Track Smack » Auto racing

How “Radioman” Doug Taylor Saved Mark Martin’s Life

Angie — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:54:43 +0000

Stock car racing has always been a team sport. Each person in the organization plays a key role in the success of the team. One minor mistake can ruin a driver’s day and the smallest thing can often make the biggest impact.

Just ask Doug Taylor.

After a brief career in the Air Force that taught him electronics, Taylor was looking for a new direction when he heard that 2-way radios were being used in Indy and stock cars. He began to focus on developing a better system for in-car communications.

At first only a few drivers were interested but through word of mouth advertising, more and more seemed to take notice. In 1974 things began to come together when Junior Johnson became his first customer.

You might recognize a few of the legendary names he has worked with in his 25-year long career. They include A.J. Foyt, Benny Parsons, Darrell Waltrip, the Woods Brothers, Paul Newman and many more.

Taylor has lived a diverse life including a short stint as a driver. He’s also had his share of ups and downs. His biggest contribution to the sport was the development of “The Earmold” which is still used in racing today. Unfortunately, he was never able to procure a worthwhile patent on it.

Before Taylor’s innovation the in-car radios only worked during cautions. His new design ushered in a new era where crew chiefs were able to talk to their drivers under green flag conditions.

Talking with Taylor is like talking to a walking encyclopedia of racing. He also has some great stories to tell. This is just one of many.

He began telling me about the Mark Martin he met in the 1970’s as a driver in the American Speed Association where Martin went on to capture four championships.

Taylor likens the young Martin’s driving style to that of Kyle Busch. This was well before Martin evolved into one of the most respected and cleanest drivers in NASCAR today.

But there is one race at Winchester Speedway in Indiana that is one of Taylor’s most vivid memories of Mark Martin.

Martin was competing against driver Mike Eddy for the win.

Eddy, who went on to become a seven-time National ASA champion, was well known for his pedal to the medal driving style. He was feared on the track and was known to many as the “Polar Bear.”

It was on lap 391 of the 1980 Winchester 400 when the trouble began. Martin and Eddy were both going for the win with Eddy in first place and Martin right behind him in second.

Suddenly Martin got under Eddy and they raced side by side until Martin’s car broke loose. His car slid up the track into the side of Eddy who bounced off the wall and back into Martin. The wreck took them both out of the race.

After the race, Taylor walked by Eddy who was talking to several drivers about the race. He saw Taylor, pointed at him, and said, “There’s the guy that saved Martin’s life.”

Everyone turned to look at Taylor who was standing there with his mouth open and no idea of what was coming next.

Eddy continued with the story saying that when he got out of his car, there was only one thing on his mind. He was going to go find Martin and “kill” that kid.

But, as he was getting out of the car, he felt a tug on his helmet and realized that his radio was still attached to his helmet. He remembered how Taylor had always told the drivers that they needed to be careful with their radios and pull the connector apart with their hands, not by jerking on the cord.

Eddy paused for a few seconds to take the time to disconnect his radio properly. That brief moment took his mind off Martin just long enough for him to calm down.

“If it wasn’t for Doug,” Eddy said, there’s no telling what I would have done.”

Taylor chuckles as he tells the story and says he’s happy he could play a small part in helping Mark Martin live to become the icon he is today.

For more information about Doug Taylor, please visit his website at http://www.taylorscommunicationsracing.webs.com/.

NASCAR Beginnings Featuring Richie Evans

Angie — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:34:04 +0000

Richard “Richie” Evans was just announced as a NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee for the second year in a row. For those of you who only follow the Sprint Cup Series drivers, his name may be unfamiliar. But his record speaks volumes about why he was included in such a prestigious class of NASCAR drivers.

Evans won nine National Modified Championships, including eight consecutive championships from 1978 to 1985. His eight straight championships still stand as a record in any NASCAR division to date. He has been hailed as the best to ever drive the asphalt modified circuit.

During his career he won more than 400 feature races and over 30 track championships. One of his best seasons was in 1979 when Evans ran 60 races capturing 54 top five finishes that included 37 victories.

The International Motorsports Hall of Fame lists his achievements as “one of the supreme accomplishments in motorsports.”

Evan’s left his father’s farm at the age of 16 to work in a garage in Rome, New York. He soon ventured into the world of racing as a drag racer but eventually switched to stock cars. In 1965 he began running in the Modified division.

Evans was not only a gifted driver but often spent 100 hours a week working on his own cars, leaving nothing to chance.

“Working with the car and working on it in the garage every week is an advantage,” Evans once said. ”While I’m working on the car, I’m thinking about every lap I rode in that thing. It’s not like the mechanic who stood and watched it during the feature and then has to make some decisions.”

Nicknamed the “Rapid Roman,” Evans won his first NASCAR Modified Championship in 1973 at the age of 32. He won his second title in 1978 and continued his reign as “king” of the modified division through 1985.

Evans was a winner in more ways than one. He won the Most Popular Driver award nine times and was highly regarded by even the competitors he raced against each week. He was well known for his down to earth manner and his willingness to help others.

In the eyes of his fans, Evans was a true star.

Once before a race at Daytona, Paul Newman was sitting next to Richie Evans on the pit wall talking when a seven year old boy spotted his favorite driver. He walked over to the pair and when he got there, Paul Newman said “I don’t give autographs.” The boy innocently answered, “I wanted Richie’s autograph.” Evans just smiled and gave the boy his autograph.

Richie Evans never competed in the highest levels of NASCAR. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that this meant he wasn’t good enough. Richie Evans was, and still remains, one of the best racers in any NASCAR division.

Tommy Baldwin and Steve Park recently teamed up to race a Richie Evans tribute car at Daytona to pay their respects to this legendary driver.

“Having Richie Evans along for the ride for this weekend and honoring him is something special to all of us,” said Baldwin, “especially in the NASCAR short track community around the country. Richie was somebody we all looked up to and when he came to town, we knew we had to beat him to win. He made us all work harder and I think that prepared a lot of us for the Sprint Cup level.”

Evans had already clinched his last championship when tragedy struck. On October 24, 1985, Evans was killed during a practice session in a crash at Martinsville Speedway. A heartbroken racing community mourned the death of one of their own.

Tony Siscone, a fellow modified racer, summed up the shock and sorrow that many were feeling.

“Good old Richie just did it to us again. He left under his own conditions and lived his life on his own terms.”

Recognitions:

Named #1 on NASCAR’s Modified all-time Top 10 list.
Only retired number in NASCAR in any series — #61 on the Whelen Modified Tour.
Named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.
Selected by fans as NASCAR‘s Most Popular Driver in Modified Division nine times.
International Motorsports Hall of Fame 1996.
National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame 1986.
New York State Stock Car Association Hall of Fame.
New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame inaugural 1998 class.
FOAR SCORE Hall of Fame: 1986 – inaugural class.
Oswego Speedway Hall of Fame 2000.
As part of the 25th anniversary of the NASCAR Weekly Series in 2006, Evans was named one of the series’ All Time Top 25 drivers.
Nominated in the class of 2010 as one of the potential 5 inaugural inductees to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, July 2, 2009.
Evans’ #61 was retired at his home track – Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, New York in 2008.
Nominated in the class of 2011 as one of the potential 5 inductees of 2011 to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, July 1, 2010.

Thanks to Area Auto Racing News and allthatmatters.org for quotes.

NASCAR Hall ballot for 2011 made up of 25 (sports.espn.go.com)

NASCAR Beginnings Featuring Banjo Matthews

Angie — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:41:35 +0000

Banjo Matthews was an ordinary man with an extraordinary gift. A master craftsman who wasn’t in it for the fame or fortune, he let his work speak for him.

In this modern era of quicker is better and quantity over quality, it’s easy to forget men like Matthews. But that would be a huge mistake.

Edwin Keith Matthews was born on February 14, 1932 in Akron, Ohio. Matthews got stuck with the nickname “Banjo Eyes” in grade school because of the thick-lensed glasses he wore. Surgery later in life helped improved his vision but the nickname, shortened to Banjo, remained.

When he was fifteen, he moved to Miami and spent five years racing and working on cars. After deciding that he wanted to earn his living as a racer, he moved to Asheville, North Carolina in 1952.

Matthews raced on both dirt and asphalt tracks and became one of the best modified drivers around. In the early 1960’s he headed for the superspeedways of NASCAR. He had 50 career starts on the Grand National circuit. His best finish was a second place at Atlanta.

You might read those statistics and see an uneventful career. But Banjo Matthews was about to find his true destiny.

In 1963 he left racing and began building cars for the Ford factory team. When the factory teams pulled out of NASCAR, Matthews opened his own shop and began his second career as a car builder.

One of his most successful collaborations was with John Holman of Holman-Moody. He made a deal with Holman to build kit-type Fords in 1971. Matthews built the body and framework for the cars and Holman-Moody put in the motors. He later went on to build cars for Chevrolet.

When it came to building cars, Matthews was in a class by himself.

As an owner, Matthews’ cars claimed nine victories with 14 poles in 160 starts. His cars won the Firecracker 400 at Daytona three times with legendary drivers Fireball Roberts, A.J. Foyt and Donnie Allison.

Allison also won the World 600 at Charlotte and two other races. One of his most cherished wins was at Rockingham in 1968.

“My biggest memory was in Victory Lane that day (at Rockingham),” says Allison.

“Banjo, standing there with tears running down his cheeks, says to me, ‘I knew that I could win another race.’ As a car owner, he just never had the opportunity to have a regular driver who could concentrate on winning races. As a person, Banjo was as good as I ever knew. As a racer, he was the most knowledgeable I’ve ever known.”

Matthews eventually decided to build cars strictly for other owners and this is when his legend began.

His cars ruled the race tracks.

With a dominance that will probably never be repeated, Matthews set some almost unbelievable records.

Cars built by Matthews won 262 of 362 Winston Cup races between 1974 and 1985. In 1978, his cars won all 30 races. Matthews also won four consecutive championships from 1975-1978. In fact, for many of the races, his cars comprised half the field or more.

Many in the racing community will tell you that Matthews had no equal when it came to building cars. But he didn’t look at himself and see anyone special. His joy came from doing a job and doing it right. The success of others seemed to be enough for this unassuming man.

In a 1980 interview Matthews said, “I get my kicks, and so do my employees, from how well cars that we have built perform and the satisfaction they bring to the customers. That’s all the recognition I care about.”

He went on to describe his work ethic.

When I was driving I couldn’t stand to get outrun by somebody with better equipment,” he said.

“That’s the way I feel about my business. I believe in and admire craftsmanship. I’m a man of simple tastes, but one reason I collect antiques is because of the way they were made. I like things that it has taken somebody a long time to make.”

But Banjo wasn’t all business.

Barney Hall, who has been a fixture in NASCAR for many years as a broadcaster and writer, shared some of his memories of Matthews in “Barney Hall’s Tales from Trackside.”

It seems that Matthews had a few problems with his rental cars. According to Hall, this wasn’t unusual.

Back in the day, drivers would often get in their rental cars on the back roads and start bumping and banging as they raced to the motel. The next thing you knew, someone’s rental was sitting in a cornfield by the side of the road.

He recounts an episode in Darlington when Matthews, Bobby Allison and David Pearson were all racing back to the hotel.

Pearson bumped Matthews and he lost control of the car, flying through a soy bean field and abruptly stopping when he ran head-on into a pecan tree.

The funny part was listening to Matthews try to explain why he needed a new rental car.

He started out saying that the car wouldn’t run.

“Well, why won’t it run?” they asked.

“The motor in it won’t run,” Matthews replied.

“Do you have any idea why?” the rental agent asked.

Matthews finally broke down and told them the truth.

“Well, basically because the motor is stuck all the way back to the front seat,” he admitted.

Matthews supposedly talked his way out of it with some story about a dog running out in front of him.

Hall also remembers how Matthews used to sometimes drink a little too much at the local bar. Partly because of this and partly just to have some fun, fellow racer David Pearson would hide his car keys.

One morning, they walked out to get in the car to go to the track and the rental car had been stolen. Matthews was convinced that Pearson had pulled another prank on him.

“Come on, David. This isn’t funny. Where’s my car?”

“I think until the day he died,” Hall says, “Banjo thought David had taken the car that day and hidden it somewhere.”

Banjo Matthews may not be a name that those new to NASCAR recognize. But to the men who knew him best, he will never be forgotten.

Matthews died on October 2, 1996 of heart and respiratory disease at the age of 64. Before his death, however, he received some of the recognition that he truly deserved.

He received the Buddy Shuman Award for contributions to the sport, the Smokey Yunick Award and was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame by Yunick.

Matthews’ son, Jody, accepted the Hall of Fame award in his father’s absence.

“My dad was real emotional about the Hall of Fame and I’m just so happy that he got to enjoy the honor before he passed away,” says Jody. “He never was a trophy-chaser, but he appreciated recognition by his peers.

Donnie Allison once said that Banjo Matthews was the best thing that ever happened to him and the smartest man he had ever been around in NASCAR

One of his biggest admirers was Smokey Yunick who gave Banjo a more fitting nickname.

“Banjo was a friend for almost 50 years,” Yunick said. “He was the Henry Ford of race cars.”

“When we go back and look at what he did for racers, fans, and the industry, he was probably one of the 25 main building blocks of Stock car racing.”

David Poole, who passed away in 2009, was a Charlotte Observer writer and one of the most respected NASCAR journalists that the sport has known. He shared one of his fondest memories in a profile on NASCAR Media in March 2008.

He was asked what he thought was the best story he’d ever written. Poole reflected back to the last day that the Holmon-Moody race shop stood before being demolished. He went to the shop and just wandered around, taking one last look before it was all gone.

Poole came across an old wall calendar covered in phone numbers in John Holmon’s handwriting. One such number belonged to Banjo Matthews.

“That was really cool because you knew that you were standing in a place where history had happened,” Poole said.

“And this is going to sound funny, but I had the same sort of feeling that I had the day I went to Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Because you know that within these walls, that a lot of important stuff in the context of what they are, happened.”

Awards and Achievements:

Received the Flock Brothers Memorial Award

Inducted into the TRW Mechanics Hall of Fame

Received The Smokey Yunick Award for lifetime mechanical achievement

Inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame

Received the Buddy Shuman Award

Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame

Quotes from circletrack.com

JRM Inks 5-Race Sponsorship With Realtree Outfitters Through Delta Apparel

Angie — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:25:09 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

PRESS RELEASE

New Hampshire will mark debut for No. 88 Realtree Outfitters Chevrolet as well as Elliott Sadler‘s 10-race driving deal with JR Motorsports; Earnhardt Jr. to compete in Bristol Nationwide race in No. 88 Realtree Outfitters Chevrolet

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Wednesday, June 16, 2010) – Delta Apparel – a leading activewear and headwear manufacturer – has agreed to a partnership with JR Motorsports to promote the Realtree Outfitters licensed brand, which will receive primary placement on the No. 88 Chevrolet for five NASCAR Nationwide Series events this year, general manager Kelley Earnhardt announced today. Realtree, the camouflage brand made famous by its long-running outdoor-themed television programming, recently signed Delta Apparel to an exclusive apparel and headwear licensing deal with its Realtree Outfitters brand.

One of the five races – the Aug. 20th event at Bristol Motor Speedway – will feature team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind the wheel of the No. 88 Realtree Outfitters Chevrolet. Two other events – the June 26th race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Sept. 25th race at Dover International Raceway – will introduce Elliott Sadler as driver of the No. 88 Realtree Outfitters Chevy. Sadler has signed a 10-race driving agreement with JR Motorsports to drive the No. 88 car.

“I think this partnership with Delta Apparel and Realtree Outfitters is something we’re announcing now, but it started a long time ago just on mutual friendship,” said Earnhardt Jr. “Realtree has been in the sport a long time, because there is a common interest in racing and hunting. NASCAR fans wear Realtree camo.”

The complete schedule for Delta Apparel/Realtree Outfitters-sponsored races includes New Hampshire Motor Speedway (June 26), Iowa Speedway (July 31), Bristol Motor Speedway (Aug. 20), Dover International Speedway (Sept. 25), and Gateway International Raceway (Oct. 23). Drivers for Iowa and Gateway are still to be determined.

“Our licensing agreement with Realtree has opened significant new markets for our lifestyle t-shirts, caps, and other apparel items in both the outdoor and NASCAR market places in a very short timeframe,” said Robert W. Humphreys, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Delta Apparel, Inc. “This partnership is really true to all of the brands involved.”

Bill Jordan, the popular outdoorsman and president of Realtree, said, “Both Dale Jr. and Elliott truly enjoy the outdoors, and both have spent time hunting and filming with us over the years. We could not be more pleased to have these two drivers behind the wheel of the Realtree Outfitters Chevrolet.

“The partnership among Delta Apparel, Realtree Outfitters and JR Motorsports is the foundation of a multi-media campaign to promote the Realtree Outfitters brand, and the tie-ins among all of these companies and Chevrolet makes this the perfect promotion – touching on families, friendships, NASCAR and the outdoors.”

Both Earnhardt Jr. and Sadler are avid outdoorsmen and have hunted multiple times with Jordan. Much of Realtree’s notoriety comes through its television programming on ESPN2, Outdoor Channel and other networks. Earnhardt Jr. and Sadler have been featured on Realtree Outdoors® in each of the past two seasons.

“Our deal with Realtree Outfitters is one of those partnerships that won’t be too difficult getting our fans and team members to rally around,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Our shop is loaded with avid hunters, starting with (Crew Chief) Tony Eury Jr. He’s a die-hard and big supporter of Realtree. My uncles – the Gee boys, Robert Jr. and Jimmy – are the best body-hangers in the business, but before they agreed to come to JR Motorsports, they made me promise to give them the entire month of November off so they can hunt… every year. It was the only way I could get them to come to JR Motorsports, so I agreed. I’ve never heard of a contract quite like it.”

Sadler’s debut for JR Motorsports at New Hampshire will kick off a 10-race schedule for the Emporia, Va.-native in the team’s flagship No. 88. His two races for Realtree Outfitters will be met with eight more for sponsor Grand Touring Vodka. Those tracks include O’Reilly Raceway Park (July 24), Michigan (Aug. 14), Richmond (Sept. 10), Kansas (Oct. 2), Auto Club Speedway (Oct. 9), Texas (Nov. 6), Phoenix (Nov. 13), and Homestead-Miami (Nov. 20).

“I am grateful to Dale Jr. and Kelley for this opportunity,” Sadler said. “Dale Jr. and I have been friends since our days of racing late models, so it’s a great opportunity for us to partner together in the Nationwide Series. Everyone knows that I hunt every single day during the off-season. So, this was like a dream come true for me to have a chance to represent Realtree Outfitters at my inaugural race with JR Motorsports. Last year on a Realtree Outdoors hunt I harvested a monster bull elk, thanks to Bill Jordan. We’re mixing together my two biggest passions in life: racing and the outdoors. I’m going to go out and give it everything I have to put this No. 88 in victory lane for these 10 races.”

Sadler is a five-time winner in the Nationwide Series and three-time winner in the Sprint Cup Series. His first full season in the Nationwide Series featured three victories (Nazareth, Myrtle Beach, and Gateway) and four pole awards. He responded a season later with two more wins (Bristol and Rockingham) and one pole.

“Elliott is a really good buddy of mine, and I’m happy that he has agreed to race our cars on a limited basis this year,” said Earnhardt Jr. “By now everybody knows our situation. We are looking for the next full-time replacement for the No. 88, but in the meantime we’ve called upon some proven racers to keep it up front, capture points, and contend for wins. Jamie McMurray took on a handful of races and has done an incredible job. It’s been a lot of fun watching him race, and Pops (Tony Eury Sr.) has enjoyed working with him. I think Elliott will do just as well. He’s a great race car driver.”

Earnhardt Jr.’s turn behind the wheel of the No. 88 Realtree Outfitters Chevrolet at Bristol will be his third appearance in the Nationwide Series this season. He competed in the season-opening event at Daytona International Raceway, and will return to the track in July to drive the No. 3 Wrangler Chevy. Earnhardt Jr. is a two-time series champion and winner of 22 races.

NASCAR Beginnings Featuring Smokey Yunick

Angie — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 01:56:04 +0000

(c)doyleperformance.com

When we take a look back at the beginnings of NASCAR, we often focus on the legendary drivers who became the stars of the sport. But if we stop there, we’ve really only scratched the surface.

You can’t really understand NASCAR without taking a look at the talent behind the scenes.

Smokey Yunick is a perfect place to start, but be forewarned. It’s sometimes difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction when discussing this colorful character.

Yunick was involved in all aspects of racing from designer to driver but is most well-known as a mechanic, builder and crew chief. His innovations led to at least eleven patents.

Yunick was also quite famous for his ability to walk that fine line between bending and breaking the rules.

He was a familiar sight at the track and easy to spot with his trademark white uniform, cowboy hat and corncob pipe.

Henry “Smokey” Yunick was born in 1923 and grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania. He dropped out of school at the age of sixteen after the death of his father.

Yunick spent his days working on the farm but built and raced motorcycles in his spare time. When a fellow competitor couldn’t remember his name, he called him “Smokey,” because the motorcycle Yunick was driving had an engine that smoked. The name stuck.

In 1941, when World War II broke out, Yunick joined the Army Air Corps and piloted a B-17 Flying Fortress. After the war, he married and moved to Daytona Beach, Florida.

After the war, he opened a garage called “The Best Damn Garage in Town.” He ran the garage for thirty years, closing it in 1987.

Yunick’s career in NASCAR began when he was approached by Marshall Teague, a local stock car team owner, who invited Yunick to join his team. Although he had never worked on stock cars, Yunick accepted the job.

He was the chief mechanic for Herb Thomas who won the Winston Cup championship in 1951 and 1953. Yunick had 61 starts as a car owner and earned eight career victories. He won more than 50 times as a crew chief, chief mechanic or engine builder.

But that’s only the beginning of Yunick’s story.

Yunick was also deeply involved in Indianapolis 500 racing and was responsible for numerous innovations. In 1959, Yunick brought a car with the engine turned upside down, calling it the Reverse Torque Special. The car finished in seventh place. He won the Indy 500 in 1960 with driver Jim Rathmann.

In 1962, he changed open wheel racing forever when he mounted a wing on Jim Rathmann’s Roadster. The wing was designed to increase downforce and it allowed Rathmann to reach cornering speeds never before seen at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

One of the most unusual cars he brought to the Indy 500 was his “sidesaddle” car, that he called the Hurst Floor Shift Special. The car was driven by Bobby Johns and according to Yunick was “built out of backyard kind of stuff.”

By the end of his career, Yunick had worked with many of the most famous drivers in the racing community. The list includes Tim Flock, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Curtis Turner, Buck Baker, Herb Thomas and Fireball Roberts, just to name a few.

Yunick’s career brought him to the attention of the automotive industry and he became Chevrolet’s unofficial factory race team. This collaboration involved him in the design and testing of the Chevrolet Small-Block engine.

Yunick raced Chevrolets in 1955 and 1956, Fords in 1957 and 1958 and raced Pontiacs from 1959 through 1963. It was while with Pontiac that Yunick became the first team owner to win the Daytona 500 twice, in 1961 and 1962.

He was also the first to put a driver on the pole three times (1960-1962) with his close friend, Fireball Roberts. After Robert’s death in 1964, Yunick began a campaign for safety modifications to prevent a repeat of the accident.

He was repeatedly overruled by NASCAR owner; Bill France Sr. Tired of what he called the “politics” of racing, Yunick left NASCAR in 1970.

He continued to apply his expertise in the racing community through a variety of projects over the next fifteen years. Yunick helped develop a stock-block pushrod engine for the Indy 500, worked on developing a high performance Buick V-6 engine and numerous other endeavors.

Over the last few years of his life, he was involved in everything from exploring numerous alternative energy sources to writing a column for Circle Track magazine. When he found out he had leukemia, he focused on completing his autobiography.

With all that he accomplished, one of the most fascinating aspects of Yunick’s life was his ability to find the grey areas in NASCAR’s rules.

The most infamous example of his ingenuity occurred in 1968 during Speed Week when NASCAR officials pulled the gas tank out of Yunick’s Pontiac after they thought his car was getting excessive fuel mileage.

After the inspection was over, Yunick got into the car, started it up and drove away… with the gas tank still lying on the ground.

Bobby Allison, who had driven a couple of Yunick’s cars, explained what happened.

“Smokey looked and saw where the NASCAR rule book wouldn’t define something and he’d make his own improvisations.”

“The gas tank was the right size but he made the fuel line so it held a couple of gallons of gas. So he was able to drive away without the gas tank. I don’t want to say he didn’t step outside the lines, but he was really smart about those things.”

I could recount story after story of the many ways that Yunick found to beat the system. But what I find most interesting is not the how, but the why.

In November 1988, in Circle Track Magazine, Yunick gave us insight into how his mind worked.

“Trying to figure out NASCAR’s rule book threw me at first. Then, after studying the rules from all sides, I realized I’d made a colossal mistake,” he said.

“I’d been reading the rule book to see what it said. And all along what I should have been doing was finding out what it didn’t say. After I started doing that, racing became fun in a big way.”

Yunick passed away on May 9, 2001 at the age of 77, after losing his fight with leukemia.

His love of life and thirst for knowledge left a legacy that will continue to impact future generations in the world or racing. Just as importantly, he had fun doing it.

Smokey was quite a character,” said Tony George, former president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “That’s what racing needs today, more characters. He will be missed.”

“He never wanted for words, whether it was a cuss word or a nice word,” said Ray Fox, who worked with Yunick in the 1950′s. “He was one heck of a guy.”

Ray Everham summed up the loss simply, saying, “We’ve lost one of the greatest mechanics to ever work in our sport.”

As a tribute to her husband’s zest for life and his love of racing, Yunick’s wife, Margie, paid tribute to him in her own unique way. She scattered part of his cremated remains in a few different victory lanes on the racing circuit.

I can’t think of any place he’d rather be.

Awards/Achievements: