With 26 days until the green flag falls on the 2013 Daytona 500, MCG takes a fond look back at the most infamous car to wear the number 26: Junior Johnson’s ’66 Ford Galaxie, the creation known as the Yellow Banana.
Actually, Johnson ran a fleet of ’66 Galaxies over the 1966 NASCAR Grand National season, driven by himself, A.J. Foyt, Bobby Isaac, and Fred Lorenzen. The famously cheated-up version that everyone remembers today ran at only one race, Atlanta, where it was driven by Lorenzen.
For this event, the number 26 Galaxie showed up so heavily modified for aero advantage— drooped nose, kicked up deck, chopped A pillars, and other curious non-production features—that wall birds nicknamed it, somewhat redundantly, the “Yellow Banana.” NASCAR boss Bill France allowed the Banana to race just this once, but told Johnson never to darken NASCAR’s door with it again.
We have the Yellow Banana to thank, along with Smokey Yunick’s equally notorious ’66 Chevelle, for the NASCAR body template system. Here are a few familiar period photos that illustrate the comic wrongness of Johnson’s Ford:
France allowed the Yellow Banana because Ford was boycotting NASCAR and fans were staying away. Chrysler had boycotted the previous year when NASCAR outlawed the Hemi. Attendance dropped like a rock and NASCAR caved in by the end of the year. The Hemi outclassed everyone and Ford’s response was the 427 SOHC. But NASCAR wouldn’t allow it and persuaded USAC to follow them. Most of Ford’s most popular drivers sat out the first half of the season.
Fearing another disastrous season, Bill France encouraged the Ford teams to switch to Chevy, which had no major presence from 1957 to 1971. He brought back Curtis Turner (in the Yunick 7/8 scale Chevelle) , who had been banned for an attempt to organize a driver’s union. The 1965 champion Ned Jarrett returned in a Ford because he thought the manufacturer boycotts hurt the sport and cheated the fans (and retired at the end of the year because he didn’t like the political maneuvering).
Bill France also bent the rules when Johnson’s heavily modified Galaxie showed up at Atlanta with the one of the most popular drivers, Fred Lorenzen. France’s ploy had worked and the factory Fords returned to the track for the very next race. France had effectively communicated that while the manufacturers could take their ball and go home, he owned all of the playing fields.
He drove the point home again after the 1970 aero-wars, and Ford & Chrysler pulled out of NASCAR shortly afterward. Chevy stepped in and ran up a string of manufacturer championships that more than doubles Ford.
Thanks for expanding. Another piece of the puzzle: Bud Moore’s ’66 Comet, which cleared the way for the hybrid stub-frame cars.
Forgot about the Comet / Fairlane stub-frame cars; the first step away from “stock” cars. I believe that spoilers were used for the first time in NASCAR on the 1966 Charger. All told, 1966 is largely responsible for NASCAR as it exists today.
The jacked-up deck would work well but the rest of the changes are of little to no benefit. Without the tunnel they were fumbling around in the dark. You have to admire the effort, though.
A 66 Galaxie is probably the least aerodynamic Ford ever made, and still such a good looking car, especially the Coupes.
The droop nose has been used in numerous cars, 69 Mustang Transam is another classic. The Alan Moffat car here in Oz is the classic example.
One more reason to hate Chevy.LOL Interesting story. The Yellow Banana is my new favorite car.