Yenko era book

[9SECONDYENKO]

Has anyone read this paperback book about Don Yenko?I thought about buying the book but $50 is a lot of coin for a book.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Who's the author?

[9SECONDYENKO]

Mark Gillespie I found it at amazon.com the publish date was September 2007.

[sYc]

From what I understand it is basically a scrap book of pictures and paperwork he accumalated over the years.

[Dog427435]

I was looking at that book also, but purchased MUSCLECAR CONFIDENTIAL by Joe Oldham instead. What a great book that is, I couldn't put it down.
Makes me wish Marty had the time to put a book together on his adventures !
The Yenko book will be my next automotive read though - here is a short write up on it -

-

The Yenko Era -
by Mark Gillespie, with Warren Dernoshek and Donna Mae Mims

Pages:
176

ISBN:
1-59858-196-1(paperback)

List Price:
$49.95 Paperback

Category:
Automotive

Available:
July 2006

Edition:
Full-Color Paperback





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Product Details:

Fact, fiction, myth, fable. All of these words could be used to describe the history of Yenko Sportscars. Begun in the small industrial city of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the cars produced by this offshoot of the family owned Yenko Chevrolet have become the most prized cars of the so-called Musclecar Era, and Don Yenko, their creator, has developed a nearly cult like following. This book resulted from the collaboration of three people who were there dur-ing the heyday of Yenko Sportscars, Donna Mae Mims, Warren Dernoshek, and Mark Gillespie, but also includes input from other employees of the time, George Furda and Joe Jakovic. Our hope is that reading this book will be as entertaining as it was actually being there at that time.

You can contact Mark Gillespie at [email protected]


About The Author:

“We never expected to become part of automotive history”
—Donna Mae Mims, 2004

When I was 7 or 8 years old my mother enrolled me in the “You Are There” Book Club.

I was completely enthralled as each month’s book arrived and placed me in the midst of important events such as the Normandy invasion, Thomas Edison’s lab, etc. I used to wonder if the people involved realized the significance of the events as they occurred. I suspect they were too closely involved to see the larger picture.

I grew up near Canonsburg, Pennsylvania and knew about Don Yenko’s racing exploits. I had pressed my nose against the showroom window late at night, looking at a Stinger on display. I scraped together enough money to buy Stinger YS037 and returned to the dealership often to look at the cars and performance parts on display.

Visits to Yenko Chevrolet became routine and since no one made an effort to throw me out, I wandered around the shops, talking to everyone and looking over their shoulders as they worked. Everyone was friendly and outgoing, especially Warren Dernoshek in the performance shop, who didn’t mind answering my questions and working around me. I remember sitting in a 1964 Impala 409 and kicking the starter while he adjusted the valves or helping him put a Camaro on the chassis dyno. I became acquainted with Donna Mae Mims, Jim Spencer and many others, not realizing until later that they were nationally renowned. I ran errands for them, shuttled cars and even drove Donna Mae’s pink Fiat to Company Headquarters in New York.

As the Yenko era wound down in the 1970’s the crew at Yenko began to move on to other things. I kept in touch with a few of them including Warren Dernoshek.

Two years ago Warren, Donna Mae and I got together for the first time in 30 years and the idea for this book took root. As various people heard that we were planning this book many of them asked me if I had written a book before. I replied that I hadn’t but I was not really writing this one either, but rather assembling it from boxes of parts. This project was never intended to be the know all and end all of Yenko production and serial numbers. God knows, others have spent years researching and documenting such things. This book was done “just because”. Just because we could. Warren, Donna Mae and I had memories, some better than others, we had boxes of stuff that was interesting to us, letters, invoices, photos, and we thought other people might enjoy our scrapbook. We hope you have as much fun looking through it as we did in putting it together.

Donna Mae Mims
Manager Hi-Performance
Yenko Sportscars, Inc.

Warren Dernoshek
Hi-Performance Dept.
Mechanic and Crew Chief, Race Team

Mark Gillespie
I just happened to be there at the time.

[m22mike]

MUSCLECAR CONFIDENTIAL by Joe Oldham instead

Like Dog said..Highly recommended read



Mike

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I also really like Oldham's book. This blurb from the Yenko book looks enticing though, guess I gotta go find it

[68l30]

The Yenko book is neat. You have to be a detective to figure out the info that's in it. It contains a lot of paperwork and receipts that can be arranged in a timeline to show what was happening mostly during the Stinger years and with the 67's.Not much to read...but a lot to study.


Steve

[YenkoYS-199Stinger]

Steve,

Very well put. I got a couple copies from Mark at the Stinger 40th reunion while the copies were still warm from the press. If you ever wondered where or who they got things from, the paperwork is in the book. This even includes who stamped the YENKO tags.