NASCAR to fuel injection? - Page 3

Ron61 · #41 (**permalink**) 08-25-2009, 03:55 AM

They were talking some time ago on one of the NASCAR shows and had some of the old drivers there. They all agreed that without Smokey, the rule book wouldn't be nearly as thick. He was able to find every gray area and use it and he came up with some great and funny stuff.

Ron

Silverback51 · #42 (**permalink**) 08-25-2009, 04:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Excaliber

Smokey was my hero!

Mine too.

And yes, he built the 7/8 scale 66 or 67 Chevelle. He was also the one that used a 2.0 inch diameter fuel line.

He was one of the best for playing the game with the rules.

Don · #43 (**permalink**) 08-25-2009, 07:45 AM

Seeing there are other Smokey fans, click on the left lower side " Smokey Bio ". major accomplishments. Probably somewhere in the books are the creative rule interpretation ideas, which was the culture at the time.

http://www.smokeyyunick.com/

Don · #44 (**permalink**) 09-07-2009, 01:11 PM

Smokey Yunick's 1967 Chevelle:

http://www.canepa.com/inventory/race...lle/index.html

Mark IV · #45 (**permalink**) 09-07-2009, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silverback51

Mine too.

And yes, he built the 7/8 scale 66 or 67 Chevelle. He was also the one that used a 2.0 inch diameter fuel line.

He was one of the best for playing the game with the rules.

As I have posted before, I had the pleasure of meeting Smokey at at trade show some time ago. I HAD to ask about the Chevelle. With a sly grin (and his two hearing aids) he replied, "Well you know all parts have a plus/minus tolerance, I just stacked the "minuses" up to my benefit!!!!"

Ron61 · #46 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 06:25 AM

Ronbo,

I believe it was the Woods Brothers that years ago filled their tires with water for the weigh in. At that time they weighed the cars and inspected them as they arrived and that was it. They would then go to the garage and remove the extra weight by putting on the regular race tires. On one of the shows with the old NASCAR drivers reminiscing about the good old days, Buddy Baker said he went over to Leonard Woods and asked him why their car was so much faster and he was told to pick up that wheel and tire over there. He said he reached down and almost pulled his arm out of his shoulder when he tried to lift it. Darn I like those shows when they get together and talk about ways they got around certain things.

Ron

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronbo

Unfortunately, this is the part of the sport that NASCAR does their best to eliminate. Why they just don't just hand out cars they've had built and be done with it... (kinda like IROC)

It should be more than just the driver, why they still call them "teams" is beyond me. NASCAR doesn't seem to have a clue what a team is. (not to mention crew mechanics don't get asked to peddle potato chips)

One of my favorite "cheats" was when they specified fuel tank size, they forgot to spec the fuel line though. Then found a car with about 100' of fuel line.

Not really cheating, just a crafty mechanic.

There was another "weighted rims" trick that I heard about, plus the droppable weights that the pit crew would remove at the first pit. Now this was cheating, but hey, it's just part of the sport. (well, it was anyway)

Wayne Maybury · #47 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron61

Ronbo,

I believe it was the Woods Brothers that years ago filled their tires with water for the weigh in. At that time they weighed the cars and inspected them as they arrived and that was it. They would then go to the garage and remove the extra weight by putting on the regular race tires. On one of the shows with the old NASCAR drivers reminiscing about the good old days, Buddy Baker said he went over to Leonard Woods and asked him why their car was so much faster and he was told to pick up that wheel and tire over there. He said he reached down and almost pulled his arm out of his shoulder when he tried to lift it. Darn I like those shows when they get together and talk about ways they got around certain things.

Ron

Ron, I can remember a similar story about the "funny cars" of the mid 60's when it was Ford against Chrysler against GM and it really was run what ya brung racing with just a few minor rules like minimum weight. I cannot remember which car or team but one of them arrived at the scale with the slicks filled with water. When they changed the rear wheels right after the weigh in, a competitor went over and just kicked one of the freshly removed slicks. Of course it weighed a lot more than it was supposed to.

Wayne

Ron61 · #48 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 08:29 AM

Wayne,

There is another funny story that David Pearson told about when they went to go through their inspection. The left front of their car was 2" to low and they were trying to figure out how to get it to pass. Back then there was just one inspector and he had some sticks that were the height of the top of the car, the front at each corner and the back. So they had a crew member with steel toed boots stand and they drove the cars left front up onto his boot. That made it high enough but when the inspector came around to measure that corner he pushed the crew member to get him out of the way. Pearson said it was like one of those weighted toys that you push over and it pops back up. The crew member couldn't move, the inspector had a fit and screamed at them, and after that no one was allowed to be closer than 10 to the car while he was making his checks.

Ron