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1967 Daytona 500
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- Опубликовано: 14 авг 2024
- 1967 Daytona 500
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My big brother kindled my enthiusiasm. Many thanks
I watched an old interview with NASCAR legend Bud Moore, where Bud stated that it was not unusual for Smokey Yunick to show at any particular race with an engine that had a 30hp advantage over the rest of the field. But Smokey stated that throughout most of his racing days, he knew just enough about suspension set ups to be dangerous, lol. But Smokey was a wizard for finding & squeezing every extra ounce of HP out of an engine, and he was also an innovator of aerodynamics. But once he quit NASCAR the first time, to get into Indy racing, he slowly started learning much more about suspension & handling set ups, that he would put to use upon his return to NASCAR. ( more on that at the end of my comment here ) After using only his shake down motor to beat the pants off the entire field of Chrysler's & Ford's with their major financial backing, during practice, qualifying & winning the pole position for the race in this video: the 1967 Daytona 500, his car was the ONLY Chevy in the entire field. This embarrassed the piss out of the top brass at Chrysler & Ford at the time. Legendary track promoter Humpy Wheeler stated that never had he been so proud of a single man during NASCAR history, as he was for Smokey going out there as a little independent with the ONLY Chevy in the field using that little motor, and smoking all those big factory backed Chrysler & Ford teams. So Smokey's driver: Curtis Turner, pleaded with Smokey to keep the little shakedown motor of only around 408 cubic inches in the car for the 500 mile race. Smokey stated he was leary of the valve train holding up. But he knew that both his little shakedown motor and the actual motor he had built & ready for the race, which was also de-stroked, but slightly larger at around 413 cu in, ( he called it his "Gorilla Engine" ) could spin higher rpm's much quicker & easier than the rest of the field, due to his method of de-stroking the Chevy 427. So Smokey agreed with Turner, formulated a race plan, and ORDERED his driver to: "Take it easy throughout the entire race, you can lead some laps, but go easy on the engine due to the suspect valve train ( the smaller engine meant only for testing/shakedown runs ), and as the race is nearing the end, "put her to the floor" & use those higher rpm's & extra horsepower to pass all of those son's a bitches, and win this damned race"....end quote. Turner complied for a while anyway, and purposely stroked around the track at about mid-field. However, sometime about mid-race, when Smokey's team gave Turner a horrible scheduled pit stop that caused Turner to lose many track positions, Turner grew both anxious and angry. He threw Smokey's race plan out the window, floored the gas, winding up the little shakedown motor to it's max, and had actually caught up to the leader: Mario Andretti, when the little shakedown motor blew up. Mario would go on to win the race. The very next race was at Atlanta. THIS time, Smokey was ready with his secret weapon: his 427 de-stroked down to 413 cu in, that he called his "Gorilla Engine", already installed in his Chevelle. For some reason, Curtis Turner HATED Cale Yarbrough. Practice session was underway at Atlanta, and Yarbrough was the quickest car. Yarbrough had just passed the exit of pit road when Turner was just pulling onto the track. Turner nearly CAUGHT Yarbrough by the time he was entering turn 4, when Turner lost control and totally destroyed Smokey's Chevelle. So Smokey set about to build the best car he would ever build: the so-called "Mystery Chevelle" for the '68 Daytona 500. ( Keep in mind, Smokey was a total independent at the time, and has NO factory backing by Chevrolet, all of this was coming out of Smokey's pocket, save for a few small sponsors. His "Mystery Chevelle" was the most innovative car ever seen at the time. Same Gorilla motor. He moved the entire wheelbase FORWARD slightly in relation to the body. He designed a unique shape to the top of the car. He custom-built the entire frame, which placed both the engine AND driver slightly left of center, so the center of gravity was favoring the inside of the track. He even borrowed the technology from a military helicopter to create A RUBBER FUEL CELL, and paid Firestone to actually manufacture it for him ( due to his good friend Fireball Roberts getting killed only a year earlier due to a crash & fire at the previous year's Charlotte race ).......but even though Bill France ASSURED Smokey that there would be no problem running the car in the '68 Daytona 500, with only a few days left before qualifying would begin, NASCAR officials wouldn't allow Smokey to race or even practice with the car. They wouldn't even allow him to run it on the track for tire testing. Smokey was PISSED....and who could blame him. There's a rumor that top brass at Chrysler and Ford threatened Bill France by saying: If you allow Yunick to run that car, we will pull out of the race altogether". So the greatest car Smokey ever designed & built never got to run a single race. This car was years ahead of it's time. This is why Smokey left NASCAR for good. Years ago, Smokey stated that with modern suspension, that Chevelle would've eclipsed 200 mph.
Smokey showed that his car had the right pace for the race. Imagine if Chevy had been involved in racing in 1967. Unfortunately, the GM ban on all divisions at the end of 1962 prevented any factory efforts in any form of racing. Yes, there was some back door assistance, but nothing like the millions Ford and Chrysler were spending. People forget that both Pontiac and Chevy dominated NASCAR and NHRA before the racing ban. Jim Wangers, godfather of the GTO, said that in spite of all the millions upon millions spent by Ford and Chrysler, Chevy still increased its market share and sold even more cars. When both Ford and Chrysler dialed back sponsorship of teams at the end of 1970, the handwriting was on the wall. Both Bill France Sr. and Wally Parks knew that had to do something to lure Chevy back and they did that. I will say, your analysis is fantastic and it explained quite well what happened to Smokey and Curtis Turner in the race.
Great assessment about Smokeys' involvement in the '67 Daytona 500.However,you are incorrect about his Chevelle being the only Chevy in the field. There were several others including Coo Coo Marlin in the ex-Ray Fox '65 Impala and Roy Mayne in a '66 Impala.These cars were not competitive however.
@@jimk4530 Perhaps I misunderstood the story as it was told on video by track promoter Humpy Wheeler. Maybe he stated "the only Chevelle in the entire field".......but I could've swore he said "the only Chevy in the field". Not doubting you, thanks for the info. They weren't competitive ( aside from Smokey's Chevelle ) because those were the years when Chevy pulled ALL factory backing/support from nascar racing. Any Chevy's that were running throughout those years were owned by independents and totally out-of-pocket with limited funding. Hard to compete against big teams with major backing/support/funding from auto makers & major sponsors. Tires alone, was always a huge concern/cost for the independents. To keep their little operations going, they had to rely on used parts/tires most of the time. Even Smokey was operating as an independent with no factory backing during the '67 season, and because he was spending his own money on the entire operation, he could only afford to race a handful of the biggest races of the season, such as: Daytona, Atlanta, Talladega, and Charlotte........if I'm not mistaken. Of course he ran entire seasons back when he was factory backed by Pontiac, Ford, and for a time, even Chevy.
Smokey had the only competitive Chevy for sure. I believe you could add Joel Davis in an Impala and Friday Hassler in a Chevelle to the list of Bowtie entries.
Thank you.......THANK YOU!!! This is without a doubt the very best, more complete version of the 1967 Daytona 500 I have seen to date on youtube. But oddly enough, as much as they covered top drivers like Cale Yarbrough and David Pearson falling out.........they didn't mention what happened to Curtis Turner in the Smokey Yunick Chevelle. I know what happened, but they didn't cover it here in this video footage, for some reason. But at least it covered more of Curtis Turner's run in the ONLY Chevy in the entire field, designed & built by Smokey Yunick. Not only did they spank the piss out of all those big factory backed Chrysler & Ford teams during practice, qualifying, and winning the pole position, that Chevelle with the little motor ran right up there & gave em all hell for much of the race. For anyone interested, see my other comment below.......but I must warn you, it's quite lengthy. Notice how the youtube ch: "NASCAR" barely covered much of this race where Turner was running at or near the front in Smokey's Chevelle. NASCAR still refuses to enter Smokey Yunick into the NASCAR Hall of Fame........even though Smokey has been entered into all of the other hall of fame clubs pertaining to racing. Shame on you NASCAR. Smokey even campaigned heavily, attracting investors to help out Bill France so that he could create the Daytona International Speedway. Smokey also drew thousands of fans at every event he raced in. Yet this is the "thanks" that Smokey Yunick gets.
i respect Smokey but in this race 500 miles the Ford had the power and endurance to win Mario had the strongest car from mid point on surging ahead of all making it look easy
@@sorshiaemms5959 Mario had the strongest car from the time Curtis Turner blew up that little shakedown motor in Smokey's car. Smokey didn't build that engine for this race, it wasn't even built for practice or qualifying. It was merely a little engine for shaking the car down. But it was running so strong during both practice sessions, blowing away the entire field, Smokey thought it would be a hoot to use it for qualifying, and the little engine won the pole position. Smokey kept telling his driver Curtis Turner that he didn't build the valve train to last no 500 miles, but Turner was relentless in insisting that they use the engine for the race. Smokey finally gave in, but under 1 condition: Turner could turn a few hot laps here & there to lead some laps, but Smokey warned him to lay off and stroke it, to save the little engine for the end of the race, where it had proven time & again to easily reach higher revs than anything else in the field. They would gamble with around 10 laps left, and floor the throttle once more. But midway through the race, Turner was doing as he was told: stroking it back around midfield, when Smokey's crew gave Turner a horrible scheduled pit stop, that placed him near the back of the entire field. This pissed Turner off so bad, he disregarded Smokey's orders & floored the little motor. He had almost caught Mario when the engine blew up. The little engine was only 408 cu in, running stronger than all the 426's and 427's in the field up to that point. Those are the facts. You go try telling Humpy Wheeler otherwise. Humpy stated that never was he so proud of a single man in all nascar history, as he was of Smokey during those practice sessions & qualifying, where Smokey as an independent operating totally out of his own pocket, took on all of those big factory backed Chrysler & Ford teams, with the littlest engine in the entire field, and literally blowing their doors off.
@@howabouthetruth2157 smaller engine car s used to get a 200 lb weight break imagine if smokey had a hemi or ford tp
@@sorshiaemms5959 You're thinking of small blocks vs big blocks, and the weight rules for each. Smokey had a bigger Rat motor built for the race itself, but even it was only 418 cu in. Smokey had discovered that when he destroked the 427 Rat motor, it would rev higher & easier. He called it his Gorilla engine. He did NOT decide to keep running the little shakedown motor "to enjoy 200 lbs less". That's bullshit.
@@howabouthetruth2157 NASCAR only ran big blocks in the 1960 s they were allowed to change engine size for a weight break watch the 1968 Rebel 400 DAVID PERSON won in a 397 ci FORD which was a destroked 427 and had a 200 lb weight break also Smokeys car had some arrow mods done to it
Crazy to think that Richard Petty, who had won this race a year before and was a recent 2-time 500 winner, didn't even finish top 5 in what was his most dominating year ever.
my favorite Daytona the best body styles all 67 cars were awesome weather Ford Dodge Chevrolet Pontiac
But few in this race was 65..66 too
Yes, our hometown hero Wendell Scott drove a 65 Ford Galaxie in this race and garnered 15th place . You can see him at least a couple of times in the video leading the yellow 66 Impala of Joel Davis in a tight two car draft.
Mario puts the WOOD to the good ole boys!!
If he hadn't called out Holman moody he wouldn't have one . Good thing he stood up to Holman moody
Ohhhh look few drivers from California and up north but everyone says it was self center location back then ..you telling me people don't know shit when boils down to it
Fairlane 427 yes 🎉
7:05
Itsa MARIO!