Smokey Yunick's Old Garage Burns

He was a neat guy I was fortunate enough to have had dinner with him probably 12 or so years ago with the girls. He had some great stories but his hearing was quite bad at that point. He will no doubt make it into the nascar hall of fame at some point even though he gave big Bill fits. He gave me a great signed poster of the chevelle, I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend some time with him.

Racerron that was Smokey, he told an even better one where he planted a chopped up car in the lot that matched the one he raced. The template did not fit in tech he swore it was stock and pointed them to the plant,they checked it and sure enough they thought the template was wrong and p***ed him now that's effort.

 

is this the chevelle? i read some where he had the entire underbelly panned so the air flowed under the car without any turbulance.

 

He flushed mounted all the trim on a stock car to get better air flow when the still ran all the trim. I have a book by him on how to get up to 800 horses from a buick V6.

 

Smokey inspired the air induction systems that I've been using for a looooong time. He always had the techs asking "what is that?" Joe Weatherly used to race bikes too which is where my Dad got to know him which drew him into the nascar scene with Fireball, Smokey and others.
Thrills me to hear the stories and look at the old footage and know the hero's through my Dad's eyes and memories. And their tricks work on hot rods too. Might not be everybody's idea of tradition, but I'm proud to use their traditional tricks and know where they came from.

The smoke from the fire may die, but the memories will live on in Smokey traditions.........

 

Sad enough that Smokey's "Best Damn Garage in Town",...........Is gone!, another Part Of his Remembrance LOST!
_________________________________________
I grew up (Maybe!), in Bristol Va./Tenn.,
Used to look forward to Race Day at BIS.....But Mostly!!, Looked forward to friday "Time Trials", leave work about 2 p.m., go to Track, get about half-way up in the bleachers, and,
listenen TO Smokey's Camaro's wind toward 10 to 12 thousand rpm's,.......they'd rev until the SOUND
WENT AWAY!!
Bring'em in, tweek'en slightly, back out, wind'em until they got quiet.
Was in His Shop in 60's, an he was experimenting
with method of balancing cranks, in a vat full of "Mercury" !!, that was "The Smokey".

 

I used to read Smokey's advise column whenever I saw it. One guy asked what seemed to me to be a bad question. Smokey said I tried that once, it didn't work. But you try it again and let me know what you come up with. LOTS of spark plug tech was done by Smokey.

 

His book is an amazing read, I don't know how much is spot on true, but the stories are so good I don't care!

 

I doubt there were any secrets left in that building. Smokey's stuff has been gone from there for years. I broke the base plate on one of my Dads carburetors one year at Daytona. Probably about '81-82. Smokey was walking though the garage area when we were pulling it off. He noticed how pissed Dad was. He came over and told him to bring that piece of **** over to the garage, and he would fix it. He did, and didn't charge him a dime. What he did do was chew my young *** out for tightening it up wrong. Never forgot it either.

We were good friends after that. He never forgot it either.

 

If you ever get a chance to read any 70s Popular Mechanics magazines, he had some good Q&A stuff in there. Still very pertinent info today.

 

One year at the Charlotte auto fair, it was raining cats and dogs. I was listening to a live Smokey interview on the radio in the camper. During the interview he said " I flew up here and rented a car. If it breaks down going back to the hotel, I'm just gonna have to walk. I have no idea how to fix it." That sure made me feel better.

I got to see his place several years ago. I think some of the buildings were already gone then from his heyday.

 

I live 3 blocks from there so I took a few ****py cell phone pics

 

What a shame to lose this piece of history.

 

I met him at a poster signing at sema in '93. I didn't realize he was as deaf as he was. As he's signing my poster I'm asking some stupid question not knowing that he couldn't hear me. We both finished at the same time. I stood there waiting for an answer, he stood there wondering why I was standing there. Awkward silence...then he says loudly, WHAT, DO YOU WANT ANOTHER POSTER? I said SURE! He signed another for me, dripping mayo from his sandwich on it. My moment of meeting a hero.

 

the Master of all things fact with pistins

 

UPDATE from Jayski's - Fire intentional?

from Jayski's NASCAR page:

The inferno that swept through the former garage of famed NASCAR mechanic Smokey Yunick was intentionally set, the State Fire Marshal's office said Friday, and a reward is being offered for any information leading to an arrest. Nina Ashley, a spokeswoman for the State Fire Marshal's office in Tallah***ee, said the fire was "incendiary," which means it was set intentionally. It has not been cl***ified an arson, however, because the intent is not clear. A sign was posted Friday afternoon outside the property -- which Yunick once called the "Best Damn Garage in Town" -- offering a $5,000 reward for information.

Link to article in April 30th Daytona Beach News/Journal: http://www.news-journalonline.com/n...-garage-intentionally-set-reward-offered.html