Smokey Yunick. A true racing legend, Smokey Yunick passed away one week ago at the age of 77. Certainly one of the most creative minds ever in the sport of automobile racing, he operated out of his "Best Damn Garage in Town" in Daytona Beach, Florida. He flew B-17s in WWII in Europe, Africa and the Pacific, and came out of the service as a first lieutenant. He then embarked on a storied career as a genius-rascal who shook the racing establishment every time he brought a car to a race track. There was the time he drove away from a late-night NASCAR tear-down inspection - after they had already removed the gas tank. Or when he showed up at Indianapolis with his radical "sidecar" design that put the driver on the left side of the car next to the fuel tank, for better weight distribution. But our favorite was always the "7/8" scale NASCAR Chevelle that he built. The car that was so "funny" and not quite "right" in every dimension and from every angle, that it single-handedly ushered-in the era of NASCAR templates. He hated politics and consumed vast quantities of Detroit engineering money, but the sport would have been decidedly poorer without his contributions. He'll be missed, but at least the classic Smokey stories will live on.