by Bobby Kimbrough
Perhaps it’s the thought that so many innovative race techniques and parts came from within the walls, or perhaps it is considered a shrine to anyone that has ever tried to duplicate the engineering of “The Master”, or it just could be a horribly sad day because the loss of so many one-of-a-kind prototypes that were lost when Smokey Yunick’s Best Damn Garage in Town burned to the ground on Monday evening. In any case, the racing world suffered a huge loss when firefighters let the building burn.
Smokey Yunick was a hero on so many different levels. A B-17 bomber pilot in World War Two, Smokey and his crew logged more than 50 combat missions over Europe. When victory in Europe was declared, Yunick’s crew was reassigned to the Pacific theater for the remainder of the war. It was during his pilot training that Yunick viewed Daytona Beach from above and decided that “it was warm and looked good.” That sense of warmth and good looks eventually motivated him to move to the community in 1946 after getting married.
Yunick opened and operated ”Smokey’s Best Damn Garage in Town” on Beach Street in Daytona Beach, Florida from 1947, originally as a garage for repairing trucks. The garage shut down in 1987 when he shut the doors claiming that “there were no more good mechanics.” The garage, which was the last remaining sign of the innovative mechanic, erupted in flame on April 25, 2011 at about 7 PM and was destroyed.
Everyone has their own favorite “Smokey Story”, and the legend continues to thrive in the 10 years since his departure. What is unique about the posthumous stories told of the man’s greatness is that they have not been exaggerated. Smokey Yunick was larger than life and there was no need to embellish the things that he achieved. Smokey’s garage stood as a testament to the man’s genius and innovation. Now it is no more.
Least we forget, Smokey Yunick is a member of over 30 Halls of Fame worldwide and holder of several patents, including a patient filed in 1996 for a safer crash barrier at racetracks. The safer barrier was the result of his early work with NASCAR when he proposed the idea in the early ’60s. NASCAR rejected the idea of a safer crash wall at that time.
Smokey’s Best Damn Garage in Town may be gone, but the legend lives on.