excellent read

[Mike M.]

am in the process of reading smokey yunick's 3 volume autobiography. i laughter so damn hard last nite reading about this character that i can barely talk this morning. do yourself a favor and read about a legend.thanbks to dave grey for lending me the "Best damn garage in town" mike

[Loren L.]

Re: excellent read

Amen, Michael.

[Peter H.]

Re: excellent read

HELLO MIKE .. HAVE YOU EVER ENTERTAINED THE THOUGHT OF YOUR ADVENTURES WITH THIS HOBBY .. I THINK YOU COULD ENTERTAIN US WITH YOUR TALENTS...PETER ...WOULD BE A GREAT READ .

[Mike M.]

Re: excellent read

Pete. I spend too much time sleeping at the foot of the cross to entertain writing my bio. Litigation also a consideration. Regards. Mike

[Carl N.]

Re: excellent read

Somewhere in my junk I have an article in Hot Rod or Motor Trend or one of those mags written by Smokey detailing his build of a 396 L78 for Chevrolet for the 1965 Daytona 500 - he was quite the character.

[Russ T.]

Re: excellent read

Smokey was insightful enough to realize that once he was gone, there wouldn't be anyone left to describe the early days of stock car racing.
I bought that 3-volume set when it first came out and read the book about racing first (Vol. 2:"All Right You SOB's Let's Have a Race").
A month later, I found myself reading it over again, something that I never do. I remember him describing using a basketball in his race car's fuel tank for when the fuel capacity was checked, and then the ball was deflated for the race. He was a very colorful, ingenious character. There are some You Tube videos that feature him as well.

I found it ironic that when Smokey moved to Daytona Beach, he was completely unfamiliar with stock car racing. He liked the way Daytona Beach looked from the sky when he flew over while training in the Army Air Corps, and decided that that's where he wanted to live. It was seemingly by coincidence that he wound up there just as the NASCAR movement was reaching critical mass.

Russ Trotter
NCRS #15044

[William F.]

Re: excellent read

I bought the 3 volume set a few years ago from Amazon or E-Bay and reread parts frequently. It's a classic and collector's item. NASCAR has taken all the "creativity" out of the sport. Smokey said if rule book didn't specifically mention something, it was fair game.

[Patrick B.]

Re: excellent read

I just ordered it from Amazon for $100, and they showed 2 left before my order. Who wants the last one?

[Patrick H.]

Re: excellent read

I just ordered it from Amazon for $100, and they showed 2 left before my order. Who wants the last one?

Already ordered it. Zero left.

[Vinnie P.]

Re: excellent read

just bought the complete set on ebay.

[Loren L.]

Re: excellent read

Enjoy all - he's a Great read. I'm looking at a picture of Smokey and his 7/9? year old son - black cowboy hats & boots, red "Best Damn Garage
in Town" jackets, leaning against Engineering #6901 on the beach. I'd gotten it from Russ Sanders and sent it to Smokey in 1989, asking for an autograph and asking a few questions about he and Corvettes in the '50s & '60s.
Right below it is his response, on Smokey's Inc letterhead, "Enclosed is the picture you sent, signed as you requested. As far as the rest of your letter you are talking ancient history. If you would like to call 903-XXX-XXXX I will try to answer some of your questions.". I tried a week later and he was at the Speedway, doing "testing" and I never got back to it. Fool.

[David B.]

Re: excellent read

Was introduced to Smokey by Frank Burrell when we visited his shop on the way home from a Cypress Gardens event in the late 80's. He was in the middle of doing some dyno testing for Chevrolet but was gracious enough to spend some time showing us around and sharing some memories with us. Have retained photos and interesting comments from that visit in my files. Very gracious gentlemen!