Here is a bit of a story from a guy that used to work with Mickey Thompson (who Smokey was very competitive with), VERY interesting stuff, especially the header holes:
Of course Smokey’s Cameros would have to be inspected by USAC since they were going to certify any records that might be set. To qualify for the records he was going after the cars had to be pretty close to what was going to be available to potential Chevy customers. The first car he presented to them for inspection was a “ringer”, it was highly modified, front suspension A- arms made from aerodynamic tubing, and other very obvious components that really got the USAC inspectors stirred up. They declared it inappropriate, and disqualified it. This was the “show them something really illegal”, and then they would focus on that when inspecting the other cars, and they wouldn’t notice other less conspicuous mods. This was a ruse that most people I knew in racing used to some extent. It was kind of a “hide in plain sight” thing. The other cars were determined to be within the rules and allowed to be used. Smokey would take cars out to the salt and make a few passes, probably selecting gear ratios, changing springs, shocks, etc. based on input from the drivers. He would bring them back to the Texaco station and he and his crew would do what needed to be done. After a couple of days Mickey showed up to have a look at how things were going. He looked the cars over, and when Smokey was tuning an engine, he would look over Smokey’s shoulder to see what he was doing. Smokey didn’t seem to mind, he just let Mick be Mick. Mickey noticed that about an inch from the exhaust flange on the exhaust headers there was a small hole drilled in each pipe, and asked Smokey what they were for, and Smokey ignored the question. Mickey was going back to Long Beach the next day, and he got me off to the side and asked me if I knew what those holes were for. I told him that I had not even noticed them. He told me to find out about these holes and call him after he got home. Mick was real sure that this was one of Smokey’s “secrets”. A couple of days later one of the guys at Mickey’s shop called me and asked what the hell was going on up there, Mickey had them drilling holes in the headers on the “mule” motor on the dyno. They would drill holes and run the motor, and then weld them up, and drill them in another place, and on and on. No matter where they drilled the hole it made no change in the motor on the dyno. About an hour after I had received this call I heard Smokey up one of the engines, and he was leaning over, looking at each exhaust pipe, and reving the engine up, showing no mercy. I figured that if he kept this up that baby was going to blow. Shortly he shut it off, and started tinkering with the carburator. I cruised over, and looked at the engine, and spotted the holes in the pipes, and said, “Smokey, what are those holes in the headers for?” He got a big grin on his face, turned to me and said, “Mickey asked me about that, and I didn’t give him an answer.” He chuckled a little, and said, “It’s driving Mick nuts, isn’t it?” I told him yeah, he’s got the guys at the shop drilling holes all over the headers on the dyno engine, trying to find out what your secret is. He looked me in the eye, and had a real serious look on his face, and said, “Larry, I’m going to tell you but don’t ever tell Mickey.” He explained that when he reved the engine up, he would look in those holes to see if the exhaust flame was the same color in each cylinder to verify that he had the jetting in he carb right. Simple as that! I never, ever told Mickey!
The above will likely appear in a book at some point, I will certainly let everyone know as soon as I hear about it being published.
Was that in the book?
I put this story up previously and someone noted that there is museum somewhere with one of Smokey's engines in it with the header holes. They had no idea what the holes were for either!
