Once-dominant Yates Racing fighting for survival at NASCAR's top level
January 24, 2008
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -The name Yates used to mean royalty in NASCAR. A dominant operation that others tried to catch, the race team reached its high when Dale Jarrett won the 1999 Cup championship.
So it was striking Tuesday when Doug Yates, who took over the operation from father Robert in the offseason, sat in a wing of Roush Fenway Racing's giant complex and talked about how lean his operation could be, and whether he could get through the season without a primary sponsorship for either of his Sprint Cup cars.
From the top of NASCAR's top series to fighting for survival, much has gone wrong for Yates Racing in the past nine years.
``The thing that we didn't do is we didn't grow. Our vision wasn't large enough,'' Yates said. ``In the end it caught up because we held on to things, people longer and past their shelf life. If you wanted to summarize it, when there were growth opportunities we didn't take them.''
While Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush grew into giants, Yates watched from the sideline and eventually became irrelevant. Jarrett and Elliott Sadler left the team after the 2006 season. Major sponsors bailed.
Doug Yates, though, wants to save the operation. The veteran engine builder teamed up former Roush general manager Max Jones to take over control. Yates plans to run a full season with David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil.
But in a signal of how far things have fallen, the two cars tested at Daytona earlier this month with the only thing visible on the cars the sign ``SponsorYates.com''
``At first we're going to have piece some things together until we can get our feet under us and hopefully show people we can perform,'' Yates said.
Yates is getting help from Roush Fenway. The team is housed on Roush's sprawling campus. They have strengthened an alliance that not only includes sharing engines and chassis, but Roush's marketing staff is busy looking for sponsors for Yates' cars.
``We have one deal that we are probably going to accept for a limited number of races,'' Roush Fenway president Geoff Smith said, without elaborating.
There is strong incentive for Roush to keep Yates operating. The teams both run Fords, and with a new rule requiring teams to have only four cars in NASCAR's top series by the start of the 2010 season, Roush is going to have to divest itself of one team.
``Our hopes are that Yates Racing, on the race track and the sponsorship business, stabilizes this year and that we're comfortable as an organization that we can sell our fifth team to that enterprise,'' Smith said.
It won't be easy for Yates to get back to the good times. After Gilliland won the pole at last year's Daytona 500 and finished sixth, and now-retired Yates driver Ricky Rudd qualified second and finished 26th, Yates went into a free-fall.
Gilliland didn't have another top 10. Rudd had only one top 10 all year. Without the resources to test and develop the Car of Tomorrow, the team wasn't competitive in the races that used the new car. Several crew members left the team in the offseason.
``It was embarrassing going out there,'' Gilliland said of the COT races. ``It just takes all the wind out of the sails for everybody. I'm excited about having one car to work on this year.''
With every race this year using the new car, Gilliland will have a new crew chief. Cully Barraclough, who has taken over for veteran Todd Parrott, who moved to Kvapil's team.
Kvapil, who ran in the Craftsman Truck series last year for Roush, returns to the Sprint Cup. He'll drive the No. 28, made famous by Davey Allison in the good ol' days for Yates.
``Hopefully we can go out and build that relationship quick and get our cars up to speed,'' Kvapil said.
Starting fast is important. Doug Yates has been known for building good restrictor-plate engines. A good showing at Daytona for both cars could accelerate getting sponsors for the rest of the season.
``Sure it would help if we could go down there and perform well and people recognize that we have two cars that need sponsors,'' Yates said.
Until then, Yates is running a lean operation. Determined to get through the season regardless of what happens with the sponsors, Yates has borrowed equipment, leaned on his father's old contacts and is using Roush Fenway's expertise in their alliance.
It's a long way from the glory days Yates remembers with his dad, when Yates cars won 57 races including two Daytona 500s and 48 poles.
``There is definitely a sense of determination,'' Yates said. ``You can't look back and say 'what if?' You just have to learn from those things and push forward. It is a mission to make this deal work.''