Joe Gazaway of Sharpsburg, a long-time NASCAR inspector and brother of the late Bill Gazaway, NASCAR’s former competition director, was working at Daytona International Speedway in February 1968 when Smokey Yunick, the wily mechanic, showed up with a radically modified Chevrolet Chevelle. He recalls how Yunick managed to drive the car away from a discussion after NASCAR officials had drained all the fuel from, what was supposed to be, the gas tank.
The car that Smokey Yunick brought to Daytona in 1968 was the mate to the car that Curtis Turner tore up in Atlanta, a car that people didn’t see. Smokey had a habit of cutting on those cars.
He brought a down-sized Chevelle to run at Daytona. If you looked at it, it looked just like a Chevelle, but the whole underside of it was just slick flat. To my recollection, the fuel tank was in there for weight only. That car couldn’t have run very far in a race. The tank wasn’t big enough.
The car was built for a small driver like Gordon Johncock, who was supposed to drive it. The car wasn’t a full-scale car. Smokey couldn’t even take the valve covers off. That’s how far down in the frame rails the engine was sitting.
I gave him a list of the things I’d like to see done to it (to meet NASCAR standards). He and my brother Bill and I sat in the back office in the garage at Daytona. When we sat down, we were friends, and when we got up and left, we were friends.
Smokey said: “You know why I’m here. I’m going to qualify the car, and after about 10 laps they can have this race.”
I said: “If you do it with that automobile, here’s a list of the things I want done to it before you get to qualify.”
I had a long list. It filled up a sheet on a legal pad. I made two copies so Bill could have one and Smokey could have one.
Smokey looked at it and chewed on that pipe stem a little and said: “You know I can’t do this here, boys.”
I said: “You can take the car home. Sign-in deadline is a day and a half away.” He chewed on that pipe some more and walked out the door.
Bill left and we shut the track down and let Bill across the track at Gate 7. He went to Bill France Sr.’s office and showed the list to him.
In the meantime, Smokey and a boy he had with him cranked that car up. Mind you, I’d had a guy drain the fuel tank even though the location of the tank was not where it was supposed to be. I’d also unhooked it where you couldn’t put any fuel in it. The seals I put on it were still there, but he drove that car out the track and parked it across the road and went to see Bill France Sr.
He chewed up on that pipe, threw the list down on the desk and said: “What do you want me to do?”
Bill Sr. said: “Do what the man told you.”
After that we had no more problem with guys like Smokey going to France and getting one story (from NASCAR) and us getting another (from NASCAR). That stopped that right there.
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