only a question, I'm not able at all (in quality of "non american") to disprove your statement. Thanks.
Smokey's nick-name is NOT due to blowing "smoke". He says it can be done, not only can it be accomplished, he has already done it!!! Thanks
The nick-name story I heard was from his motorcycle days, his bike made enough smoke to attract the announcer's attention, the name stuck, so goes what I remember.
He had a way about him. pondering why the current generation of indy car crew chiefs walked around with carbon fibre briefcases he surmised that they carried 'speed secrets' in them.
I'm just about finished with the book, thanks to being laid up quite a bit lately. I agree it could be edited down to 2-300 pages. The first 75 were hard to get through for me. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed hearing Smokey tell his account of how things were. We all know he was a little full of shit but there is no denying he was one of the brightest, most innovative mechanical minds that ever lived. That's why he was a hero to me when I was growing up and why I've enjoyed the book. The man accomplished a helluva lot in his life with very little formal education.
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