Junior Johnson and the Chevy Mystery Motor

[@layoutman69]

I sensed JR was giving Big Daddy a little more respect than he would have given a average reporter. A little professional courtesy!

[@markgentry6688]

❤

[@boogiemorgan]

If I remember correctly, those 427 ci. Mystery motors where pushing like 600+ horsepower. I have a 1968 Chevy 427 ci. 390 hp version, great engine!

[@PeterErikson-rd5tj]

wonder if they HEMI ed the Heads and had special crank shafts.

[@DanEBoyd]

Back when NASCAR and even ESPN were still cool. I used to love to watch those Mother's Car Show, Inside Drag Racing, and other programs featuring Don Garlits showing us his picks of the show!

[@mikestansberry8656]

Jr. Johnson. Great American hero!! Single handily took NASCAR to the next level with Winston. The man was an absolute badass!!!

[@ronnorman1367]

These two right here are my idols Junior Johnson and Don garlits there just to me the best of the best God bless these guys

[@andrewbecker3700]

When JJ and Smokey ruled the world! The all aluminum 427cid. was one of the wickedest engines ever built by G.M. very very rare.

[@darrellsomers5427]

The olds 455 ,4 over head cam hemi head with 4 valeves per cylinder engine would have been a game changer but the higher ups at GM didn't give it the go ahead ,20 years latter we got half of it the quad 4 ,4 cylinder engine

[@SLJ2137694]

This engine was cast iron.

[@CrispyA113]

RIP Junior Johnson

[@hdbikerdave5835]

Love this video. Always enjoy and appreciate the historic aspects of these presentations.

[@jamesweaver1738]

Always loved Junior. He's what racin' is all about. To bad NASCAR has lost its way

[@richardboggs260]

Very true statement nascar is a joke today

[@mikejohnson5491]

A good friend in HS, his dad was a friend of Jr Johnson and we got to go to the shop and Jr was a great normal guy.

[@jamesweaver1738]

@@mikejohnson5491 In my opinion. Guys like him made Nascar. Back then we had real racing with real drivers.

[@mikejohnson5491]

@@jamesweaver1738 well dad was a fan and I would watch then my friend was helping a buddy of his with a 4cly dirt car. There was a big junkyard close to my house and they just showed up one day at lunch. We dairy farmed and dad always had plenty for me to do but was cool with me having time to go with them to the junkyard. Everyone was running the pinto or the mustang 2. There was a Capri that was straight had a busted back glass and the window glass was gone. Motor and transmission was already sold and removed. We talked to the owner and he said that he would swap if we would bring all the stuff we didn't need for 100 bucks. Helping them with the car and getting to go to Jr Johnson shop. Made me into a real race fan, 5 broke country boys with a great driver. We showed up with a kinda ugly car but it would run and Dewhite could drive. The first race there's one of dads friends with his buddies that owned a trucking company. After we won and them being kinda drunk, I talked to him about putting some money in the team. Few days later when he called the house and mom said who was calling and he wanted to talk to me. He offered us 30 dollars a race and he said he would paint the car any big expensive things he would help with.

[@jamesweaver1738]

@@mikejohnson5491 Great story. And great experience. Wish I was so lucky. I raced a car much as you're talking about. We raced a PRO MINI STOCK. Winchester, Anderson and Salem Indiana.

[@stephencrandellsr4915]

Paved the way with that engine

[@waggitnshaggit6592]

Wow 2 Legends! Still just ordinary guys Big Daddy and Junior! That’s cool

[@GP80888]

The racing knowledge between those two…. Wow!

[@driverslqqk7940]

Junior is an icon in racing he was one of the best.

[@Ghostmotorfinger]

Awesome stuff.

[@jurgenbrueggmann6259]

The swamp rat and the last American Hero pinch me I'm in heaven

[@DanEBoyd]

Under-rated comment!

[@KR1736]

Interesting cross over for sure

[@jackhoffmann8646]

This was NASCAR not what they do now

[@avalon1rae]

We love junior Johnson. His breakfast story is a classic and will always be remembered.

[@pughoneycutt1986]

It's ironic that junior is most remembered for driving the number 3 Chevrolet, but he only drove it for 1 year, and won 7 races. Most of his career his number was 27 ,and the biggest year of his career was 1965 when he won 13 times in a number 27 Ford

[@I.Live4oldcars.prospecting]

I would love to sit in that 63 and start the engine.

[@I.Live4oldcars.prospecting]

@@happyjohn8256 I would be saying go faster

[@Jimbo1315]

That big block Chevy was eating their lunch!!

[@malikdigger4544]

Perfect car haul good medicine is 35-42 Ford Sedan great piece of automotive history Junior Johnson & mystery Chevy engine.

[@charleswaynewright2042]

I lived up in Winchester Virginia a short while back in the 80s I never could get used to those mountain roads you'd top a hill an great a curve those locals could drive the wheels off on these roads but in the valley on straight road they stayed in the ditch jr Johnson's home town wilkesboro or North wilkesboro I was up there at crossroads Harley Davidson's an the roads reminded me of Winchester so I'm thinking Jr was perfect for round and round but would hit the wall every pass at the drag strip

[@stevenbean9706]

my grandfather had a ford with heavy duty springs and a motor from an ambulance in it that car was fast

[@johnhaskell6251]

The head gasket layout was unique to a big block. I have a print for those here, wherein a blank Dart block was drilled for the use of these heads. The owner saved the block for its value. --- The new block was converted to fit the odd water pump as well as I remember. I have a chamber mold here of the Mystery heads, which is the same as the 396/427 early head. The intake ports equaled the later head as I remember however the exhaust was absolutely terrible. The exit was round and all I did was very slightly bore each to the factory spacing which amounted to simply. 030" here and there. -- I was shocked at the reasoning of a sharp exhaust short turn as the port was very noisy and weak. The owner wanted the heads ported wherein they were simply streamlined and stone finished as they were from their history. GM obviously figured the exhaust was out of bounds and greatly improved the later design. This engine had the only dual four manifold which Chevrolet cast and used Carter carburetors which was denied by GM. -- I have a old cell phone with manifold pictures with casting numbers (which I cannot download, but I'm keeping it until a time comes when technology can get these out). The manifold had to be welded here and there wherein it was nesscessary to use what's described as a Navy Torch to tig weld inside the water neck from the intake side where a casting hole existed on a corner way up inside. Still have pictures and records of that exciting involvement. Also, there is a complete short block setting in a garage locally, which I've seen with my own eyes. Water pump included, front cover & dampener. One more thing, I recall these engines used O- numbers to identify them. Or was that the 409/427 ? ZL-1 It's been to long. As for the Ford Cammer, that engine was endurance tested for 24 hours straight in development at 6,000 maximum RPM at Ford as I recall and the only valve gear problem I understood was the early rockers were restricted to maintain oil volume and the exhaust rockers would burn the bushings, but that was rectified. Also, the exhaust side was designed to hold some of the oils for cooling the springs as I cannot recall the iron heads water flow over the top of the exhaust ports. --- As with all of the factory high horse power engines, Ford used soft cam lobe profiles for the durability. Those engines could never perform to the potential power with the engine block as designed. Every one but Ford new the blocks of that engine series did not have nearly enough mass. Ford should have been embarrassed by the fault they refused to address but they needed new blood which would never have happened. That engine survived without failure until above 7,000 rpm due to piston and rod mass. The short term rpm could see 8,000 easily, 9,500 in Drag Racing trim. When Chrysler heard of Fords efforts, they went to work creating a dual overhead cam Hemi. No one knew this either. This is one reason why these engines were banned along with Fords Cammer. To much, to fast. Chevrolet would have lost this race and I believe NASCAR would never have allowed that. But in the end, Chevrolet did it right and you have to applaud the design of massive block case is very responsible for the power and reliability they offer for their head packaging. It's a rock.

[@howabouthetruth2157]

Why do so many people believe that nonsense about "Chevy dictating rules in sanctioned racing so they don't get beat". That is utter B.S. On the contrary, when Smokey Yunick raced as an independent with NO factory backing ( all out-of-pocket ) for the 1967 Daytona 500, he used a Chevelle with a 427 Rat motor ( NOT the earlier Mystery Engine ), that he de-stroked down to 413 cu in, because he discovered he could spin the engine to higher rpm's much easier, and literally make more power than the competition using their big blocks. However, during BOTH practice sessions for the '67 Daytona 500, Smokey was running his shake-down motor, that was also originally a 427, but de-stroked even further, down to 408 cu in......and with his driver Curtis Turner, they spanked the piss out of all of those big factory backed Chrysler & Ford teams PLUS they won the pole position. Top brass at Chrysler and Ford were so humiliated, they threatened Bill France, that if Smokey was allowed to run the following year at Daytona, they would pull out entirely. And even though Bill France promised Smokey on several occasions leading up to the '68 Daytona 500, that his car would have no problems passing inspection, with only 2 days left, the inspectors wrote Smokey a whole laundry list of infractions. So Smokey's "Mystery Chevelle" never got to race at all......they wouldn't even allow him to run the car for tire testing. Do ya think the top brass at Chrysler & Ford had something to do with that? BET THE FARM ON IT. By the way, I'm no brand loyal snob, I love all of the classic muscle cars from the Big 3.

[@Nitromessiah]

@@howabouthetruth2157 Smokey was great at tooting his own horn, but the truth is - he could never run with the big boys without cheating. Yunick never really won or did anything, he just tinkered a lot... a 'darling' of the magazine guys and hero to the Chevy guys who couldn't run with the Chryslers. That, is the truth. I was there.

[@johndudgeon7954]

@@Nitromessiah yeah. Ford. And. Mopar. People. Just. Can't. Take. It. That. Chevy. Made. The. Most popular. Cars. So. They. Talk. Shit. Wouldn't. Drive. A. Ford. Or. Mopar. 4. One.

[@SGTJDerek]

@@Nitromessiah Smokey cheating? Gotta love it. He studied the Rules. Made modifications as needed. Hurt a lot of Egos who whined to Big Bill who would use his "Catch All" Rule, "Detrimental to the spirit of Racing" to disqualify Smokey. Those same whiners would then use the same innovations Smokey came up with. Jeff Hammond and Crew did it years later when they built T-Rex for Gordon. Big Bill TOLD him after the Race the car would be Illegal THE NEXT DAY! If that's "Cheating", it's no wonder NASCAR more closely resembles IROC than the Stock Car Racing that BUILT the sport. And no wonder they're losing their audience while failing to attract new fans.

[@will7its]

@@Nitromessiah They all cheated. And GM outlawed racing so leaving ford and chrysler with only themselves for competition. Look at the engines in at gm in development that were ground up for scrap.

[@HaroldCombs]

Interesting that big bore short stroke is the same formula F1 settled on in the awesome V10 era. Loved hearing junior again.

[@firestarter105G]

Junior was a classic.

[@timothyproksch2915]

That was really cool.

[@SuperNASCARrocks]

Great car.

[@chadshepard5230]

I miss these chevy shows

[@bluesman7475]

He would have been a great guy to sit down and share a jar with. My guess is he would have great life experiences and stories to tell.

[@crawford323]

Pure American History!

[@reginaldhall6871]

Junior Johnson could've lived to be 200 years old & still taught you something new every day of thst 200.

[@waikrujudovic]

Making E85 in 🌽 that mason jar

[@haroldstrickland8416]

I was reading an article in a Petersen magazine several years ago & I believe it was edited by Freiburger. Anyway, they visited Jr's place & he had a long-ram Dodge in which he claimed would run 200MPH. Freiberger shunned that statement & Jr retorted "you ever ran 200MPH boy". Freiberger replied "no sir". Jr replied back "well, I have plenty of times". Classic, bad-@ss, gritty & confident was ole Jr.

[@magooracing]

Junior a natural at driving and a genius at building motors. Then came up with the best business sponsorship for Nascar, Winston cigarette cup championship.

[@roberthudson4822]

Legends Both!

[@longtimepittsowner5589]

Great 👍

[@MHB48615]

Junior Johnson and Don Gatlits huh? Now where have I heard those guy’s names before?

[@mrknotthall]

NASCAR today is all pretty boys.

[@smooth_ops2942]

That hood said 427HP.... That was crazy HP back in the day and now alot of vehicles and trucks straight off the showroom floor have that or more.

[@shadowopsairman1583]

And not as reliable

[@bobbrinkerhoff3592]

Look again . Horsepower is abbreviated as HP. Not H.P. that is the abbreviation for High Performance on that hood .

[@sergeantmasson3669]

After 1963, Jr Johnson switched to Fords because the Chevy "W" engines kept breaking.

[@bobbrinkerhoff3592]

The engine in that '63 Impala is not a W motor . That is the Mark II predecessor of the Mark IV Rat Motor released ifor production in '65 .

[@breezyb606]

Love me some Junior Johnson. What is a reverner? He refers to at 1:05

[@edge2sword186]

Federal Agents who arrested Moonshiner's like Junior for making illegal alcohol drinks .

[@nothanksguy]

"revenuer" - both before and after prohibition, the US gov taxed booze moving across state lines. Agents of the internal revenue service were nicknamed "revenuers" when they tried to catch people dodging alcohol taxes. During prohibition of alcohol, any law enforcement trying to enforce prohibition was called a revenuer by the moonshiners.

[@ChrisH930S]

IRS agents

[@rayisland23]

Good Stuff

[@rogerdavenport9618]

Back years ago myself and some my buddies went to N. Carolina to 24 different shops, Jr.s shop was the last one we visited, right on top of the hill was his home, and his coon dogs were in a kennel at the bottom surrounded by his two shops with all this in plain view we walked around unrestricted and no one there said a word, found out why it's called Holly Farms, they were as thick as the hair on those dogs back.

[@ronnorman1367]

That motor is a L88 I'll swear up and down

[@bobbrinkerhoff3592]

The L88s grandpappy , by four years .

[@StFidjnr]

0:40 big daddy had a guess who is responsible for this entry

[@nascarfan88ta]

Not a huge Ford guy, but that shine car is cool. Still would take the Chevy, though

[@pp3k3jamail]

Ford is the best

[@Shiggiesmalls02]

never understood why Americans are so tribal when it comes to the big three

[@MLFranklin]

This is great! What year was the interview? Johnson passes in 2019. RIP.

[@ectolle54]

I remember this show and seeing Don Garlits doing interviews when i was in high school. Reading the crawl where it said Jeff Burton won the checker parts 500. Since he won 2 years in a row it’s either 2000 or 2001. Here’s a headline Jeff Burton Triumphs In Checker 500 Burton Won The Event For The Second Straight Year By Passing Mike Wallace On Lap 279 And Cruising To Victory. October 29, 2001

[@wutgamastrlmurray4699]

He. Was. The. Man. Could. Make. Anything. Win.

[@Mark-nh4py]

Although GM Designed the Mystery Motor...It Took GM to Hire NASCAR Guys to Develop it! And there was More Motors Made than That. Some Are Buried out at the Old GM Proving Grounds. Ask Junior About Louis Clements!! ;-)

[@paddle_shift]

Wish ole Junior could have raced them thar europeans in that them thar rally racing with that ole moonshine experience that that ole boy had experienced in them that thar moonshing racing against them that thar revenuers.

[@michaelangelo8001]

Chevrolet, Yankee...

[@kurtpoblenz2741]

Chevy was non existent in nascar from 1964 - til about 73. It wasn’t until nascar changed the rules & favored the Chevy small block that gm was again competitive. With that said…. Junior Johnson was BAD ASS !!!

[@JRCinKY]

Junior was the Real Deal. NASCAR has turned to Crap now.

[@edge2sword186]

Funny that Big Bill France didn't have a problem with 18 Chevy engines that never went in any production car running NASCAR but he banned the 427 SOHC because it was never put in a production car . Maybe his stock in GM had something to do with it ? Guys used to call that 430 Chevy the nickel rocket engine because it was super fast but would not last .

[@hilleryclifford1350]

Notice there were no blown head gaskets? Here’s the flaw in your logic the mark II was the perfect race engine it would have killed the ford/ hemi so here’s the deal bro the pencil pushers @ GM took a race engine and converted it ( cylinder bolt pattern/ that’s why it took another two years for the MarkII to become the mark IV

[@darrellsomers5427]

Big bill thought because the SOHC had no push rods or lifters over head cam it was to exotic but who knows

[@darrellsomers5427]

I'm sure if all ford had to do was install it in a production car they would have

[@edge2sword186]

@@hilleryclifford1350 that engine had valve train problems and would not last for 500 miles so all talk about beating other manufacturers products is pointless . Very few of those experimental engines existed at tha time .

[@SealofPerfection]

Nothing to do with it. GM wasn't even in racing when the SOHC came along. That was several years later.

[@larryharry7221]

Zactly

[@timothyward2017WILDMAN]

…😱 WHAT,NO 409?! 😉

[@-oiiio-3993]

My thought, exactly. Title was a tease. I have a set of 690 heads, by the way.

[@bobbrinkerhoff3592]

Nope , not a 409 an early version of the 427 . You may be thinking of the Z11 . The 427 cubic inch version of the 409 .

[@smilsmff]

Mystery alright and after banning the HEMI it was clear as to what went on back then

[@johndudgeon7954]

Hey. Weaver. Sp0uting. Off. A. Bunch. Of. Bull.

[@ronp1018]

And know chevrolet copy the ls engine from the 351 Ford engine

[@toddholldorf9494]

And ford copied the chevy big block when making the clevland heads.

[@shadowopsairman1583]

Wrong clean sheet design

[@jesse75]

Those engines were junk and blew up.

[@bobbrinkerhoff3592]

Those engines were developed on the race track , one race at a time . Not in a factory environment . All new designs take time to work out the bugs .

[@jesse75]

@@bobbrinkerhoff3592 they never worked out the bugs in the 60's. That's why they didn't race those engines. No match for the Chrysler and Ford's.

[@bobbrinkerhoff3592]

@@jesse75 they most certainly raced the Mystery Motor during the '63 season , and it did beat the Fords and Chryslers . You should do some real research before you provide proof to the world of your lack of knowledge .

[@jesse75]

@@bobbrinkerhoff3592 really ? The mystery motor ran in the 60's ? Nope. Maybe one year. And buddy I do know history, especially of interest stock car of the 60's. Chevy motors blew up trying to chase the 427, and 426. Then Chevy cried and moaned trying to change the rules.

[@bobbrinkerhoff3592]

@@jesse75 please go back and pay attention to the part where I stated that the Mystery Motor was raced during the '63 season . Btw , you just proved the last part of my statement for the second time .