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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.