Yenko Stinger Racing Collection

[Steve Shauger]

I received a call from a true Yenko Stinger racer and historian Bob Dunahugh. He reached out regarding a MCACN Yenko showcase that he and Bob Ashton are working on. He has an interesting story to tell which is fascinating and provided below:

The red Yenko Stinger shown, is the only documented red 1966 COPO Yenko Stinger ever built at the Yenko dealership. It was built. Because Canadian SCCA racing colors were red, and white till 1984. It's Yenko door jamb tag # is YS-101.
The blue one, is one of 11 1967 blue COPO one's ever built. 4 still exist. It's Yenko # is YS-108.
The white 1969 COPO Stinger, is the only 69 Stinger ever built. Ford had GM build the car off of the production line. As it was built strictly for off-road use only. And couldn't pass any emission, or safety standards. Then shipped to the Yenko dealership for completion. Ford was developing a small race car. That required a 13-inch race tire. That could run in the 130, to 140 MPH range. Ford didn't have a car on 13-inch tires that could operate at those speeds. At just under 8,000 RPM's in 4th gear. With no NOS, or turbo charging. Just 173 cubic inches. I've had it on the Talladega track about 8 years ago. With an average lap speed of 142.2 MPH. 138.4 with the right window down 3 inches. To listen to it next to the outside wall. When I got it. I got an odometer statement from Goodyear showing 2234 miles. All these miles were run on Goodyear's 5-mile oval test track in West Texas. When the race tire work was completed. Goodyear used it to develop a high-speed steel studded snow tire for highway patrol car use. Side note. 1/4-inch Schader shields where put in all 4-wheel wells for driver protection.
I have full original documentation on all 4 COPO Stingers. All 4 have their original bodies. ( YS-099. A white 66 not shown )With no rust repair. The 69 was on the cover of Hemmings, Classic car magazine. May of 2013. There are 4 pages that are dedicated to the 69. In a new book out now. COPO. By Matt Avery. My other Stingers are covered in the book also. I've actively done road racetrack events with all of them. The 67 and 69 have both received gold awards. 950 or more points out of 1000. The red 66 got a Silver. All at the by invitation only. Muscle Car Corvette Nationals in Chicago every Nov. The blue 67 was on loan at the Chevrolet Hall of Fame Museum 4 years ago. Shipped it to the Muscle Car Corvette National show next. To be displayed with the 69 Goodyear Tire Test car. Then the blue 67 was shipped to the Albaugh collection for a special display. ( Check out that collection on the web with his Futureliner) Got it back that May. Then my collection went to the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. All have competed at road race track events from coast to coast including Daytona.

My collection is the only collection in the World. That has an example of all 3 years built. And the only collection of all 4 color combinations. As there was only one red 66 COPO Stinger built, and only one 69 COPO Yenko Stinger built at all.

Bob Dunahugh

[Jeffp920]

Neat story. Never knew there Yenko Stingers in so many variations, and years. Thanks for the info!!

[YenkoYS-199Stinger]

I owned one of the 67 Blue Stingers years ago, YS-115. It was the very first Stinger I bought. It now resides in Maine

In the original batch of 100 in 1966 they were all white with blue stripes and black interior, with a few exceptions. YS-003 for example was a stripe delete car but retained the Yenko landau panels and decklid. There were several others that were bought as 'sleeper Stingers' that were landau panel, decklid and stripe delete cars.

There were about 20 tags ranging from 131-199, randomly spread out and they are all race cars. My race car is YS-199 and has been a race car since 1971-1972. I have 5 or 6 log books completely full of race entries. I now just vintage race it a few times a year.

Jeff Moore (my crew chief) owns a 1965 500 Coupe black/ red gut that was raced new in A-Sedan by Tony Delorenzo. This car later received a YS tag so that it could race D-production. He is in the process of restoring it.

There was one convertible Stinger. YS-302. The 300 series Stingers were mostly 'kit' cars. Since you had to have a YS tag to SCCA race until the early 1980's, Don made the 300 series tags available for people to build race cars or kit street cars. There were approx 20-21 of these. These tags went from 300 to 320 ( I owned tag 320 for several years) there are rumours of a 322 or 324 tag floating around, but I know of no one who has seen it. The convertible was actually converted at Yenko Chevrolet and carries the documentation to show this.

[Mr70]

What a Great read..

[RobR]

Here is the one Yenko Stinger convertible, it was at the Radner Hunt show in PA several years ago.

[dykstra]

Very cool. I must admit, I don’t know much about these significant cars. Thanks for sharing.