Thursday, June 2, 2011

Remembering Smoky

Smoky Yunick was the proprietor of the "Best Damn Garage in Town" in Daytona Beach from the 1940's to 1987.  A former  WWII B-17 bomber pilot and auto mechanic, Smoky was involved in the early years of NASCAR and also built cars to race at Indianapolis.




Smoky was one of the best when it came to building racing motors, and the best at taking advantage of the "gray area" in the racing rule books. And Smoky was a character, opinionated and strong willed.  He did things his way

Both Strokr and Ayce remember reading the column titled "Ask Smoky"  that ran in Popular Science magazine in the 1950's and 1960's.  Strokr goes on to say  that Smoky,  "a whoring, cheating, Son of a Bitch" remains one of his automotive heros.

The boys stopped  by the remains of "The Best Damn Garage in Town" while they were in Daytona Beach today.   Little remains of the complex of buildings and garages where some of the best and most innovative race cars of the 1950's and 60's originated.  The last remaining building burned in April, 2011.

It was here that Strokr and Ayce came to remember Smoky.






The official Smoky Yunick Website

Wiki article about Smoky Yunick

1 comment:

  1. It was nice to meet him when we were in Florida years ago.

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