1960 Pontiac Catalina NASCAR

Prior to Smokey Yunick's death in 2001, Marvin Panch and Smokey Yunick had begun earnest discussions in regards to the whereabouts and possible restoration of Smokey Yunick prepared 1960 Pontiac Catalina that Marvin drove to victory in the 1961 Daytona 500. After discovering that the original Pontiac was destroyed by a local salvage yard, Marvin decided to do the next best thing - find an old Pontiac and reconstruct his winning racecar using the guidance and original racing equipment from Smokey and his garage.

The reconstructed racecar is based upon a survivor 1960 2-door hardtop Pontiac Catalina originally built at the Pontiac, Michigan home plant. Robert Connell of RC Restorations in Kentucky performed a majority of the body restoration along with assistance from Doug Bendle of the Sixties Owners Society located in Tennessee. Other members of Doug's group provided help as needed. To ensure technical accuracy, the restoration used both documentation and photographs of the original car as well as guidance from Marvin Panch. Once the body restoration was finished in 2002, the car was shipped to Marvin's residence in Daytona Beach for installation of the original race equipment (engine, chassis parts, shocks, wheels, exhaust, spindles, etc) from Smokey Yunick's old garage. Marvin, with the help of Karl Stairs (one of the original race mechanics) and Karl's son, performed the majority of the 'race prep' work along with miscellaneous welding provided by Jack Andrus.

The only difference between the original Daytona-winning racecar and the one on display today is the addition of a 'In Memory of Smokey Yunick' memorial hand painted o the rear deck lid by Buz McKim as a tribute to the late Smokey Yunick.

The reconstructed racecar was unveiled to the public at Daytona USA on January 1, 2003.