Smokey Yunick's Sneakiest Cheat Ever

Smokey Yunick is famous for "bending the rules" in motorsport. some of his cheats were technicalities and some would have been completely illegal if he was caught. this one from the early days of NASCAR is a personal favorite of Gale's.

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[Dallas-Rife-UDX--Tennessee]

“I know he’s cheating !! Because I’m cheating and I still can’t catch him”
🤣🤣🤣

[robertholle]

Smokey used to say, " Drive the hell out of it.If it breaks, it needed fixing anyway" He was a true racing icon.

[HeyItsThatGuyWithTheShirt]

Smoky was the epitome of “what do the rules NOT say?”

Not a cheat, an innovator🔥

[Chevydude]

He never cheated, he interpreted the rules as he saw it. He was one of the greatest to ever do it.he didn't cheat, Nascar said no offset wrist pin, never said shit about the crank. He was smart and one of the best engine builders ever.

[CobraDBlade]

Smokey never cheated as far as the letter of the rules was concerned. And that was what NASCAR hated about him, he could always back up his shenanigans by saying "The rules don't say I can't". He may be the reason a lot of rules in NASCAR exist, as they were constantly trying to keep up every time he would out-think them, but he never actually broke any rules. It may be easier to say he "cheated", especially if you were coming in from the angle of the intent of a rule, but that really sells Smokey's genius short in a lot of ways.

[Motor-City-Mike]

Smokey was legend, even before he passed on.
His interpretation of the rules is common knowledge these days, but his genius is often overlooked.
Smokey had a way of breaking a complicated or intense problem down into basic steps, there wasn't "I can't", it was "I'll figure out how"
Smokey was NOT college or technical school educated, and I'm not sure but may have never finished high school - Smokey was self educated, all of his mechanical, electrical, and chemical (on the latter, he played with fuels) engineering was self taught from all the literature he could find on the subject, and the rest through experimentation.
The best of the best today would be hard pressed to equal his problem solving or critical thinking skills, let alone all his skills possessed by one man.
Genius.

[terrygarvin]

Smokey was a clever engineer, always thinking. He was also a very kind man and a dog lover with a couple of Great Danes in the back of his pickup. He lived life to the fullest and was one of my all time favorite people.

[vmoutsop]

I used to hang out at his garage when I was a kid and watch them. Had no idea back then I was watching magicians.

[rodneyduckett]

Smokey should be in the Nascar Hall Of Fame

[the_car_explorer]

I had the chance to sit with Smokey at a truck race at IRP one year back in the 90s and got to listen to many stories like this. One of the greatest day of my life

[robertbeda]

Loved the old "Say, Smokey" column in Popular Science.

[MrDanielSoliz]

Come on Gale, that’s not cheating. It didn’t say you couldn’t. If it had, that would be cheating. #smokeybelongs

[glennk]

Smokey Yunick was one of a kind. Always enjoyed reading his articles in Hot Rod Magazine back in the day.

[Nick_B_Bad]

I met Smokey twice back in 92-93 got his autograph. Still have it to this day.

[rob]

I met Smokey one time after years of driving past his Best Damn Garage in Town on winter holidays. He was walking around the property & he couldn't have been more gracious, completely opposite of what every local had described. Everything was still in his shop from his home made engine dyno to his hot vapor cycle engines it was amazing. I was 20 years old & it was nearly 25 years ago but the memory is so vivid I can literally still smell his pipe when I think about it !

[georgeworthington]

We love Smokey! Racing is all about bending the rules. When I crewed for an SCCA group, the rules had a minimum spec for how far you could go when milling the head. They would measure the head and know if you were past the spec. Our rule bending crew chief said, "forget the head, mill the block instead"
We won a little more than our share of races, and got protested, but they never caught us for that one.

[michaelgreen]

It ain’t cheating if they didn’t specifically mention it…

[stephenmiller]

He looked way beyond what at the times were the boundaries of whatever he happened to be involved in at that moment. As an innovator and “ Outside of the Box Thinker “ there will never be another one like him. We can thank him for many things automotive today that he was involved in engineering wise. Thanks Smokey, for decades & decades of involvement. It’s really a shame that his “ Best Damn Garage in Town” was demolished after his passing & not made into some type of historical museum. NASCAR & INDY should have gotten involved along with General Motors at least to keep his legacy alive better . I sincerely hope Mr.Gale Banks here isn’t forgotten or swept under the rug as quickly as old Mr.Yunik was .😕

[konekillerking]

My father knew of a Hudson driver that did extremely well on dirt tracks, using a 3 speed automatic transmission.

No one could figure out why the car was so dominant, especially with a 3 speed auto. Eventually it was “discovered” that he had plugged some of the fluid ports in the transmission, which changed the shift pattern.

So the advantage was that it shifted late, giving faster more consistent acceleration. Especially on dirt.

[robertmoffett]

Smokey wasn't a cheater, he was an innovator