Don Yenko race history

[JoeC]

It is difficult to find information on the Camaros Don Yenko raced. I believe the car he raced at Daytona in 1969 was a 1968 302 cu. in. Camaro white with two thin blue stripes wearing the number "11". (Tom what does your scrapbook show?). The 1969 Sebring records list Don as 10th place in a 1969 ZL1 Camaro with Bob Grossman as co-driver. The first time I read this I dismissed it as a misprint. I just read another article on Sebring 1969 and it also states that Yenko/Grossman beat all the Corvettes in a "sleeper" Camaro with a ZL1 engine. The car was part sponsored by Yenko Sports Cars. I wonder if it was a real ZL1 or L72 Camaro or just a fabricated race car. This is the first I ever read of anyone road racing a ZL1 Camaro. I will keep digging for info/pics on this car.

[sYc]

Joe; The info I quoted was from the Daytona newspaper out of Don's scrapbook. I will double check as I have several other items of interest from the race. Also, I have photos of Don's '68 and '69 Camaros, from his photo collection. The '69 is kind of neat, as there is a Yenko emblem on the rear panel. Tom

[DarrylD]

Is the 69 Sebring race the only race that mentions the ZL-1? If you have a picture of it, maybe you can find pictures of the car at other races where they might not mention the fact that its a ZL-1. Like Joe said, though, there's a good chance it's just a car they stuck a ZL-1 motor in to race. Tom, can you post a picture of the '69 with the Yenko emblem on the back? Even if its black and white, I'm sure everyone would like to see it.

[DarrylD]

By the way, how old would he have been when he started racing in '57?

[JoeC]

Don Yenko was 59 according to his obituary in 1987. So if he began racing in 1957 he would have been 29. Does anyone know Don's birthday? In the early 1980's, when he was over 50 years young, he was labeled by a press person as "the old man of racing". After this at one of the races he attended with Kim Mason (from Yenko Honda) he made a joke of it and walked up to his race car with a cane in his hand. I saw a picture of this but do not recall where. Vic Edlebrock Jr. has a restored ex-Smokey Yunick 1968 Trans-Am Camaro. In an article about this car, the author lists one of the Camaro's previous owner/drivers as Don Yenko. This may have been the same car that Don used to win the Citrus 250.

[Chevy454]

Don was born May 27, 1927 in Mongahela, PA. His was killed in a private plane crash at 1:45pm, Thursday, March 5, 1987 at the Yeager Airport near Charleston, WV at the age of 59.
At the 1969 Nascar Citrus 250 Grand Touring event at the Daytona Int. raceway in Daytona Beach, FL. Friday, February 21, 1969. Don drove a 1969 Camaro, #11, to the pole position and to the win. Don's average speed for the race was 104.036.
I have several pictures of Don's '68 and '69 Camaros. The '68 car was white with blue hood and two narrow stripes on the top, trunk lid and rear panel. The filler cap is located in the trunk lid. The wheels were the 5 spoke Atlas mags. This car was sponsered by Yenko and Best Photo service. In one picture it shows Don as the driver and another as Don and Dick Guldstrand as drivers. This Camaro has the Yenko metal emblem on the front fenders, where side marker lamps would be. The '69 Camaro was white with a blue hood, 2 narrow stripes on the top, hood and rear panel. This car ran the 10 spoke wheels and showed Gulf as the only sponser. It had a metal Yenko emblem at the center of the rear panel. On the top of the car was a strobe light with lettering on the roof that read "Strobe by Grimes". Tom

[Chevy454]

I was just going through some more of my Yenko items and ran across some interesting stuff. In a press release for Don Yenko by Yenko Sportscars, Inc., it states, Yenko won over 85% of his races with four national titles and 7 divisional titles. But here is what I found was VERY interesting. Quote, "Yenko Sportscars went on in 1968 to produce 427-Camaros and in 1969 distributed over 350 special 427 Camaros, Chevelles and Chevy IIs through its network of 70 some hi-po Chevrolet dealers. The 1969 Camaro, campaigned on the NHRA circuit, reached the World Finals." If you add together the numbers for Camaros-198, Chevelles-99- and Novas-37, you reach 334, close to the 350 mark. This total may have included some or all of the 1968 Camaros. This total goes hand in hand with the picture that shows a transporter loaded with Yenkos and a sign that reads, "The 350th unit Sold". This does not support the theory (magazine article) that Yenko built/sold 500 Camaros. Tom