Marv’s Garage: when “stock cars” weren’t

Smokey Yunick's '66 Chevelle is a car so wrapped in folklore and fable the awesome truth has been lost in the fog of time. Smokey is a godfather of building race cars which skirted rule books, and this has to be his most famous but also most misunderstood.

Firstly, there were three '66 Chevelles (not '67s) and the second car (the most infamous) was largely built at Chevrolet Engineering in Michigan, before Smokey finished it at his Best Damn Garage in Town in Florida. Legend says this car was 7/8 scale (or 15/16) but that isn't true, or as awesome as what had been done. The body was moved 2in rearward on a hand-made chassis (reportedly the first of its type in NASCAR) for better weight distribution, while a Watts-link and adjustable three-link rear-end were unheard of technology in tin-top race cars in the mid-60s.

Mods to improve aerodynamics included replacing the rubber body mounts with thin shims to lower the body on the frame, adding a subtle air dam to the trailing edge of the roof, tucking the bumpers flush-mounting the front aperture and glass, and adding a flat floorpan with cutouts to allow the exhaust to tuck high out of the air stream. Smokey also removed the stock fuel tank and sheeted the area off, tucking into the back bumper to eliminate "parachuting" of the air there.

Smokey's first Chevelle had put Curtis Turner on the pole for the '67 Daytona 500 before being destroyed in a racing crash later that year, but his second Chevelle was held from racing due to its non-production model chassis, before it could turn a wheel in anger. Thankfully Smokey restored the car in the late 90s so it survives today.

In a similar vein to Smokey’s Aerovelle is the tale of how former moonshiner and A-grade NASCAR legend Junior Johnson entered the most blatantly not-stock car into a stock car race. And it was simply an F.U. to Big Bill France. Ford boycotted the 1966 NASCAR season over the banning of the 427 Cammer engine (as Chrysler had done in '65 over the Hemi) so the racing body was desperate to get big name racers and teams on board to bring paying fans back to the stands. Big Bill France, NASCAR's Tsar, knew 1965 series champion Fast Freddy Lorenzen driving a big-block 427 Galaxie would do just that.

Junior built the '66 Ford Galaxie for Fred to race, but he decided to make a point. Junior had lodged protests against Mopar teams for years, claiming their cars had illegal body mods, but he was regularly brushed off by France. But Junior knew he had NASCAR by the short and curlies when it came to Fred's Dixie 400 ride, so what he built was a public "up yours" to the alleged cheating.

NASCARs of this era were meant to feature stock bodies and a stock '65-'66 Galaxie coupe features long, straight body lines. But Junior's Ford had a side profile like an S, hence it was called The Yellow Banana. The Banana had a 5in haircut from the turret, and the windscreen posts were laid back over 20-degrees for a super-raked glasshouse. Fred had to climb into the car through the back window, such was the angle on the turret. The body had been cut into three sections during the build, with the nose dropped and the tail curved upwards. The Galaxie's left side even rode 3 inches lower than the right.

While the Banana was fast it ended the race in a crumpled mess after losing a tyre and headbutting the wall. And when Ford teams returned soon after the race NASCAR told Johnson to leave the wild machine at home. It was the only time this car ran a race and, along with Smokey's Chevelle, led to NASCAR using body templates.