The bright blue factory stock of Andy Davis, nicknamed “Yaa-Hoo,” turns heads at Alabama tracks. Davis reskinned the body on the 1976 Chevrolet Monte Carlo himself.
“The body on the car is the fourth one I’ve done,” Davis, of Springville, Alabama, said. “I ain’t no pro at it, that’s for sure.”
Davis doesn’t work as a carpenter, fabricator, or anything of that nature. He earns a living driving trucks. He learned the bodybuilding craft from friend Shane Layfield. Layfield helped Davis build his first body in 2015–2016. Since then, Davis fabricated three more bodies on his own.
To build his most recent body, Davis used a sheet metal brake at his friend Andy Gulledge’s shop 20 minutes away.
“[At the shop,] I would cut the piece out, brake it, and then bring it back to the house and hoped it fit,” said Davis. “We usually got it close to where it would work. The wrap covers up a lot of [the imperfections].”
Davis had to tweak a few spots on this body.
“I somehow got off on the body line on the driver’s side,” Davis said. “It was either trash that piece and start all over with another piece or make it work. When you’re running on a budget, you don’t have enough [money] to mess up, so you have to make do.”
Davis used some of the previous body as a template, but he needed to rely on his imagination for a significant part of the car.
“I had gotten in a wreck, and it tore the whole passenger side of the car,” Davis said. “It was so bad that when they tore the side off, it tore the roof off with it.”
With the assistance of helper Barry Smith, it took Davis roughly two full days building and installing the main body. The time he put in equates to significant cash savings.
“[A body by one of the local builders] costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000,” said Davis. “I’m somewhere around $600. I ain’t knocking the guys for what they charge to put a body on, because they do exceptional work. But, I don’t have the deep pockets to send it to someone else.”
Davis’ nickname may be “Yaa-hoo,” but he’s far from the dictionary’s definition of one. As a teenager, he received the nickname from a summer job, where one of his employers frequently asked him to get a Yaa-hoo at the store, referring to the drink Yoo-hoo.
Instead, one might want to call Andy Davis “prudent.” His wise use of a limited budget wins races. In 2018, he finished second in national points for the Crate Racin’ USA modified sportsman division and won the track championship at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Alabama.
“[Building your own bodies] saves money that can go toward tires and fuel,” Davis said. “Or, these days, [the savings] go toward my 10-year-old son Aiden’s go-kart.”
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
