NHRA News: After coming so close the last two years, Yates twice as ready to win (12/26/2002)

After coming so close the last two years, Yates twice as ready to win

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
12/26/2002

"We didn't lose the championship, we saved a life."
– Jim Yates

Two times in the last two years, driver Jim Yates has climbed the Mount Everest of drag racing – the NHRA's brutally competitive Pro Stock class – only to be turned back within a few feet of the summit. In 2001, it was a heart scare in Memphis that foiled his bid. A year later, a streaking Jeg Coughlin Jr. left the steady but plodding Yates one step short again.

This isn't to say tears should be shed for the 14-year veteran. His 11 top-10 finishes in the points standings include consecutive championships in 1996-'97, proving he can plant the SplitFire/Peak flag on top of the mountain at any time. He just needs another chance, and he'll get it come February with the start of the 2003 season.

"Everybody starts every season saying they want to win the championship," Yates said. "That's just the way people that drive race cars for a living think. The people at the top level of our class – Jeg Coughlin, Warren Johnson, myself, and a handful of others – actually know we have a real legitimate chance of attaining that goal.

"That's not just talk. We can win it all next year, we just have to execute and have a little luck. I'm totally happy with the way my team performed from Indy on this year. With the exception of that DNQ in Las Vegas, we were right there.

"The thing you have to remember is that all the preparation and experience in the world and all the money teams put together don't guarantee them anything. You still have to go out there and earn every round. Warren had a great quote I heard not too long ago. He said, 'I may have won six championships but I've lost 20 of them.' He's not being negative, that's just the way it is out here."

Showing heart in '01
Yates was on his game in 2001, loitering in first, second, or third place in the points for all but the first six races of the season. A steady stream of top-half qualifying efforts and multiple-round Sundays had him within striking distance of Championship No. 3 for most of the season.

He even seemed to be peaking at the right time coming down the stretch, earning the No. 1 qualifying position at the Memphis event, the sixth to last race on the schedule. Yates knew that being low qualifier in Tennessee would pull him to within four rounds of leader Warren Johnson, a workable deficit for a guy who just proved he had the quickest car on the circuit.

Jim Yates and his SplitFire/Peak race team have been title contenders for years.

Maybe it was the excitement of the moment or the realization that his goal was finally within reach once again that caused Yates to literally blow a gasket when he emerged from his hot rod at the other end of Memphis Motorsports Park. Either way, he knew something was wrong and trackside doctors suggested a trip to the hospital just to be safe. A precautionary angiogram revealed that one of Yates' arteries behind his heart muscle was blocked with plaque, which prompted an artery-cleaning angioplasty procedure.

"It was a wake-up call," Yates said. "Not just to my health but to my life in general. When you come that close to dying, something good has to come out of it. I certainly appreciate the things I have much more than I did before. Obviously, you eat better and take your medicine every day and are much more diligent about staying healthy.

"What happened to me and the fact I lived through it makes coming in second place two times in the last two years a lot easier to take. I could have been dead, or I could have been in 10th place, or 17th, or 23rd. What I appreciate now is that I have a great family and wife, a great group of sponsors, and I'm able to chase my passion and drive a racecar for a living. Life is great."

While it was good for Yates to be back up to speed physically, it seemed his chance at the 2001 title stayed behind at Graceland. Had he not been forced to miss the Memphis race, Yates would have opened against a teammate in Round 1 and as the No. 1 qualifier would have had the easiest trip to the final. At the same time, Johnson was beaten on a holeshot in the opening session, adding more fuel to the "what-if" fire.

"I like to say that we didn't lose the championship, we saved a life," Yates said. "But absolutely, what happened to me cost me the championship, plain and simple. And, in my mind, it didn't just cost me the 2001 championship, it cost me this year's championship as well."

From the Memphis race forward, Yates and Johnson earned exactly the same amount of points and the championship ended with Johnson just 79 points ahead of Yates, the smallest margin of victory in the class in over a decade.

The '02 campaign
After making the decision to devote 100-percent of his efforts to racing prior to the 2001 season, Yates made another big move at the end of the year when he announced that his son Jamie would climb out of the cockpit of the group's second car and concentrate solely on tuning his father.

The move paid off as Yates cruised from the starting gates with several solid performances. By the fifth race, he was on top of the POWERade standings, a position he held after 10 of the 23 races on the 2002 tour. In another season of extreme parity in the category, no one came close to Yates' number of weeks at No. 1.

Despite running closely all season, Yates finished in the shadow of Jeg Coughlin Jr. (near lane) in 2002, a fact he hopes to reverse next year.

"Jamie knows his future in drag racing depends on the success of this program over the next few years," Yates said. "The NHRA is evolving so quickly right now. It's an exciting time. I know our exposure numbers for our sponsors have doubled in the last year. To me, it's pretty obvious the NHRA is going to catch on to mainstream America very soon.

"Ultimately, Jamie will drive and I'll crew chief but right now I'm the better driver and I can do a better job for our sponsors. I feel like I could probably drive for 10 more years but realistically I'll probably turn it over to Jamie in two or three years. It all depends on what the sponsors want to see. Us old guys know we have to let the young guys take over at some point."

Interestingly, despite all of his successes – he only spent three races outside the top two positions – Yates made it all the way to the Reading race in mid-September before scoring his lone victory of the year. In fact, in the last five seasons, which have included two runner-up and four top-five finishes, the 24-time winner has averaged just one victory per year.

"Aside from Jeggy, I don't think there has been a lot of people racking up multiple wins every year in this class," Yates said. "That's just the cold, hard facts. It's certainly not from lack of trying. It's tough out here. I have 24 wins and I can tell you none of them were easy to come by. Compared to everyone else over the last few years, we've been right there.

"Since the heart deal in Memphis up until Indy of this year, I had a different problem that really affected my driving. I never realized it until Bob Glidden pointed it out to me in Indy but the medicine I've been taking since my heart deal was hurting my reaction times. I had a hard time being entirely focused. Bob had a similar heart condition to mine and he was familiar with all the medicines and the side effects. He came up to me in Indy and said, 'What's wrong with you? You're not yourself. You're not driving well.' He asked to look at what I was taking and he knew right away what the problem was.

"Ever since Indy I've been averaging .440 lights. I talked to my doctor and basically I just skip the medication on race weekends. That's why I say I think the whole heart thing not only cost me last year's championship, but a chance at this year's championship as well. That's not to take anything from Jeggy. He was great. But I wish I had been on top of my game all year."

Plenty of time left
At 49-years-old, Yates still has plenty of time left to realize his drag racing goals. Coughlin's impressive 2002 win total did drop Yates to sixth on the all-time Pro Stock list but his 55 final-round appearances is the third highest total ever behind Warren Johnson's 137 and Bob Glidden's 122.

"If there is an advantage to coming in second two years in a row it's that you know you're very close to where you need to be," Yates said. "I have a mechanical engineering degree so I tend to be very analytical. I try to go over every run and see what could have cost us the title. Then you try to fix it and move forward.

The Yates Family Racing Team, from left, Jon, Missy, Jim, Toni, and Jamie.

"I am so thankful to be in the position we're in with this team in a sport that is poised for so many great things in the very near future. I have a great sponsor, a great family, and a fast racecar. The NHRA has such a fantastic deal with POWERade and the Coca-Cola family. The television coverage from ESPN has been outstanding. It's an exciting time to be involved.

"We'll keep trying to win another title. That's the goal. I figure if you knock on the door enough times, sooner or later you're going to find your way inside."

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