Dave Fulton

Before Curtis There Was Mario

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Most of us associate the 1966 black and gold #13 Chevelle built by Smokey Yunick with Curtis Turner. How many remember that a year before he won the the 1967 Daytona 500 in a Holman-Moody Ford, Mario Andretti debuted Smokey's Chevelle in the 1966 Daytona 500?

Mario only completed 31 laps for Smokey, crashing out with a 37th place finish.

Getty Images/Racing One photo tagged as follows:
Title:
Mario Andretti - Yunick Chevelle - Daytona 1966
Caption: DAYTONA BEACH, FL — February 1966: Smokey Yunick chose USAC Indy Car star Mario Andretti to wheel his Chevrolet Chevelle in the Daytona 500 NASCAR Cup race at Daytona International Speedway. Andretti crashed the car early in the race and finished 37th. (Photo by ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images)
Date created: 01 Feb 1966
Kenneth Gottshall2
@kenneth-gottshall2   8 years ago
Mario completed more laps than Curtis!