Most analyses of thermal stresses generated in a brake drum are studies within either an elastic or a plastic region with constant yield strength. As a matter of fact, however, a severe brake application will create a thermal environment on the friction surface with an excessively high surface temperature. At a high temperature, the degradation of yield strength of a drum material may become significant and an important factor to be taken into account in the analysis. This article deals with the thermoelasto-plastic stresses and the thermal distortions produced in a brake drum during a severe braking condition, taking account of the temperature dependence of the yield strength of a drum material. It is found that high compressive thermoelastoplastic stresses are created during a brake application but eventually residual tensile stresses are developed in the vicinity of the rubbing surface in the course of cooling. These residual tensile stresses are strongly presumed to be one of the significant factors causing the heat crack in a brake drum. In addition, the thermal distortions of the drum suggest a loss of the contact area between the drum fictional surface and the brake shoe linings during braking.