Smokey Tells All

Lee ODell

http://www.hotrod.com/features/history/stories/ctrp-0801-smokey-yunick/

ESSX28-1

Great story

hudsonguy

Awesome read. Thanks for posting!

RL Chilton

Agreed!  Enjoyed the hell out of that!

charles4d

Everybody should read this store its really great 

J Spencer

Great story, some time back I read at least, parts of the story but I can't recall where.  Thanks for posting it. 

keithfullmeryahoocom

Great stuff!   I love reading about old-time racing.  These guys are truly our ancestors.,,k

onerare39

What a great read.  As a kid I used to read his articles in Popular Mechanics, great to learn more about the legend.

Frankvintagefullflowcom

I expect to be banned forever for bringing this up, but.....as entertaining and fascinating as the piece is, it left me wondering where Smokey found that rare OHV, L-head 308 Hudson engine.

A fun read nevertheless.

Frank

50C8DAN

OK Frank you are out! 

Nice catch!  Must have been one of the special race 308s.

Frankvintagefullflowcom

I had one once but junked it 'cause I couldn't find new pushrods for it. Looking back, maybe I should have looked harder.

Seriously, I can't imagine that Smokey made that mistake. I suspect that the story became a blend of stories created by someone who wasn't quite as well schooled in the finer points of Hudson engine design.

I shan't darken this forum again. Goodbye forever......or until I see something I can't resist commenting on.

F

RL Chilton

"Seriously, I can't imagine that Smokey made that mistake. I suspect that the story became a blend of stories created by someone who wasn't quite as well schooled in the finer points of Hudson engine design."

I'm sure that's the answer, Frank.  Just sloppy editing by someone not technically up on the jargon of the industry.  

KTRON

I am a bit skeptical about some of the modifications in this article,

-Radially drilling holes 8" deep into the flywheel to reduce weight. I'd surely question the resulting strength of the flywheel, and can you even make 8" deep holes? the flywheel doesnt look larger than 20" in diameter, and then where did he get those extended length HSS drills....Drilling that many holes in the larger sectional modulus of the flywheel would have caused the flywheel to catastrophically come apart!

-Moving the crankshaft in the block! Easier said than done, how far, 1/16" or 1", you'd have to drastically redesign the block and main bearings just to make it work, let alone make it look stock! He clearly made it a stroker engine to "fix the bad connecting rod angle", So I take it he made custom connecting rods himself as well...

-Changing the direction of the engines rotation! Okay, you flipped the camshaft end for end, but what machining had to be done, and pressing the gear on and off in a tent, with inspectors around! What about the beval gears on the distributor/oil pump drive, how were those addressed? It doesnt specify that either an entirely custom transmission would have to be built, or a custom rear differential to transmit power in the opposite direction. Some things just do not add up!

- Breaking the camshaft to make a point, is that even possible with human strength? Seems like you'd have to induce a stress riser to cause that to happen, what did the table have a razor sharp flint edge on it?

It seems like a lot of fluff was added to make the article a more interesting read,..., 

Chris

onerare39

I was a funeral director for 32 years and the one thing I learned about writing obituaries is... never let the truth get in the way of a good story!

John

RL Chilton

Why is a funeral director like a Newspaperman?  

Sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn't it?  

Lee ODell

My dad worked for Lockheed Aircraft Co. during WW2. He had a box full of drills 10 - 12 inches long. So they are out there. With the Hudson's RPM limit to keep from braking crankshafts, I don't see the drilled flywheel flying to pieces. However, the aluminum ring gear probably needed replacing often from the looks of what a bendix can do to a stock ring gear. What a sneaky Idea. Might be something to do on a lazy afternoon.

He didn't say what he did was easy but he was willing to repeatedly try something some said couldn't be done and was often successful. Much of how he did what he did, went to the grave with him.
Lee O'Dell

dave s

(Something else that Smokey took to the grave) 

Smokey called me in 1997 or 1998 and wanted to buy a twin h manifold from me that I purchased from the late Walt Chapman and had on our 1951 Hornet cv.  He said he was rebuilding a repro of one of his old race engines.  It was summer time and I drove that car everywhere and didn't have time to do manifold change.  I told him I had several other twin h manifolds and would ship him one for the freight charges. 

He  said no, it had to be that particular manifold.  When I asked him what was so special about it all he would tell me was the nostalgia because he took it off one of his race cars and sold it to Walt put on one of his. 

After he spoke at HET National in 2000, I again tried to get information on it and he just snickered and just said it was just special.  I always planned on taking it off and checking it, but never had the time before I ended up selling  the car to the late Senator Baker.  After the senator died it was sold at auction in March, 2015 in Chattanooga, TN . and I can not find out who new owner is.  Unless the new owner ends up reading this somehow and gets curious, another of Smokey's secrets will never be known.

Ol racer

FYI
I also think the Story on Smoky Yunick was 'fluffed' a bit to make more interesting reading and probably will continue to grow as time moves on....I spoke to Smoky once at a National and left a lasting impression...
An important Fact is that Smoky Yunick from a small self educated garage mechanic was really a loner but a mechanical Genius. Smoky's impresive Win Records with the Fabulous Hudson Hornets on up through Pontiac and Chevrolet Racer's speak volumes about his ability.Some may not know that Smoky's clever 'methods' made NASCAR (formerly Grand National) create the first Rule Book then kept big Bill France adding pages to the Book. Finally NASCAR Hired another big 'Bend the Rule type Crew Chief' to help thart the 'Manliputation of the Rules'. France figured It took a bend the rule person to catch a bend the rules person...Smoky's ingenuity was back in the days before the high paid Mechanical Engineer's that every Race Team has today.Hi s working with the Hornets was before my tim. I seen him caught when he concealsd a Nitrous bottle inside a roll bar that brought that car to the front at will....May he rest in peace...

Glowplug

I too worked at Lockeed Aircraft Co. But much later 1990s +. Also @ Burbank ops... GREAT place to work.

dave11

Great story!!

I had heard somewhere that Smokey was not allowed to stroke the crankshaft by Nascar rules, so he offset the rod journal in relation to the centreline.

 Not having any experiance as a crankshaft grinder, I can't see how this would be any different than lenghtning the stroke. As the rod journal passes bottom dead centre the offset would become farther away from the centreline, accomplishing the same thing I would think?

Maybe we will never know? the guy that has the answer is no longer around.

Dave Eddie

Lee ODell

That may be how he tried to correct the connecting rod angle by offset grinding the crank sideways. Not offset up or down to decrease or increase stroke but sideways to change the connecting rod crank to piston angle. That was clever. That is something anyone could have done when they need to have their crank reground. The question now is how much offset did Smokey determine was needed to correct the problem.

Lee O'Dell

SuperDave

Don't forget that the center line of the cam and crank are critical. At least in theory..

JFromm

I taped the question and answer session with Smokey at the 1999 national meet in Nashville and put it on dvd. Dvd is about 1hr and 30 min long and is available for purchase. If interested, send me a private message.
Thanks,
John