Smokey Yunick was racing’s American folk hero. Here’s Smokey himself circa 1996, offering his unique opinions on NASCAR, Bill France Jr, his old friend AJ Foyt, and other choice topics.
As you must surely know, here at Mac’s Motor City Garage, we’re big fans of Smokey Yunick (1923-2001). We’ve published stories about his infamous NASCAR Chevelle, his capsule car, his Reverse Torque Special, and a review of his magnum opus, the three-part autobiography Best Damn Garage in Town, and others. We invite you to check out all of them using our tag cloud and search functions, if you haven’t already.
In the meantime, here’s some great video footage from circa 1996 with Smokey sharing his views on NASCAR boss Bill France Jr., his old friend AJ Foyt, and a hot new talent in American racing at that moment, some kid named Tony Stewart. And as always, Smokey’s perspectives are cantankerous, unique, and most of all insightful. There’s also a great moment with Smokey outside his famed shop on Beach Street in Daytona Beach, which unfortunately no longer exists. Here are three priceless minutes with racing’s own folk hero.
Smokey was very intelligent , he knew his way around engines it short he was a genius.
Priceless!
One of my all time heroes of mechanics since I first read some of his work in the early ’70s. “If it ain’t in the rulebook….it’s legal….”
A true racing legend! Should have been one of the first people in the NASCAR Hall of Fame – but never will be due to the animosity of the France family.
I remember stopping by his garage in Daytona back in 1981 when I was stationed near there in the Navy. Had a chance to to chat him up briefly, always great to meet a legend!
This is shot by myself, Racin’ with D.O. Outback of Smokeys shop after a full day of shooting him and everything inside his shop. Most impressive was the room with 49 running engines that he had rebuilt.