by Phil R. Elliott
“This ain’t no romance novel!” ~ Smokey Yunick
If you Google Smokey Yunick, you’ll find a great deal of information about a man who achieved a lot, lived nearly 80 years, and although he did other things, Yunick, according to Wikipedia, “is probably most associated with the racing genre. He participated as a racer, designer, and held other jobs related to the sport, but was best known as a mechanic, builder and crew chief.”
Oh sure, the description gets into his birthplace, his status as a high school dropout, some of his WWII Army Air Corps accomplishments (more than 50 missions over Europe in a B-17), and the 1947 start of his auto mechanic shop, “Smokey’s Best Damn Garage in Town” in Daytona Beach.
But this dry description fails to capture the totally crazy old codger that became a racing guru and hero to many, including me, and a thorn in the side of every sanction with which he chose to compete.
After his death to leukemia in 2001, his widow Margie completed and published his rambling autobiography, “Best Damn Garage in Town: My Life & Adventures,” by Smokey Yunick. I was lucky enough to receive a copy and began by reading several chapters before moving on to other projects. The book languished in a packed box of books for several years, finally to turn up during my immediate recovery time following chemo and radiation treatments. It was then I started it again and have enjoyed every syllable.
Margie Yunick, Smokey’s wife, dutifully typed the manuscript, despite its description of rather illicit behavior that had gone on before she entered his life. I must give her high marks for sticking with him during this project that revealed secrets that previously only he had known. Plus he shares not-very-flattering exploits involving quite a few well-known characters in racing and manufacturing, most worthy of steamy tabloid novels.
Smokey’s stories involve way too much to describe here, and anyone who ever spoke to Mr. Yunick, or even read his tech columns in “Circle Track,” knows it was obviously written by this very unique, totally original, multi-talented icon to the American way. His speech patterns and emotions come through loud and clear.
Though Smokey had credits such as Indy 500 and Daytona 500 wins, NASCAR championships, heading factory-backed teams for Hudson, Pontiac and Chevrolet, as well as making great strides in both performance and safety, he is almost better known as the character that stretched rulebooks farther than anyone. I wonder if anyone else in racing history has ever been slapped with as many infractions.
His #13 1966 Chevelle might be his finest effort. After dominating practice and qualifying for the Daytona 500, it was obvious to officials that there was something up the car’s black and gold sleeves. To the casual observer, the Chevelle looked stock but after a fine-tooth inspection, inspectors’ clipboards were full of what it needed. The “fix ticket” they issued further bolstered Smokey’s mythical reputation with competitors and fans, but not officials.
Yunick’s liberal interpretation of rulebooks led to improvisations like offset engines, chopped tops, laid-back windshields, raised floors, roof spoilers, and hidden nitrous oxide injection. In this autobiography, he stated honestly, “All those other guys were cheatin’ 10 times worse than us, it was just self-defense.” His aircraft background must have helped with his eye-ball engineering when it came to aerodynamics of racecars, because his were always just a little more slippery than the rest of the pack.
Yunick’s reputation and success often found him sideways with sanctioning body presidents over his innovative way and his opinionated mannerism. His was a no-frills appearance, even in boardrooms. He seemed more comfortable in white overalls, a beat-up cowboy hat and a corncob pipe than a jacket and tie. Although he enjoyed the engineering and mechanics of racing more than just about anything, it was the politics of it all that stopped him. He was never afraid of stating exactly how he felt about whatever subject that elicited his opinion, and it got him in trouble myriad times.
It has been 15 years since he died, and racing today needs characters like Smokey Yunick more than ever. He was against the slicked-up, finishing-school drivers that were beginning to spread throughout the sport. He said so. He stood for what he believed; he never minced words.
One of the testimonies on the cover is from SpeedFX.com: “If you’re tired of politically correct tomes on NASCAR, this book is the antidote.”
That is the point about Smokey. He didn’t have a politically correct cell in his body. His autobiography revisits that point extremely well.
Most Smokey fans will already have this “Best Damn Garage” in their library. If you don’t, and wish to know about a hall-of-fame category guy, with inventions and patents to his name, and more stories than you can stand, head immediately for the Internet and search for it. It must still be available and I would recommend it above a lot of others. I laughed pretty hard during my read of this treasure that shows Smokey in every situation. You’ll find that Smokey was a serious competitor in all aspects of life whether nose-to-nose with Bill France or in the jungles of South America searching for oil and mineral deposits. But he had other sides as well, full of hi-jinks and pranks. Plus, I was constantly amazed by the back-stories of the spectrum of races, officials, rules makers, drivers, promoters, travel and a lot more.
Smokey never went halfway or gave up. And you shouldn’t either, in your pursuit in finding and reading this book.