Whether it is Jack Brabham’s rear engine Cooper or Ray Harroun placing a rear vision mirror on the cockpit of his Marmon Wasp, innovation as always been at the heart of the Indianapolis 500, but for every idea that is a success at the Speedway there are countless others that are doomed to failure, with one of it’s most bizarre innovations coming from the mind of Smokey Yunick in 1964.

The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Henry Yunick was forced to drop out of school at the age of 16 to work on his family’s farm following his father’s passing. Although the scenario was less then ideal for the ambitious Yunick, the arrangement allowed for him to exercise his talents for improvising and optimizing mechanical solutions; for instance, constructing a tractor from the remains of a junked car. In his spare time, he built and raced motorcycles; where he got his nickname, “Smokey” based on the behavior of one of his motorcycles. When the Americans joined World War II, Yunick joined the Army Air Corps in 1941, piloting a B-17 Flying Fortress named “Smokey and his Firemen” on more than 50 missions over Europe. He was with the 97th Bombardment Group of the 15th Air Force, at Amendola Airfield, Italy, before being transferred to the war’s Pacific theater following VE Day.

Following the end of World War II Yunick moved to Florida, setting up his own garage at Daytona where he received high acclaim for his engineering skills. It was during this time that Yunick was approached by local race team owner Marshall Teague over the possibility of preparing a car for him for the burgeoning Nascar series. Despite having little knowledge of stockcar racing at the time, Yunick prepared prepared a Hudson Hornet for driver Herb Thomas for the second running of the Southern 500 in Darlington, going on to win the race in dominant fashion. From that point on, Yunick became noted as one of the most highly regarded and innovative mechanics in NASCAR racing; running Chevrolet’s unofficial factory race team on his way to becoming the first team owner ever to win two Daytona 500s, as well as helping to kick-start the career of close friend and NASCAR legend Glenn ‘Fireball’ Roberts.

Between 1958 and 1959, Yunick would also turn his attention to Indycar racing, bringing about much of the technological innovation and outside-the-box thinking that had come to dominate his time in NASCAR racing, including the “Reverse Torque Special” of 1959, with the engine running in opposite rotation than normal, and by becoming the first man to embrace aerodynamics at the Brickyard when he fitted a rear wing to Jim Rathmann’s roadster in 1962 (an innovation that was immediately outlawed shortly afterwards). In 1964 Yunick returned to the speedway once again, this time however with a creation that would come to define his Indy career.

During his time with the Army Air Corps during World War II, Yunick encountered a German reconnaissance craft known as the Blohm & Voss BV 141, which was noted for unusual layout featuring an outrigger cockpit on the wing separate to the rest of the main carriage of the plane. Forever intrigued by the plane’s design, Yunick decided to use the concept in designing a car for the Indy 500, placing the driver in a small capsule hanging from the side of the main body of the machine. Although unusual, Yunick’s concept did feature some logic, the extra weight of the driver on the left of the machine would allow for a natural weight bias through Indy’s four turns, whilst also freeing up the main body of the machine to allow for a better weight distribution of the engine and fuel tank.

To pilot the unorthodox invention, Yunick deliberately chose an experienced driver but an Indy car rookie: NASCAR veteran Bobby Johns. The son of famed midget driver Shorty Johns, Bobby won two NASCAR Grand National races in 141 starts and eventually attempted to qualify for the Indy 500 seven times, starting twice and finishing in the top 10 both times. Although Jones was confident in getting the oddball machine in the starting field for the race, the capsule car proved increasingly slow getting up to competitive speed, making it’s first official qualifying attempt on the final day of the qualifying session. On the first timed lap, Johns entered Turn 1 too quickly, losing control when he tapped his machine’s cold brakes and slamming hard into the outside wall at high speed. Although Johns was able to walk away from the accident without injury, his machine was unable to be repaired before the qualifying session could be completed. And with new regulations outlawing the sidecar coming into force in 1965, Johns’ accident marked the one and only qualifying attempt that Yunick’s sidecar would make at the 500.

Following the 1964 event Yunick restored the machine to working condition before selling it to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Hall of Fame Museum where it still rests to this day. Despite it’s lack of success, the car’s unique design made it one of the museum’s most popular exhibits, as well as reportedly a favourite of long-time IMS president Tony Hulman. The Yunick sidecar may not have been fast or competitive, but in a motor racing era where design conformity is the norm the sidecar acts as one of the greatest examples of unconventional thinking ever seen at the Brickyard, and one that deserves it’s story to be told in this project.

In today’s video Yunick’s daughter Trish speaks about her father in this tribute video: