Junior Johnson Rule Change: The Car That Won the 1969 Firecracker 400

Why do NASCAR cars have side exhausts?
LeeRoy Yarbrough won the 1969 Firecracker 500 at Daytona with a car unlike any that followed. Brilliant thinking by Junior Johnson and Herb Nab were able to eliminate cars drafting behind Yarbrough by simply moving the exhaust to the rear.
"Cope" by Brock Beard available now!
www.amazon.com/Cope-Brock-Eri...
Narrated by Brock Beard
Written and Edited by nascarman
Video Clips Courtesy of:
NASCAR Classics
Bibliography:
-"Early Caution Flag Better Be Legit", Tom Higgins, The Charlotte Observer, March 30, 1969
-"Virginia 500 Just What the Doctor Ordered," Gerald Martin, The World News, April 25, 1969
-"Notes", Jesse Outlar, The Atlanta Constitution, July 5, 1969
-"End of an Era?," Bob Smith. Tampa Tribune, July 13, 1969
-"NASCAR Clears Up a Lot of Hot Air," Pat Zier, The Atlanta Constitution, August 2, 1969
-"Benny Phillips Talks About Racing," Benny Phillips, High Point Enterprise, August 3, 1969
Music:
Vehicle Chase - Hainbach
Dusty Fingers - DJ Williams
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teespring.com/stores/nascarma...
Follow Brock and I on Twitter:
nascarman: / nascarman_rr
Brock: / lastcaronbrock
#NASCAR

[@fuhrstpuhl3278]

LOL, for Junior Johnson the tailpipes were probably an obvious distraction.......while Nascar and everyone else were all concerned about the rear pipes Junior had a dozen other questionable modifications going on elsewhere..........that's the way Smokey Yunick operated too.

[@gregorygolden1296]

You are so right. Think them two made the NASCAR rule book a whole lot thicker.

[@firestarter105G]

Yes, that is exactly how you do it.

[@ronfullerton3162]

I think it was Yunick who made the statement, "If it isn't in the rulebook, it ain't cheating". The two of them authored many new rules.

[@94jimmy5]

Not cheating......rules interperation!

[@dennisholst4322]

Those guys used special spears

[@kevinhuber8723]

RIP LeeRoy, one of the under appreciated drivers of the 1960's. Yarbrough was a force not only in NASCAR but Indycar as well.

[@Trackratz-zl9di]

Right up until he tried to kill his mother .

[@joshhuffine4522]

Buddy Baker telling that story about drafting behind the rear exhaust was hilarious ❤.

[@jamescaron6465]

Buddy Baker was one of a kind. I really miss him and Benny Parsons.

[@DIARRHEA-PANIC]

In high school, I had a 1966 Ford Fairlane 500xl. The girl I liked, liked a guy with a 1969 Torino. He wrecked his car, I got the girl. I lost the girl eventually of course... But, I still have my four speed hard top hi-po Fairlane from High School 🤪 These cars just create battles 😅

[@sergeantmasson3669]

@DIARRHEA-PANIC, Ford never put a 289 Hi-Po in a 1966 Ford Fairlane. Last year for that option in a Fairlane was 1964.

[@8000RPM.]

@@sergeantmasson3669 And I thought I knew a lot about classic Fords,...

[@sergeantmasson3669]

@@8000RPM. I'm a master level factory certified auto/truck tech for 50+ years. 40 of those years with the largest Ford dealership in my state. My dad worked for Ford for 50 years.

[@timorre3971]

Sounds like you always had the girl

[@8000RPM.]

@@sergeantmasson3669 Great to hear! I have a somewhat rare (well very rare) classic I'm ready to restore. My problem now is finding a shop with the skill-set. They should be able to answer questions like: Did Shelbys have over-ride traction bars, under-ride traction bars, ladder bars or panhard bars. I'm sure you know the answer!

[@JRotten]

Oh, the great days of Winston Cup. Verses CRAPcar racing we have now.

[@sjb3460]

Truly, greater words have never been written. I find that I like watching replays of the old races more than watching any NASCAR races live. My wife and I have watched every Sunday afternoon for 25 years but it's just not the same anymore.

[@JRCinKY]

Used to I would NEVER miss a race. Now I don't even watch them on TV

[@sjb3460]

My brother went to several Talladega races in the 70's, he was in the infield and nobody watched the races there. Then, the last year of the full size stock cars, I went, but not to the infield as I was married. We went to 4 more when it was the Winston Cup and we sat in the bleachers on the back stretch. One year, we crawled under the fence and was on turn 3, just feet away from the racers. I was taking pictures with a Nikon SLR using 400 speed film and all I had was a blur. The cops chased us away 2X, and then when we returned, they said if we came back they would take us to jail. The last time, all 3 of us were in the stands at Turn 3, when we saw Jeff Gordon was 3 feet ahead of Dale, Jr., the stands erupted in a shower of beer cans and coolers being heaved over the fence. Sad to see how the races have devolved.

[@davechumbley7101]

LOL….Junior once famously said that if you have 10 things that are illegal on your car and inspection caught you on 5 of them you were still money ahead!

[@lets-go-larson5]

lol y'all are so salty. Y'all arent even race fans. Yes, while that was the good ol days of NASCAR, I say watching a modern NASCAR Cup Series race is 10x more entertaining than back in the 60's. While the cars are now spec and not stock, this year we've had three photo finishes, one of them a 3 wide photo finish better than the one at Daytona in '59, and the closest finish in history not that long ago. Grow some pants ya bunch of sad facebook boomers.

[@gregorylumpkin2128]

I also had a Torino, a 1969, with the 428CJ engine. And...I stupidly sold it some years later. It was an awesome machine.

[@Randy7th]

A regular Torino- even a GT is very different from the Talledaga...

[@RonaldReed-ul9du]

I was there in the infield with all the other Venice race fans, I really liked ved the Paul Revere 250, the infield road track that ran at night! It was great timing, we could go hang on the beach a little while, and get back to Venice in time for the 4th of July Beach events! Great memories!

[@operationoverloard]

The NASCAR-tuned (with Ford parts) BOSS 429 had a lot more to do with the faster speeds which they were pumping out due to the fact that those things were cranking out 600+ horsepower. Setting matters straight....it's not just about the tailpipe location that made those "BOSS 9"-powered cars win.

[@gregorygolden1296]

I had a '68 Torino GT, 390 with 428 heads. Of all the cars I've owned, i reget not keeping that one. Never had a lick of problems with it. And it would flat fly. Damn sure wish i still had it.

[@8000RPM.]

The one that got away! Sorry to hear that. Many years ago, while on vacation visiting family in another state, I asked about a guy I knew (in the area) who had a unique/rare classic muscle car. I was told he recently married, was "settling down", and had just traded the car in at a dealership. The next morning, when that dealership opened, I was at the door. I bought that "trade in". Within a year, the original owner tracked me down and wanted to buy the car back. 49 years later,...I still own it. God willing,....it's not going to be the one that got away.

[@gregorygolden1296]

@@8000RPM. That's great. I raced stock cars off and on from 79-04. Cut up a lot of cars that are big money today. Chevelles Monte Carlos etc. who knew back then what we know today. But maaan, there was something about that 'ole Torino GT. I worked at a junkyard and traded it to my boss for racecar parts. One of my biggest regrets. Am happy that you were smart enough to get it and keep it. Be Safe, and GOD BLESS Brother.

[@8000RPM.]

@@gregorygolden1296 I'll leave you with a big tid-bit,...the 5th character of my vin is "G".

[@gtc1961]

You'd be a much wealthier man today!

[@Trackratz-zl9di]

The 390 FE was the biggest slug of all big blocks of the era .

[@ryanvarjas9719]

I really enjoy these videos about how interesting Nascar used to be.

[@danielmoose1273]

The Good Ol' Days. People my age got to see NASCAR get Real Good ... Then we got to watch it die. I don't even read to see who wins anymore.

[@dyer2cycle]

I don't even know who the drivers are now..when I last gave a sh*t about Nascar, Jeff Gordon was still a young driver, and the "rookies" were guys like Tony Stewart....

[@adotintheshark4848]

there's so many rules and restrictions I'm surprised NASCAR didn't make all the drivers wear dresses.

[@gtc1961]

same here, as they got out of "stock" cars, I lost interest.

[@gabbyhayes4561]

@danielmoose1273 I agree with ya. I was watching NASCAR on the Wide World of Sports. I unfortunately got to witnessed NASCAR die along with Dale Earnhardt in turn 4. Such a sad day that was. RIP Dale.😢🇺🇸😎

[@lets-go-larson5]

@@gabbyhayes4561 That is the most bullshit reasoning why NASCAR "died". NASCAR reached it's peak in 2005, and while yes ratings have dropped due to other things, like Brian france fucking up the sport, I say it was in a better position than it was in say 2015. We have a more diverse schedule with a good balance of short tracks, 1.5's, road courses, a street course, and last year, a literal dirt race. NASCAR back in like the 1980's never had this kind of diversity. So quit your yapping. NASCAR never died with Dale. I would really like to hear your definition of dead. A sport is never dead. Pound some damn sense into your head boomer.

[@jefferyrobertson7520]

I Like Generation 2 And 3 NASCAR Winston Cup Series From 1970 To 1993 Thanks For Uploading

[@OverlandOne]

I never knew any of this and I have been watching nascar since the mid 1960's. Thank you.

[@TGL31]

Did anyone catch that NASCAR was concerned that the fans might not like the racing the rear exhaust might create? How times change!

[@Kerry-fw6jt]

Smokey Yunick says by exiting exhaust in front of rear tire, it creates a scavenging affect for exhaust pulses. Also, exiting the exhaust out the rear of car doesn’t have a significant affect on engine temp of the car behind. The car behind has an increase in engine temp due to no air flow when tucked in behind the car in front. Radiator can’t exchange heat into the air.

[@EclecticHillbilly]

Actually both affect the temp of the trailing car........the lack of air to the front of the car and the exhaust being dumped straight into the air intake of the car. I actually remember this race and nobody could run behind Leroy without overheating. In a normal situation, the trailing car will heat up but not enough to be a problem. It was very common in those days for the trailing car to pull out going into the 3rd turn to get the car some cool air and then duck back in.

[@nickmatoic9096]

Back when Nascar was fun to watch.

[@TractorMonkeywithJL]

Nascar quit being Nascar long ago. They might as well change the name to something else.

[@superglx7028]

The need to bring back factory stock car racing

[@thewatcher5271]

You're Right, It Was Fun To Watch! We Didn't Call It NASCAR Back Then, We Called It Stock Car Racing. Check Out The Movie, 'Redline 7000'.

[@eugenegilleno9344]

Plastic jelly mould bodies and space frame chassis killed off Stock Cars - how can they possibly by Stock if they are basically all the same car. Bring back the old days !

[@bronzecookie7888]

That’s a very interesting story. The 60s and 70s was a cool time for NASCAR as that’s when all the development took place. Cars started hitting 200 MPH and the best shined even more like Petty, and Pearson. Then 1987 came and it fell apart but for good reason though.

[@sergeantmasson3669]

@bronzecookie7888, only twice has NASCAR race car ever reached 200 MPH. Buddy Baker in a practice tire test lap at Talladega and Bill Elliott in an actual race.

[@ihateracin]

@@sergeantmasson3669this is so comedically false

[@sergeantmasson3669]

@@ihateracin the stats/facts prove otherwise, PUTZ.

[@ihateracin]

@@sergeantmasson3669cars regularly broke 200 at California/Michigan for a decade dude. In fact the top 15 drivers qualified the 1987 Winston 500 at over 200 mph. Your facts and stats are impeccably lacking.

[@sergeantmasson3669]

@@ihateracin FA:SE. Only twice has a NASCAR racecar ever done 200 MPH. Both were at Talladega. NOT my problem that your ignorance can't comprehend the stats/facts.

[@jamesmatthies5295]

When Nascar was great. Bring back homologation. Win on Sunday and sell on Monday - Torino Talladega, Charger 500, Charger Dayton, Road Runner Superbird, Cyclone.... Now, it's generically bad

[@ihateracin]

You’re describing the IMSA series which NASCAR owns. They run Homologated cars in that series.

[@ragimundvonwallat8961]

those were the good days...but they cant go back....imagine oval racing with FWD 4cyl shitboxes. productions cars suck balls now so they have to use full on race cars in a series call ''stock cars'' the absolute state of all that crap

[@dyer2cycle]

All those look-alike cockroach-shaped crossovers on the race track..no thanks to watching that...@@ragimundvonwallat8961

[@scarbourgeoisie]

Actually, this could easily be done given that current NASCAR race cars don't use real stock bodies like they used to when NASCAR "was great".. NASCAR could clearly go to a throwback era and make their race cars look like they did in the late 60's and 70's, while riding on today's race car chassis. Unfortunately, GM wasn't officially in NASCAR during the aero wars of the late 60's and the few guys than ran Chevelles weren't competitive. Furthermore, Dodge is no longer in NASCAR and I'm not sure Toyota would be cool with running Daytona and Superbird bodies on their chassis'.

[@JackF99]

​@@ragimundvonwallat8961​ you do know there are plenty of modern mass-produced domestic and imported cars that will easily outrun, outcorner, and outbrake a 1960s muscle car, right?

[@darkshadow31415]

Excellent research, loved that you followed up with the Gen 6 experiment. The archive footage is phenomenal.

[@mitchell-wallisforce7859]

Mid-engined prototype race cars from that same era of the World Sportscar Championship had their exhausts pointed straight out the back too, as did that era's F1 cars. The F1 guys and many of the guys running open-topped sports cars didn't even have a cockpit to reroute the air away from them, and yet nobody made a fuss about it. _That being said,_ a commonly mentioned characteristic of the methanol-fueled CART IndyCars of the 90's is that following them was an intensely unpleasant experience due to the strong sting of the exhaust fumes, so IDK. My initial reaction was that NASCAR made a mountain out of a tailpipe mole hill but I guess somebody had better ask Bobby Allison or Richard Petty whether it had ever bothered them at all.

[@jdoe9518]

And these mid-engined sports/formula cars you mention, were the radiators likely to be affected by lead car if following closely? These same cars, was "slip streaming" as important? These same cars, did they have large driver compartments with a huge pressure differential that meant whatever got in took a long time, in relative terms, to get out? The larger the frontal area the greater the stagnant area in the wake. You know why ground effects is so efficient? Because of it's ability to all but eliminate stagnant air from rear of the car. Ever heard of Red Bull F1? And little trick called a blown diffuser? Notice on the NASCAR the rear exit exhaust was pointing up slightly? The NASCAR rear exit exhaust yielded multiple benefits. The upswept high pressure exhaust gas increased aerodynamic efficiency by moving the wake vortices further away from the rear of the car. It made it virtually impossible for another car to follow long enough to get a slingshot, why? Because hot exhaust gas does in fact cause overheating in the following car which reduces performance. It reduces performance further because hot air is less dense and exhaust gas has way less oxygen atoms. Fire requires fuel, oxygen and ignition. Less oxygen reduces the amount of fuel that can be burnt, so you're now overheating and ingesting stuff that doesn't want burn(fun fact this is like climate change only this real). It also reduces the performance of the driver. Many many people have reduced their performance to zero via exhaust gasses. Sometimes it's better to make a detour before even going up a mountain....

[@franciscrisp6245]

David Pearson was never nauseated. Not even while lighting up another Camel.

[@frankcastle5294]

Lee Roy's featured car was a 69 Torino Talladega. Those and the Cyclone Spoiler-II ruled the roost until Chrysler unleashed their Winged Wonders. Great times.

[@adotintheshark4848]

it was all in their shape, and great-looking besides!

[@Trackratz-zl9di]

I would rather have a Talladega then a Superbird any day.

[@frankcastle5294]

@@Trackratz-zl9diOwning 2 SuperBirds and having owned a Talladega I have to seriously question your reasoning. Whatever that is.

[@Trackratz-zl9di]

@@frankcastle5294 First I must say I have not only never owned either one I have never driven one . I have ridden in both a lot My father first worked at Nickels Engineering and then went to Holman and Moody in 1968 . The competition version of the Talladegas I got to see with the 429s and all that trick stuff when your 12 was like seeing a space ship . Holman and Moody even had 4 street Talladegas with 429s rather then 428s . I don't know why they built them or where they went but my father drove one on and off for most of a Summer . My father had several friends that had Superbirds and it seemed they were always trying to sell him one . There was a lot less Talladegas/Spoilers then Superbirds /Chargers and I just loved the Ford's.

[@frankcastle5294]

@@Trackratz-zl9diI hear ya. I've posted up actual production numbers for you, from memory. I google nothing. Cyclone Spoiler II---351 Dodge Charger 500---392 Dodge Charger 500 Daytona---506 about Ford Torino Talladaga---750 about Plymouth Superbord---1920 about

[@hmdwgf]

That’s a damn good looking car

[@adotintheshark4848]

Ford Torino.

[@the_lost_navigator]

You made me go and dig out my old Polar Lights kit to see if Lee Roy's ride was a back-biter - I may have to modify the model, now ;) ;)

[@timorre3971]

Was kinda hoping he'd mention the '69 Yarborough #21 Mercury Cyclone

[@chucksgarage7165]

It would be VERY interesting to test this thoery in a wind tunnel with modern data acquisition.

[@user-rl8fl1ok4t]

Absolutely correct it sure would be..!!

[@scootergeorge7089]

Further proof than in NASCAR, trying harder is superseded by crying harder.

[@scootergeorge7089]

@@user-cv4mb4yu8n - Someone actually tried running a 5 liter winged wonder at Daytona. Was doing great but failed to finish. Most people were surprised it qualified for the race!

[@billbob4856]

Actually saw DJ Williams live last year. Never thought I’d hear him as background music in a NASCAR vid lol

[@RonaldReed-ul9du]

You know speaking of side exhaust, all of us who used to frequent all the Daytona races, all ran side exiting exhaust just behind the door as per State mandates

[@CudaRebelsAutoModeling426]

Very informative and well made upload. Junior Johnson was a GENIUS and had so many nifty tricks up his sleve and with Lee Roy as his driver won almost every major race in 1969... Because of him and Smokey Yunick, Nascar basically had to re-write their entire rulebook. Keep up the good work!

[@sergeantmasson3669]

@CudaRebelsAutoModeling426, Smokey Yunick quit NASCAR in 1970 because he kept getting nailed for cheating. Yarborough won 7 races in '69, NOT all the major races.

[@jamesshipley4985]

I love the presidential pardon he got!!!!🍻🤣

[@gtc1961]

NASCAR the way it was meant to be..... National Association of STOCK Car Racing...the current cars sure as hell aren't stock. They need to go back to that.

[@TANTRUMGASM]

5:20 from Stunningly beautiful to Hideous in 6 seconds.

[@colossae3241]

Please make a video about USAC stock car. I really want to know about that series.

[@rarewhiteape]

Yeah this would be great!

[@evanst.martin9332]

Awesome series. Don White in the yellow and black Daytona was Usacs all time winner with 53 victories, and a two time champion. Their top drivers were every bit as good as Nascars best. They ran mostly in the Midwest with 4 races per year at the historic Milwaukee Mile. Occasionally they would run larger tracks, Michigan, Pocono,Texas and Dover. Pocono hosted the first 500 mile Usac stock car race in Sept. 1971. For those of you who loved watching the winged mopars, Usac allowed them to run until they aged out with the 3 year eligibility rule. The Usac guys would run 3-4 Nascar events per year, usually Riverside, Daytona, Rockingham, Atlanta & Charlotte. Usac driver Jim Hurtibuise won the Atlana 500 in 1966 or 67. A.J. Foyt won 64 and 65 Firecracker 400 as well as Riverside in 1970. Usac driver Roger McCluskey ran 2nd to Foyt in that race. I'm sure I'm missing a few others, plenty of info to make a video!

[@colossae3241]

@@evanst.martin9332 thanks for the the info sir. That was a nice info

[@evanst.martin9332]

@@colossae3241 You are so welcome. I could go on all day about the Usac series!

[@colossae3241]

@@evanst.martin9332 so when was the last USAC stock car race?? Is it in 70s

[@LongIslandMopars]

Never knew that when i grew up watching in the 70s.

[@plantfeeder6677]

RIP Cale Yarborough.😢

[@thatcurveguy]

I was there. We lived in South Daytona. That was the last race I saw there before we moved to California.

[@RandallSoong-pp7ih]

Cool history!

[@leolpz_10]

Can you make a video about the life of Junior Johnson and all the things he discovered/invented?? It would be great to watch…

[@richardjohnson4696]

Stock car racing was so much better back in the day. I don't like NASCAR because of thaw they have controlled every aspect of the cars being nothing like a stock car. It has morphed into a realm of ridiculousness. I enjoy seeing cars that you can see on the street being modified to race and then race against other manufacturers products. Racing should help with what we buy, I'd love to see stock cars come back and have companies put features that help them win races into the cars and trucks we drive.

[@markforster6457]

Honda used to say: "We don't build great motorcycles to win races. We win races to build great motorcycles".

[@richardjohnson4696]

@@markforster6457 And yet Honda doesn't offer many, if any, Japanese built Hondas in the States. I will not buy an American made Honda, same goes for Toyota, or any of the other Japanese manufacturers. Once you have owned a Japanese built car , truck or SUV, there is huge difference in quality between the two.

[@user-dp8gb9zu8v]

. That was back before restrictor plates. which made the slingshot pass a common technique on certain tracks. because of their layout a car that has the exhaust exiting out the rear of the car. could receive a small but significant torque increase even ultimately changing the power band. HP isn't always the ultimate goal. torque can be more handy in certain situations. 6:10

[@Mike583]

RIP Lee Roy. Hell of a way to go...rocky mountain spotted fever. ❤

[@richardlewis4288]

Wow that was great! Never knew that!🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@1967davethewave]

Seems to me side exhaust would blow right into the car next to you. I can imagine how bad it must smell on a big track after 40 cars have been racing for an hour. I have raced on the dirt for years and after 15 cars run a 3/8 track in August for 20 laps it gets pretty hard to breath!

[@SOU6900]

Personally I love the smell of race exhaust. 2019 at Bristol in October when diesels invaded the track made my mouth water 😂😅

[@PurpleBossonius]

it really won't due to the direction of the exhaust exiting and the direction of the car is going is not lined up, it will just cause the exhaust to disperse way quicker instead of being focused at the car behind

[@billoddiea]

Excellent content…solid script with no waffle or AI stupid computer voice.

[@Roddy556]

"DID YOU KNOW THAT IN NASCAR COMPETITORS DRIVE CARS? I BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW THERE ARE RULES"

[@billoddiea]

@@Roddy556 Keep drinking

[@Roddy556]

@billoddiea I quit years ago. This video seemed a little too quality so I thought I would interject some of that shitty AI/youtube short type content in the comment section.

[@billoddiea]

@@Roddy556 Oh I see…got it! Well said.

[@braddietzmusic2429]

Fantastic! Subscribed!

[@hendo337]

What a shame the Torino Talladega wasn't sold with the Boss 429 and Top Loader. Instead it got the 428CJ and a C6. Yuk

[@d.e.b.b5788]

The 428 was a better 'street' engine. The 427 at the time (of the same engine series) was for higher revving long straights tracks, like LeMans. The 429 was the inheritor of all, supposedly there weren't enough 429s to go around those first few years, and by the time manufacturing ramped up, the 1st fuel shortage and smog laws really cut the legs out from under the big engines.

[@michaelmarburger1003]

LMAO!!! I love hearing stories about Junior Johnson, his cars and his innovations. A true great in NASCAR as a driver and an owner. RIP Junior Johnson.

[@NASCARFAN93100]

Very Interesting Story

[@mikelliteras397]

Probably worked like a blown diffuser also. I wouldn’t be surprised if it worked a little like someone drafting them. Not to mention showing an obvious thing while distracting from less obvious gray areas

[@williampotter2098]

Back when stock cars were stock cars.

[@hotrodray6802]

I always wondered why they run side exhaust 👍

[@dsb1829]

good video, subscribed 👍

[@bobwhitebread1887]

Junior Johnson was a very smart man

[@db3100]

Enjoyed that!

[@steelmill]

If they knew the dual exhaust took some power away Im sure they were making it up in the heads or intake manifold.

[@user-hz7xc1xw6u]

Racing used to be aout who could get their car to the finish faster. Safety blew that concept.

[@reinderkalsbeek4748]

That's was when racing was racing not the shit show that it is now

[@johnpoile1451]

Yellow/ caution flags little more than bunch up the cars to make it appear closer than it actually is,

[@mixter7x7]

The air pressure in the draft of these cars is substantially lower. I'd love to see the BARO under the spoiler. If you have pressure exhaust exiting into a lower pressure zone you create what's called passive augmentation. It lowers the resistance and pressure in the exhaust and allows the engine to produce more hp. It increases cylinder scavenging during cam overlap producing more power. It can't be tested on a dyno without a full wind tunnel - it must be done in live conditions. When you consider the EGT of these engines is around 1200 - 1300*F . The car will overheat if you draft another car for too long with side exhausts. Now get behind a 400 cfm furnace dumping all it's heat into your radiator. You won't last long. It's easy to see that 1300* air which is where they make their best power - it's thick on the rich side and you are expelling unburned gas into the cockpit of the trailing car. This was leaded fuel. Back then about 145 octane. Really rich - full of TEL and carbon monoxide cocktail. Not Bueno. Truly a lethal combo. You wouldn't be able to breathe and your car would overheat in seconds.

[@RobertHanson-km3be]

I didn't know that.😮

[@C.M.343]

First On Race Day!

[@Johnnycdrums]

More more I learn about Junior Johnson's tricks, the better I like him.

[@user-ev4pb9xj7e]

😂 funny how it didn’t matter about where the exhaust exited until the Fords started winning, then the rules suddenly changed to side exhaust only 😂😂😂 nascar has always been dirty as hell😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@franciscrisp6245]

Hendrick-Gordon-Johnson were happy with NASCAR.

[@fmagalhaes1521]

What is the NASCAR saying, “If you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying”?

[@NBC_NCO]

What a good story.

[@jhtprojects4431]

Very interesting history. Is is true that cutting exhaust pipe tips off at an angle helps by creating less pressure, or making a little suction to help gasses exit? English mistake: a car (or anything) cannot be "so unique." It is unique or it is not. Unique means exactly one.

[@miscprojects9662]

Back in the day if there was a rule change it had to do with someone other than GM winning. Horsepower and torque on GM engines were overrated while Ford and Mopar engines were underrated.

[@Masterchief68]

When nascar decided to make all the cars pure racing cars with stock car sheet metal they kind of took the fun out of it. Win on Sunday no longer meant sell on Monday like it used to. Let’s go back to racing cars that come from the showrooms! Sure add the safety equipment and big tires but use only equipment available from the manufacturer.

[@michaelcarroll7621]

Visit your local short track.

[@pkuudsk9927]

If ya ain't cheating your not winning. The guys back then is why they have rule books now. Shit like Water in the roll cage that would flow to the right side and stay there until weigh in and WOW it corner balance within the rules lol.

[@markshade8398]

You can't "drafting past" another car. Drafting by definition isnstaying directly behind the car which is in front. You CAN "pass AFTER drafting" behind another race car though. But can't "draft past" them.

[@kepofshangri-la8942]

It's silly but for a short moment, I had thought it was a Generation Two Skyline.

[@georgesykes394]

When ever Ford starts winning GM goes crying to NASCAR officials.

[@460duck]

That has always been the case,,and still is today

[@user-hz7xc1xw6u]

If they wanted them to race safely, just put the drivers in Bumper cars.

[@shanew.williams]

Great vid. However, "the story" of tail pipes in NASCAR did not begin in 1969. As early as 1957 Lee Petty was running tail pipes that ran through the TRUNK and exited where the taillights would be on the 1957 Olds' that he & son Richard would drive. There's pics online of Richard's convertible Olds with tail pipes. Some T-Birds had them too, exiting ABOVE the rear bumper.

[@gregorygolden1296]

I saw a picture of one of Tim Flock's cars that had the exhaust going through the trunk and out the back also.

[@redlion9199]

Ford made some stallions,,, Both the 427 and 429 big blocks were designed to run full throttle races... Endurance is the key the 427 thunderbolts spanked Ferrari... Running LE Mans !!!! How many hours??? How many down shifts, high and low revs... A beautiful work of art,,, GT40 .. Spanked the Italians 4 years in a row,, A race vehicle has to perform in All categories, acceleration braking cornering arowdinamic drag . etc The Torino beat the arowdinamic drag , allowing the Torino to fly . The 429 was a balanced and geometric beast, to run at ease, The combination was kicking the losers @$$ So some donations from exceptional individual's declared foul!! The rest is history,. Run run as fast as you can;;;; you can't catch me, I'm the ginger bread man.. Love the time..

[@hendo337]

The Thunderbolt was a drag race car, it never raced Ferrari at LeMans. The GT40 did.

[@d.e.b.b5788]

@@hendo337He's referring to the 427 engines in the MkII GT40's that came in 1-2-3 in 1966 LeMans, as well as the 427 Ford engines which ran in the MkIV LeMans cars of 1967. Some people (usually not knowledgeable racers) back then called those 427s 'thunderbolts' because of the street cars which had those pushrod 427's. Ford went with those 'street' 427s because the SOHC 427's were heavier, plus the less 'hyper' design of the pushrod engine was preferable to have the engines last for 24 hours. Or so I read, back in the day. You'd really have to speak to the older guys who raced in that era, as I was just a young teen back then.

[@Johnnycdrums]

Lol, those aren't stock rear pipes. But I like them.

[@lincolnls0416]

Shit it wouldn't have mattered anyway because those Ford's with the 429s were unbeatable. Couldn't be beaten. So Chevy got jealous and still today when Ford wins Chevy keeps finding away to P Penalize Ford's. Why do you think Ford barely has car's in Nascar now. It's more of a show down between Toyota and Chevy now.

[@Scout686]

History of NASCAR. Penalize the the better teams so the mediocre ones can keep up.

[@Roddy556]

At least Nascar just said "no rear exhaust" and didn't make some exhaust spec that would make a rear exhaust problematic but allowed awkward work arounds and then bitched when people tried to stay within those rules. Other sports do that sometimes.

[@michaelcarroll7621]

That comment applies to society in general. NASCAR didn't invent the idea of leveling the playing field.

[@thomastessin1663]

One could say that drafting is unsafe for the leading car because some of it's created vacuum and downforce is taken by the following car.

[@Roddy556]

Well I guess that's the game.

[@EclecticHillbilly]

That was always the case with drafting............it loosens up the car in front and makes the trailing car tight because it takes rear down force off the front car and takes front down force off the rear car and therefore causes it to have more read down force.

[@carlstephens1532]

The rear car can run a higher speed and is hitting the front car and they both gain speed at the expense of handling. It's so easy to lose control especially if hit hard

[@EclecticHillbilly]

@@carlstephens1532 That's today but it's the same principle. In the 60s and 70s the cars didn't touch. There was no bump drafting back then. The trailing car would drop off the front car a little bit to get a run and the rpms would go up as much as 700 in the draft and then pull out and move past.......that's where the term slingshot came from. The cars were bigger and boxier and punching a bigger hole in the air so there was actually a bigger aero advantage in the draft back then as to now. Those bigger cars cast a long wake.

[@sergeantmasson3669]

Junior Johnson switched to Fords in 1964 because his 1963 Chevrolets kept blowing engines.

[@davidthayer6969]

LOL HE SWITCHED TO FORD BECAUSE CHEVY PULLED OUT OF NASCAR AND QUIT PAYING HIM.

[@DIARRHEA-PANIC]

Misinformation

[@sergeantmasson3669]

@@davidthayer6969 WRONG. The Chevy 427 "W" mystery engine were known for failures and Junior Johnson was sick of losing.

[@sergeantmasson3669]

@@DIARRHEA-PANIC FALSE.

[@davidthayer6969]

@@sergeantmasson3669 NOT wrong at all. GM was facing anti trust lawsuits and did not want any racing publicity.......GM cut all NASCAR funding after 1963 and did not re enter NASCAR until 1971.

[@Gemni65]

The fans today thinks we watched the races on tv like them 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@MrDibbons]

I'm not sold on all the hype mentioned in the video. May all be true, but I still have my doubts.

[@jesse75]

Now we know the rest of the story.

[@d.e.b.b5788]

I don't think so; I vaguely remember rumors of ole' 98 having a longer wheelbase on the right hand side of the car, than the left, so it would go around turns faster.

[@keithlawlor9993]

I heard that NASCAR would not allow the Chevrolet Corvette because it was too fast and no one could compete with it.

[@hendo337]

The Corvette isn't a full size 2 door sedan, that's what NASCAR was then.

[@georgesykes394]

Chevy has never made a motor superior to Ford!

[@jjmckay6man1]

corvettes had fiberglass bodies lol.

[@bigtobacco1098]

Only of the reasons I don't watch much... they have regularly held back innovation, punished faster cars, slowed cars down, removed advantages, etc...

[@carmiethompson2676]

Yeah...right. Ford never offered the 429 Boss in the '69 Torino. Why is it racing? According to Hot Rod Magazine, for the 1970 Torino; Ford confirmed to the writer that no Torino was customer ordered w/ the 429 Boss unlike the Mustang for the public roads. They said if one person ordered the Boss in the Torino...a 'one-off'; today it would've been worth around a million buck$. Ford should've just stuck w/ the 427FE in an updated version. Maybe a crescent shaped combustion chamber instead of the wedge. Course, Ford Jr. was all about appearance instead of substance. It was the people he hired that got him the name recognition, he was no inspiration.

[@hendo337]

The Boss 429 was a significantly better engine than the 427FE even the high riser and tunnel port side oilers. Only the SOHC 427 was close.

[@carmiethompson2676]

@@hendo337 Significantly better...in what way? The Cammer should've stayed in the Engineering Dept. as the experiment it was. The 429 had a crescent shaped combustion chamber & the near centered spark plug location & that was all it had going for it. If Ford Jr. had any vision(which he had very little), he would've OK'd the same shape for the FE & dropped the wedge from all the engines. The stacked valve concept really didn't prove anything & hasn't been used in any engine design, even in endurance & F1 racing for decades. If Ford Jr. was really interested in racing he would've sponsored Dan Gurney in his F1 & USRRC/CanAm programs in '64 through '70. Gurney commissioned Harry Westlake in England to design Cylinder Heads for his F1 V12 car & heads for the 289 that was legal in the USRRC. Later in the CanAm series, the engine limit was 7L naturally aspirated(& it should've stayed that way into the '70's) for cost control for the smaller teams. The 427FE w/ heads by Westlake would've put the Boss in the dumpster! It was heavy & the intake ports were far to large. Pictures of the 429 ports from one NASCAR team(maybe H&M or the Woods Bros, it didn't ID the team, which I can understand) were much smaller & raised. That's how CRAP the Boss429 heads were. On the street, the '69/'70 Boss 429 Mustangs didn't scare anyone. Knew a fellow back in the day w/ a '70 Buick GS455 stage 1 that was warmed over for the drags & he never had any trouble dispatching the Boss429 'Stangs. Had a buddy w/ a '70 Olds W-31 442 Cutlass(the 350 engine) & it was a little warmed over plus some minor mods to the TH350 Auto. & he'd lose to the Boss by .020 - .030 seconds, so he didn't give up that much. A 429 SCJ weighed 720 lbs. The Boss weighed 635 lbs. The iron head 427FE weighed 625 lbs., that included the iron intake. So you like a Boss 429, fine. When you can show me race results like winning the Daytona, Sebring & LeMans events plus winning many more NASCAR races then the 429 participated in, then that might be 'significant'.

[@shawntailor5485]

I watched this race in 69

[@rgbigdog]

I say if you can't run with the BIG DOGS then stay off the track!

[@charleswaynewright2042]

Never thunk ah Thang so simple could be so important. I learned something and thats a good thang

[@76629online]

I run mine up through the hood and across the top of the roof.

[@gregorygolden1296]

Me too, and then back into the small side windows......💀🧠

[@melvinhunt6976]

NASCAR never ever made rule changes to any other manufacturer, Only Ford !

[@hendo337]

Almost like they were in Mopar's pockets.

[@melvinhunt6976]

@@hendo337 Also remember the France family had dealerships! None were Ford !

[@d.e.b.b5788]

@@hendo337Well, Bill France did outlaw the Chrysler 426 Hemi for a couple of years. I think that he only changed his mind, after their wedge engine couldn't compete with the other makers (i.e., FORD) so he just let them race, PLUS he outlawed Chrysler's wing cars after they swept the field on the superspeedways I think in '70 (and he also banned Ford's 'King Cobra' Torino before Ford could even get it on the tracks for 71). All to keep a reign on speeds. I don't remember who the driver was, but one of them spoke on an interview after a superspeedway race, saying that the stock cars were simply not solid enough to run 200+ mph, they would all shake and float all around the high speed tracks. Scary. I remember some of those wrecks; cars coming almost completely apart, drivers dying. That's why they eventually went with the sort of spec chassis cars we see in NASCAR today; the stock frames weren't designed for those speeds. Holy crap, shades of Colin Chapman's dictum of 'make it lighter until it breaks, then fix it and made it even lighter' which Lotus kept doing until perhaps a 'too light' part broke and killed Senna.

[@RooneyMac]

Ah great now the usual bunch like iceburg and bfm and nrf and etc etc etc are gonna be making videos about this too 😮‍💨

[@Turner.1]

When they started rigging racing

[@fido139]

Any time an underdog wins there will be rules changes. NASCAR is great at rigging their rules so THEIR golden boys will win. HMS prime example. Petty before that.

[@melvinhunt6976]

As long as the Hemi was the engine everything was fine But when Ford broght the 429 Oh no we have to change! Thi😅about it. Every single rule change ever in NASCAR History has been against FORD, or FORD TEAM !

[@barneymiller6204]

These were the best days for watching nascar. Today, meh...

[@joemvin.j3-16]

👍👏☝️💪💪💪

[@Johnnycdrums]

Who knows, NASCAR might be better without drafting nowadays.

[@scottmihalsky3612]

This is evidence that social media will give any idiot a voice

[@jamesmedina2062]

couldn't have race cats huh? No wonder out the back didn't stick