Don went to high school in Bentleville Washington county. He was class president for four years, on graduation day he was valdictorian. He got his pilot’s license when he was 16. He served in the air force, then attended Penn state University for a degree in Business Administration. Only after graduating at age 30, did he return Canonsburg and the dealership and decided to race corvettes. Don Yenko wanted to be the Carrol Shelby of Chevrolet . By the mid 1960s, however corvettes had gotten heavier and the mustangs and cobras were trying to take over the racing circuit. “ I got tired of looking at the rear bumper of Mark Donohues mustang” Mr Yenko famously said. So Yenko chose his new subject the Corvair Corsa, (Corvair Yenko stinger )lighter than the corvette by 500 pounds.
Yenko originally designed the Areo body add-ons using cut up pizza boxes. Don didn’t get approved to run the Corsa in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) until November 1965; significant only because he needed to build at least 100 cars by January 1, 1966, to fully qualify the cars for D production racing. ( muscle machines ). …show more content…
What Yenko demonstrated was that a small, close-knit organization, staffed by motivated people and without support of a major retailer. Don both raced and sold the stinger Corvair, but more importantly, Don established a nationwide network of dealerships where he sold his cars. There was one called Nickey CHevrolet in Chicago. The Corvair stinger was competitive, and this continued into 1967, but Yenko soon decided that he needed to apply what he learned from the Stringer to the Camaro z/28, project Camaro Stormer, and take it into the A Sedan and trans Am racing. ( Hemmings Motor news
Yenko originally designed the Areo body add-ons using cut up pizza boxes. Don didn’t get approved to run the Corsa in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) until November 1965; significant only because he needed to build at least 100 cars by January 1, 1966, to fully qualify the cars for D production racing. ( muscle machines ). …show more content…
What Yenko demonstrated was that a small, close-knit organization, staffed by motivated people and without support of a major retailer. Don both raced and sold the stinger Corvair, but more importantly, Don established a nationwide network of dealerships where he sold his cars. There was one called Nickey CHevrolet in Chicago. The Corvair stinger was competitive, and this continued into 1967, but Yenko soon decided that he needed to apply what he learned from the Stringer to the Camaro z/28, project Camaro Stormer, and take it into the A Sedan and trans Am racing. ( Hemmings Motor news