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23/06/2024 2:06 pm
The unmistakable black and gold livery on this 1957 Chevrolet 210 poster marks this drag car as a Smokey Yunick creation it also reveals some of his tricks to lighten the weight of the car to get a better ratio for the fuel injected 283 under the hood. He eliminated all the factory hardware with the hood and trunk now secured by bungee cords. Unlike the Acme/H-61 model (more of a tribute car), all the side glass was removed along with the inner door panels, and the doors welded shut. In subsequent drag cars he would acid bathe the bodies in secret hoping that the NHRA officials wouldn't notice. He had some of the best drivers behind the wheel of his '57s including Paul Goldsmith and Glen "Fireball" Roberts. Acme did a pretty nice job using H-61s old tooling. It's not a perfect replica, but it really captures the look.
23/06/2024 2:59 pm
Rich you are confusing NHRA with NASCAR, Smokey Yunick ran NASCAR and some road racing in the Trans Am series and he of course ran the Indy 500. I don't recall Smokey Yunick ever running NHRA/Drag Racing, while some of his engines were built for drag racers some of them are in the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing along with other items like Smokey Yunick's Dyno and some other test equipment he built himself. I want to say that there is a Smokey Yunick Buick V-6 engine there as well that was used in road racing. I have never read about Smokey Yunick acid dipping he early NASCAR entries and I have read all three of his books that were published after his death unedited. Smokey Yunick did not want anyone changing anything he wrote so that is why it was published in house and not by a publishing firm. Carbon Press I believe was the name of the publishing company they created to publish the book. It is out of print and I am not sure you can even purchase any of the three books in the series from the Smokey Yunick web site anymore. I have all three of the books and have copies of two of them.
Here is some of the Smokey Yunick items at the Drag Racing Museum.
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23/06/2024 3:11 pm
Here is the ACME tribute Smokey Yunick 1957 Chevy.
23/06/2024 3:44 pm
Doing just a quick research I think it was the 1967/68 Camaro's Smokey Yunick had that were acid dipped, the 1967 Camaro's were ran at Bonneville Salt Flats setting multiple land speed records for small block and big block engines. On the way to Bonneville Smokey Yunick stopped at Riverside International Raceway and had Lloyd Ruby I believe it was meet him there and because the Camaro was actually built for Trans Am racing they ran some practice laps, Bud Moore came over a looked at the car and told Smokey that was no way it would pass inspection, the car beat all the lap times of the Trans Ams cars that were testing and when it pulled back into the pits the inspectors came over and told Smokey to get the car out of there.
Here is the 1967 Camaro, Smokey Yunick took three Camaro's to Bonneville two small blocks and one big block.
Topic starter
23/06/2024 5:02 pm
Funny, when I read about the various drivers, I knew their names from NASCAR back in the day. In the 50s, I wasn't into either venues and the drivers were still active in the '60s when I was beginning interest. I don't know when I heard the Chevy was a drag car (and it kinda looks it), and I never gave it a second thought. Being a Smokey aficionado, I assumed you'd be filling in. Thanx.
Tony Perrone and Christopher Moroni reacted
24/06/2024 5:27 am
Rich, I noticed that your car was the 112 car while mine was the 649 car in run of 930 they made.
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