Moparts
Jim Yates Retiring
Posted By: cgall
Jim Yates Retiring - 03/25/09 10:31 PM
Yates says on his blog that this weekend will be his last race. Not sitting out, not parking for awhile, he says he's retiring. The blog has some stories about when he first started, pretty interesting stuff.
http://www.nhra.com/blog/yates/
Posted By: neonic
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/25/09 11:51 PM
Doesn't break my heart any.
Posted By: Otherlane
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/25/09 11:58 PM
Posted By: bigdad
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 12:29 AM
good bye "two chin jim "
Don't let the door hit yah were the good lord split yah
Posted By: slantzilla
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 12:35 AM
I kinda like Yates, but the word "whiner" does not accurately describe him.
Posted By: Billet426
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 12:50 AM
I spoke to Jim a handful of times over the years, I always thought good of him. Last few years their team had become a real family affair..hate to see another one bite the dust. Just shows how much it $$ takes to run a pro class car.
Posted By: tazmaniac
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 01:28 AM
Jim who
Posted By: ts racer
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 02:00 AM
Jim should spend his own money..
I hear he has plenty.. As most P/S guys do.
Posted By: slantzilla
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 02:12 AM
Quote:
Jim should spend his own money..
I hear he has plenty.. As most P/S guys do.
Best way to make a small fortune racing is to start with a big one. 
Posted By: SealockRacing
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 02:13 AM
i worked over at yates automotive. the yates family is pretty big. jim races prostock. i worked for his brother who owns a repair shop, and a quick lube/ gas station. and his other brother owns a nice carwash.
sucks, jim used to have dinner with my grandpa.
he wasnt doing well lately either, either not qualifying or out first round.
Posted By: mopars4ever
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 02:33 AM
I thought I read somewhere that he lost his sponsor. If so, that may have pushed him to retire.
Posted By: hemisurfer
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 02:38 AM
good riddance, NHRA is boring. Jim Yates is just
another rich guy moving on ... he's a nobody.
Ronnie Sox
Dick Landy
real pro stock racers
Posted By: 70AARcuda
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 02:41 AM
now if only Erica Enders can get about 5 or 6 more guys to retire...she can get her ford in the show...
Posted By: slantzilla
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 02:52 AM
Quote:
now if only Erica Enders can get about 5 or 6 more guys to retire...she can get her ford in the show...
Posted By: Chris2581
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 02:53 AM
Some of you are way too brutal.Yates is a 2 time champion,and always has done a lot of volunteer charity work over the years.So what if he raced a GM product?? He also got his start as a sportsman racer.You don't ever hear anything bad about him,nor does he make stupid comments like some of the other PS drivers.
I suppose if it was a Mopar racer losing a sponsor the thoughts would be different.
Posted By: hemisurfer
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 03:09 AM
I disagree everytime they interview one of these NHRA "pros" all I hear about is the wheaties and soap flakes sponsors painted on their cars.
NHRA is akin to Pro Wrestling its a race for sponsors. Yates included.
Garlits, Landy, Sox, back in the day talked about racing, technical triumphs and the competition.
Wally Parks and the California boys stole the sport from the racers.
Eventually NHRA will race to 60 feet and try and convince us to buy hair products and tooth paste as they cozy up to corporations and line their pockets.
NHRA sux they treat sportsman racers like garbage. It's all about the $$$... non profit??? give me a break
Posted By: dOoC
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 03:29 AM
Quote:
It's all about the $$$... non profit??? give me a break
Come on hs ..... let us all know how you feel ! ..... DON'T hold back !!! ...
But I do have to DISagree with that NONprofit statement of yours .... I submit to you that NHRA is indeed non-profit !
When Wally and the crew get done squeezing the blood(and $$$$) out of NHRA ... there is nothing left !!
Posted By: BDS871Cuda
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 03:31 AM
Quote:
I disagree everytime they interview one of these NHRA "pros" all I hear about is the wheaties and soap flakes sponsors painted on their cars.
NHRA is akin to Pro Wrestling its a race for sponsors. Yates included.
Garlits, Landy, Sox, back in the day talked about racing, technical triumphs and the competition.
Wally Parks and the California boys stole the sport from the racers.
Eventually NHRA will race to 60 feet and try and convince us to buy hair products and tooth paste as they cozy up to corporations and line their pockets.
NHRA sux they treat sportsman racers like garbage. It's all about the $$$... non profit??? give me a break
OUCH!!! hemisurfer are we haten today?
I do agree with ya on some of it, NHRA is sucking
realy bad right now. This '1000 B.S. and trying
to slow them down? F and I mean a big F-that!
I want record runs and record speeds again.
That's why I started watching since I was a
little punk.
Up till about 5-6 years ago it was a have to see
sport. Now it's a, see it if I have nothing else
going on.
Oh, Jim Yates? Who cares. 
Pro Stock is getting boring, give me Pro-Mod.
I want to see cars like Dan Dye's beast!
Posted By: hemisurfer
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 04:40 AM
NHRA discussions do bring out a bit of the hater in me
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 02:35 PM
You need to get the facts right. NHRA is not non-profit. It is actually a not-for profit corp.
Compton, Gardner, and Light have done more damage to dragracing than any so called tree hugger could imagine. It is all about the money to them.
Posted By: BradH
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 02:49 PM
Quote:
i worked over at yates automotive. the yates family is pretty big. jim races prostock. i worked for his brother who owns a repair shop, and a quick lube/ gas station. and his other brother owns a nice carwash.
I worked for Jim & Jeff years ago before their auto parts business went "big time". Jim was bracket-racing a 4-spd 429 Maverick and his brother Jeff had a 429 Ford-powered Opel, or some other mongrel tin can car. Jim became friends w/ "Dyno" Don Nicholson because of their mutual appreciation for racing Ford products, which probably helped set his direction for Pro Stock.
Anybody surprised that Jim was into the Oxon Hill street racing scene in the '70s before that? Or that his brother Jason was, too, in the '80s w/ a sleeper white GTO that caught a lot of people by surprise? I suspect I may have even witnessed Jim's last ever street race (against a friend of mine who also worked for him at one point). Even though the NHRA doesn't want any of its name drivers to admit it, I'm sure most of them (at least the older ones) started out on the street before going "legal".
Jim is (was?) a very driven and focused individual who always had a game plan. If he's in the position to retire at this point, he's probably set for life.
Oh, and if anybody ever wondered if Jim Yates ever drove a Mopar, I still remember him taking me for a drive in my own '69 Super Bee showing me how to power-shift it on Duke Street in Alexandria. He was a pretty good stick driver, too. 
Posted By: hemisurfer
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 03:06 PM
Good thing Dyno Don didn't work on his car. He probably would have hit it with a big hammer.
Maryland street/drag scene in the 60's - 70's was awesome BTW.
Posted By: Prostock
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 03:09 PM
It seems few remember when he was the "dive team" captain, and everyone he raced running Maskin power (which was quite a few) had to take a dive.
Posted By: BradH
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 03:19 PM
Quote:
It seems few remember when he was the "dive team" captain, and everyone he raced running Maskin power (which was quite a few) had to take a dive.
Like I said, Jim Yates always had a game plan...
Posted By: 11secdart
Re: Jim Yates Retiring *DELETED* - 03/26/09 03:31 PM
Post deleted by 11secdart
Quote:
Who cares? I never cared for him.
Then why waiste your time typing a response or even reading this thread???
Just curious.... 
Posted By: 11secdart
Re: Jim Yates Retiring *DELETED* - 03/26/09 03:49 PM
Post deleted by 11secdart
Thats the best you can do Webster?
So why did you respond?
Posted By: moparacer
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 04:35 PM
Wow, guy spends how many years racing pro stock, accomplished 100 times more then everyone on this board combined and when he decides to retire he gets dissed on an internet message board.....
Hows the saying go? If you dont have anything nice to say......
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 05:38 PM
Most if not all are chiming in on this with the negative responses just because Jim drove a brand-x..if he drove a mopar his whole career you'd be saying how great he was..insert rose color glasses here...
Quote:
Wow, guy spends how many years racing pro stock, accomplished 100 times more then everyone on this board combined and when he decides to retire he gets dissed on an internet message board.....
Hows the saying go? If you dont have anything nice to say......
X2, my point exactly!!! Did I spell that right because that seems to be very important to some people around here.... 
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 05:51 PM
Quote:
Wow, guy spends how many years racing pro stock, accomplished 100 times more then everyone on this board combined and when he decides to retire he gets dissed on an internet message board.....
Hows the saying go? If you dont have anything nice to say......
I agree wholeheartedly(did i spell that right)...
Posted By: dc426
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 06:22 PM
Whether he was Mopar or not, he's one of the "nice guys" in the sport. The family I bought my 71 440-6 4 spd SS/DA Challenger from were very close friends with him. The vacationed together quite frequently. When I bought my challenger there also was a 48 foot trailer out back for sale by Yates. This was what was inside. This was only about 4 years ago.
DC
Posted By: 11secdart
Re: Jim Yates Retiring *DELETED* *DELETED* - 03/26/09 06:53 PM
Post deleted by 11secdart
Posted By: sixpakdodge
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 07:05 PM
Quote:
My opinion has nothing to do with what he drives A very close friend of mine used to work for someone who dealt with him in his Pro Stock operation. What this friend told me is how I formed my opinion. I`m not going into detail or name names.
Oh yeah, The friend of a friend of a friend. What's next, Wayne County again?
Jim had a great career. I'd be thrilled to run one Pro Stock race let alone 408.
Posted By: John_Kunkel
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 07:14 PM
I think it's fair to form an opinion about a racer based on his demeanor and camera presence, Yates was one of those who was never shy about voicing his political/religious opinions in finish line interviews; that's why I took a dislike of him and his ilk.
Posted By: Prostock
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 07:15 PM
My comment came from more than one of Maskin's customers talked about part of the deal of leasing one of his motors was if they races Yates, they'd have to throw the race.
Posted By: 11secdart
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 07:30 PM
The whole thing that irrates me is: Most of us race with our own money or a few small sponsors. We do it for the love of the sport, the competition, the chance of winning etc. It seems that when the Pros lose a major sposor or have to spend out of their own pockets they fold and cry the blues. How much can they really like the sport if they aren`t willing to spend their own money. Then again maybe they`re smarter than us not spending their own money.... just something to think about.
anybody remember when the guy yates was racing (kj?) blew his engine and it was doing that freakie 10,000 rpm diesel trick, running on oil? yates ran into the cloud to make sure no one was hurt or in trouble, and he almost got run over by the safety safari. you guys think any other pro stock driver would have done that? i don't. he's ok.
Posted By: Wile1coyote
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 08:05 PM
Jim Yates is a quality individual and he ran a great team. I'm sorry to see him retire from the class but thankful I got to see him be himself and stick to his values. The pro-stock class is poorer for having him not there.
Good for you Jim!
Posted By: Mroctober
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 08:13 PM
Quote:
anybody remember when the guy yates was racing (kj?) blew his engine and it was doing that freakie 10,000 rpm diesel trick, running on oil? yates ran into the cloud to make sure no one was hurt or in trouble, and he almost got run over by the safety safari. you guys think any other pro stock driver would have done that? i don't. he's ok.
IT was Bruce Allen 
Posted By: 440dart
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 08:33 PM
Quote:
Wow, guy spends how many years racing pro stock, accomplished 100 times more then everyone on this board combined and when he decides to retire he gets dissed on an internet message board.....
Hows the saying go? If you dont have anything nice to say......
Very well said.
Posted By: slantzilla
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 09:11 PM
Quote:
anybody remember when the guy yates was racing (kj?) blew his engine and it was doing that freakie 10,000 rpm diesel trick, running on oil? yates ran into the cloud to make sure no one was hurt or in trouble, and he almost got run over by the safety safari. you guys think any other pro stock driver would have done that? i don't. he's ok.
It was Bruce Allen and he did get hit by the Safety Safari.
Many other drivers have done that. Prudhomme dove into Don Gay Jr's burning car to help him out.
that's why i specified pro stock drivers. the fuel guys are different. they'd do that in a heartbeat.
Posted By: SealockRacing
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 09:26 PM
Quote:
Quote:
i worked over at yates automotive. the yates family is pretty big. jim races prostock. i worked for his brother who owns a repair shop, and a quick lube/ gas station. and his other brother owns a nice carwash.
I worked for Jim & Jeff years ago before their auto parts business went "big time". Jim was bracket-racing a 4-spd 429 Maverick and his brother Jeff had a 429 Ford-powered Opel, or some other mongrel tin can car. Jim became friends w/ "Dyno" Don Nicholson because of their mutual appreciation for racing Ford products, which probably helped set his direction for Pro Stock.
Anybody surprised that Jim was into the Oxon Hill street racing scene in the '70s before that? Or that his brother Jason was, too, in the '80s w/ a sleeper white GTO that caught a lot of people by surprise? I suspect I may have even witnessed Jim's last ever street race (against a friend of mine who also worked for him at one point). Even though the NHRA doesn't want any of its name drivers to admit it, I'm sure most of them (at least the older ones) started out on the street before going "legal".
Jim is (was?) a very driven and focused individual who always had a game plan. If he's in the position to retire at this point, he's probably set for life.
Oh, and if anybody ever wondered if Jim Yates ever drove a Mopar, I still remember him taking me for a drive in my own '69 Super Bee showing me how to power-shift it on Duke Street in Alexandria. He was a pretty good stick driver, too.
that is awesome! just learned where that old white goat in the back of the shop belongs in history! thats so cool.
i could probably snag a camera pic next time im up there or have my dad do it lol.
the Yate's family is very nice, they did alot for me and my dad, and anyone else working for them. very family oriented.
sucks i wont be able to see him when i go to a race.
cool story though!
John
Posted By: SealockRacing
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 09:31 PM
i read some more of the post.
im pretty sure yates was paying out of pocket for a while... of course he had sponsors, but notice he never has many major sponsors, his big one recently has been wiley x. he also supports some local places on his car, such as the Prince William Marine out in woodbridge.
supporting local stuff to me is pretty cool!
Posted By: cgall
Re: Jim Yates Retiring - 03/26/09 09:33 PM
A Pro racer can't be brand-loyal unless he has a factory deal. Even Bob Glidden told Yates to forget about Ford and get himself a GM.
Remember when Yates made a big comeback with Grumpy Jenkins power? Then Grump wanted about $1MM to do the program and Yates went elsewhere.
Yates was doing well just a couple years ago, they had two cars and his son drove one of them. There is no way he could run the tour on his own dime, look at Hammonds, he made millions in the NBA and won't do it.
