Post by hobbybobby on Dec 14, 2017 18:36:21 GMT -6
The History
Smokey Yunick was a rebel and always looking to bend the rules or take full advantage of any loopholes he could find in them, he was an inventor, a creator, and would try most anything.
This 1964 offset roadster proves it.
Yunick called this his capsule car, with the sidecar or capsule being held onto the main part of the roadster by five bolts!!
Originally the car was to have a turbine engine, but when that fell through, Yunick put a 4-cylinder Offy (then the most popular engine at Indy) into the car.
Its suspension included a variety of parts from the Pontiac Tempest, a car Yunick was familiar with from stock car racing.
Supposedly Yunick got the idea from his WWII years when he first saw the BV 141 reconnaissance plane with an outrigger layout.
The thought at Indy was to balance the central portion of the car front to rear and then hang the driver’s pod on the left side to bias the weight in that direction as the car would only turn left on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s oval.
Ultimately George Hurst paid Yunick $40 grand to name the car the Hurst Floor Shifter Special and off the went to Indy to qualify with NASCAR driver Bobby Johns at the wheel.
Johns was an experienced racer that won two NASCAR races and nearly won the 1960 Daytona 500 and was the first NASCAR regular to run at Indy, something that would soon change as Cale Yarbrough and Bobby and Donnie Allison would follow in a few years.
Sadly Yunick’s sidecar racer never quite made it to qualifying speed and Johns spun and wrecked it during its only qualifying try on the last day of time trials that May.
Today the car is part of the IMS Museum’s collection.
In my opinion it is very showrodish, what do you think?
Smokey Yunick was a rebel and always looking to bend the rules or take full advantage of any loopholes he could find in them, he was an inventor, a creator, and would try most anything.
This 1964 offset roadster proves it.
Yunick called this his capsule car, with the sidecar or capsule being held onto the main part of the roadster by five bolts!!
Originally the car was to have a turbine engine, but when that fell through, Yunick put a 4-cylinder Offy (then the most popular engine at Indy) into the car.
Its suspension included a variety of parts from the Pontiac Tempest, a car Yunick was familiar with from stock car racing.
Supposedly Yunick got the idea from his WWII years when he first saw the BV 141 reconnaissance plane with an outrigger layout.
The thought at Indy was to balance the central portion of the car front to rear and then hang the driver’s pod on the left side to bias the weight in that direction as the car would only turn left on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s oval.
Ultimately George Hurst paid Yunick $40 grand to name the car the Hurst Floor Shifter Special and off the went to Indy to qualify with NASCAR driver Bobby Johns at the wheel.
Johns was an experienced racer that won two NASCAR races and nearly won the 1960 Daytona 500 and was the first NASCAR regular to run at Indy, something that would soon change as Cale Yarbrough and Bobby and Donnie Allison would follow in a few years.
Sadly Yunick’s sidecar racer never quite made it to qualifying speed and Johns spun and wrecked it during its only qualifying try on the last day of time trials that May.
Today the car is part of the IMS Museum’s collection.
In my opinion it is very showrodish, what do you think?
