Don Yenko on Video

[GMH454]

Was watching one of my Vette racing videos last night and realised that Don is most likely the guy thrashing the L-88 round the track.
Remembered seeing him in a couple of scenes but now realise that if you include the behind the wheel scenes he is probably in 1/2 the entire video.
from memory I think it was a Sunray DX (promo tape )
Are there any other confirmed sightings of Don ??
Don't know why he is not in the Corvette Hall of fame, he could sure as hell wringout that car. Loved the big sideways drift coiming out of the corners.
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[Supercar_Kid]

I had the pleasure of speaking with a former employee at Yenko, who told me a story about Don taking him for a ride in a new Stinger Corvair once. He claimed it was the winter months, and the roads were iffy at best. He said Don went through the gears, and they were buzzin' along at a pretty decent pace considering the road conditions, when he saw a long sweeping left hand turn in the road up ahead. They were approaching rapidly, but Don kept in it. He began to think there was no way they were gonna make that curve, when Don simply put the right front tire on the white line, and hung the tail out in the berm, throwin' stones and cinders at the guardrail to beat the band. He said he was hangin' on for dear life, thinking that taking a curve like that was surely suicidal, but Don, being his calm and collected self, had one hand on the wheel, the other on the shifter, and a half burned cigarette dangling from his lip all the while. He went on to say that after they made it out of that curve, he asked Don if he was trying to kill them both and all Don had to say was "Handles pretty good don't she?" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Can't say for sure if that story was embellished or not, but it sure sounds indicative of what we hear about Don and his personality as a driver. Sure wish he was still here to tell us a few stories of his own. Here's to you Don. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

[JoeC]

GMH454, What is the name of this video and do you know where I can purchase a copy? Don drove a DX Oil sponsored L88 Corvette in 67 and 68.

There are a few small clips of Don in the movie "the racing scene" with James Garner. You see DY in the pits and you see his car drive by with the Yenko name. The shots of cars racing were from Daytona and Sebring 1969.
Don was also on a TV show that featured racing in the early 60s.

[GMH454]

Supercar..I heard Greenwood and others say that early L-88s were driven like dirt track roadsters, with a lot of tail flicking in corners. Now in small cars it sounds okay, but in a 2750lb car with 550lbs of torque, it is a totally different thing. Those guys have my respect.
Tape has a hot lap of the track filmed with a fixed Camera in car behind drivers head. You can see the corner flick quite well. Done by a professional at speed it looks actually smooth.

[GMH454]

I had it copied onto Pal format and have not seen the box for close to 10 years (when I bought it ) Will look for it tomorrow.
Thanks for the heads up on "Racing Scene " Garner was backing A.I.R. with Guldstrand as the "shoe " either in 68 or 69. Will be worth finding .
thanks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Pantera]

The DX Cars were stabled here in Tulsa often. I remember stoping to look at them at a DX station at 51st & Peoria. The were wrenched on often by Creitz Automotive and the head mechanic on them there was my old neighbor Mike Sizemoore. He used to chase me home from school trying to beat me up as most older kids did back in the late 50's. I know Bob Creitz and Mike and will have to try to find them to see what info they may shed on the subject.
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[GMH454]

Tulsa ????? Is'nt that a long way from the NE (never studied US geography at home so cut me slack if I'm wrong) from memeory Don was campaigning for NE A/Prod championship. I'll have to check my SCCA books to see if he was running the NE Championship seriously that year, but would have thought the furthest west those cars ever went would have been to the Annual SCCA run offs.
Any more info would be great. You ran B/Prod did you run in any of the Annual run offs. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Pantera]

I ran in the runoffs in '80 & '82. My car was a Ohio A/P car when it was new (ex-Colby Hillman) Three owner car. I put the S/B in it. Bought it as a roller. Then I went CAM-AM crazy. Bought a Lola T400 w/ Frissbee bodywork but Could not get the car finished for the Dallas GP '84. borrowed big $$$ to do it and about went broke afterwards trying to pay it off.

To my knowledge the DX cars were not ran by Don or anybody else in this div. They were here for promo purposes. Tulsa is the "Oil Capitol of the world" and was the home office of DX back then. In fact a lot of major oil companys were headquartered here. Tulsa was a oil rich town when I was growing up. Skelly oil started out here and he lived here along with a lot of others like J. Paul GETTY. So that is why the cars were here from time to time. Bob Creitz was a locally famous drag racer and I figgure the cars were worked on while they were here just to be sure that they were ready to go for the next race. Remember back then they were pretty much over the counter parts used on them because of the rules. I just wish my cousin was still alive we could find out a lot about what went on cause he was the parts manager for a dealership that sponsored racers somewhat but nothing like the big names. They just got parts at cost.

pic of my car when it was in the Trans am at Hallett OK. when A/P was allowed to help make up the field.

[JoeC]

I have been working on collecting Yenkoís racing history but still donít have it complete as he had many projects going and ran many races in different cars. Don Yenko had a contract with DX Oil to build and race Corvettes with DX Oil sponsorship in at least 1967 and 1968. Don had sponsorship from Gulf Oil from approximately 1960 to 1965 although Gulf went to Ford in 1964 they still helped Don with a 65 corvette B/production. Don was hired by DX to help them gain name recognition in racing until DX was bought out by another big oil co. From what I was told by DX crew members Don ran the program, drove, hired drivers and ran the team. They mostly ran big races for maximum advertising exposure. Don was also working with another company that was making a mid engine sports car with a Chevy engine. Yenko did some work on the prototype and was working on developing a racing program to promote the car. Don even became a ricer in mid 80s and ran a Honda. He, like most racers, was always looking for sponsorship deals of any size.

[Supercar_Kid]

The Don Yenko/Gulf Oil connection makes perfect sense, as Gulf Oil was co-founded by William Larimer Mellon, a name synonymous with Pittsburgh wealth. Gulf Oil also had it's headquarters in Pittsburgh during the 1960's. The "Gulf Tower" still stands on the corner of 7th and Grant right here in Downtown Pittsburgh, and I actually worked in the building for a short time while I was a student at the University of Pittsburgh. It's a very nice old building with some historic significance. I often used to think when I was riding up the antique elevators how many times Don may have done the same thing, on his way to meetings with the big whigs at Gulf Oil. It makes me wonder if Don sought out Gulf Oil as a sponsor, or if Gulf Oil sought out Don as a driver. Either way, it was most likely a beneficial arrangement for both parties. I'm sure Don needed the extra $$$ to keep repairing the Corvettes he'd tear up each weekend, and Gulf Oil had to like seeing their logo out in front. Here is a link to an interesting website regarding Gulf Oil's history. Gulf Oil History (http://geocities.com/gulfoiluk/about.html) As it turns out, Pittsburgh was home to the first drive-thru gas station way back in 1913, thanks to the folks at Gulf Oil. There are some interesting pics on the website linked above. Keep up the outstanding research JoeC, inquiring minds want to know.
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[GMH454]

Joe thank you for that. Can you confirm that Don drove a prototype (???) L-88 convert vette in 1966. The Blue Coupe that ran at Daytona, has been made famous, partly by its relationship to Penske, and mostly by the many entertaing stories from Dick Guldstand.
I have only seen a small piece of conjecture on the white 66, and I think Don was supposd to have been on board. Is much more known about this car these days (I have been out of the loop since around 1997,) was Don the "shoe".
I could be completley wrong about the 66, but Don kept a much lower profile on his Vette racing, than Dick or Bob Bondurant, and Friedman has not got a photo archive on him, otherwise we would probably be on our 3rd Don Yenko book by now. The fact that it is much harder to find stuff on him does not reduce his significance.
I wonder if he had a backdoor contract like Jim Hall or Greenwood ("I REALLY can't remember...") /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif

[JoeC]

here is a picture of the 66 Corvette that was sponsored by Best Photo. This car is restored but they put a stock windshield back in it. Some people say this car and Penske's were special built 66 pre L88 factory cars but not sure about that. Chevy went where the money was and Don had lost his big sponsorship deal with Gulf. The Oil Co. were spending the big money so I guess they went with Penske and Sunoco. Don won B/P in 62 and 63 in Gulf cars. Don was with Dick Guldstand and Bob Bondurant at LeMans in 67 but is not listed in the records. Then Don was with DX Oil in 67 and 68. After that I think he had a deal with Marathon Oil. Don also co drove with Greenwood, Dave Heinz, Jerry Thompson and others.

[JoeC]

Erik,
Don was in the Gulf tower and one of his Corvette race cars may have been in there also!
I was told that Gulf used a crane to put this (see pic)Corvette in the Gulf Tower. Not sure if this is true. That is Don and Dick Thompson in the car. Dick was the top Corvette driver late 50s to early 60s. He ran the Stingray prototype car for Chevy designer Bill Mitchell, ran A/P cars, and ran the Gulf Grand Sport #004. Don ran the B/P cars and was leading in points in í61 but was suspended so Dick took over Don's B/P car and won in 61 then Don won in 62 and 63.
Did University of Pittsburgh have a wind tunnel in the 60s? I found a reference were Yenko/Gulf did some wind tunnel testing in a PA facility.

[Supercar_Kid]

That 'Vette looks like it could be in the Gulf Tower for sure, but it looks like the main lobby area on the ground floor to me. Not sure if a crane would be used to get it in there, but I'm sure it didn't fit through the revolving doors! There is a truck entrance on the side of the building that's used for deliveries, it may have come in that way, but I have no idea how they'd have got it into the lobby from there. No simple task you can bet, but with Gulf's $$$ anything was possible. As for the University of Pittsburgh having a wind tunnel in the 60's, I can't say for sure, but I'll do my best to look into it. Shouldn't be too hard to find out as I'd bet some of my old professors were teaching there back in the 60's. Pitt has always been well known for it's Engineering program, and the city of Pittsburgh for it's bridges and tunnels, so perhaps they had a wind tunnel to test bridge designs etc. Just speculation, but it's totally possible. Great photos by the way, where do you keep coming up with this stuff? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif