Stock Car Legends of the Oval Track - Ray Fox

Ray Fox and Smokey Yunick were so much alike it was unbelievable. They lived in the same city, and to say they disliked each other was an understatement.

Although their dislike was tempered greatly by respect because they were both superb engine builders. In fact, at one time I doubt that there were any two people that could get more horsepower out of an engine.

I had occasion to help Fox pair up with Buddy Baker when I was with Firestone. David Pearson had left Fox, and he was looking for a driver. And Buddy was driving, frankly, junk. But there was something in Buddy that I saw that I liked, and Fox did too.

Well, Ray knew that a substantial part of his income was going to have to come from tire testing. This was back in the day when there were two tire companies in the series, and they tested at the track before every major race. And we paid teams to do the testing for us. So a smart car owner could basically fund his operation if he did enough tire testing.

But after thinking about it, I realize Buddy Baker and Ray Fox racing together was going to be a real odd couple. Because Fox had a totally explosive temper that could blow roofs off of motels. And Buddy was about the same way, but I thought they might get along.

I remember one tire test at Daytona we were all at. Now this was back in the day when you could only have one car on the track, so you had to do some crazy things to subject the tires to the same punishment you'd get in a draft. Like loosening the car up or putting a bigger carburetor on it.

Well, we put that big carburetor on, and Baker got in the car and ran without knowing what we'd done. He ended up going around Daytona at almost 200 miles an hour which was significantly faster than qualifying speeds at that time.

I can remember guys in those days would come back in after making a lap at Daytona and being absolutely scared white. But Baker was fearless, and when I told him how fast he went he said, "No I didn't." I told him it was the truth and what we had done with the carburetor, and he said, "Well, it didn't feel like it. Tell Ray to go get a bigger carburetor."

Well, Fox heard that and he got mad as hell because that was the biggest carburetor he had and he couldn't stand to let Baker win!