Championship Drag Racing

Checker-Schuck's
Kragen Nationals
Phoenix, Ariz.
(Feb. 20-23)

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Jim Yates SplitFire/Peak Pontiac Pro Stocker

Reports: Sunday Pre-race

Phoenix, Sunday: Considering he only solidified a position in the 16-car Pro Stock starting field on his final qualifying run and wound up 15th, Jim Yates left Firebird Raceway Sunday night satisfied with his performance in the NHRA Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals.

Yates put his SplitFire/PEAK Pontiac Grand Am into the show Saturday with a 6.872-second run, less than five minutes after he was bumped from the show. For that, he had to race No. 2 qualifier Warren Johnson in the opening round of competition.

Yates accomplished the mission. He left Johnson sitting at the starting line, a .006 to .023, and got to the finish line first with a 6.887 at 200.74 to Johnson's 6.873 at 200.68.

After beating Johnson, Yates drew defending season champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the quarterfinals. Although Yates left first again (.011 to .034), Coughlin came from behind to take the win by three-thousandths of a second, 6.873 to 6.898.

"The car slowed down about one-hundredth of a second, the track was slick and we spun the tires a bit," Yates pointed out. "We were thankful to qualify and pleased to go two rounds."

Yates fought to get the Grand Am competitive, making changes to the motor and chassis. The team has two-plus weeks to prepare for the Gatornationals, March 14-16, at Gainesville, Fla. And Yates vowed to be prepared. He planned to test Monday at Firebird Raceway and again at Bradenton, Fla., before going to Gainesville.

He was able to climb into a tie for 13th place in points with 61. Race winner Greg Anderson is first with 188 and Johnson is second at 154.

Phoenix, pre-race: If there is one thing certain about competing in NHRA's Pro Stock category, it's the uncertainties.

One race you may be a hero, and the next a zero. It's a class that regularly sends home more than 20 drivers at almost every event who don't make the 16-car field. It's where Warren Johnson's record qualifying streak ended last year at 303 races. And it's where Jim Yates fought adversity at the Winternationals two weeks ago, and lost when he failed to qualify.

Since that gut-wrenching day, Yates and his SplitFire/Peak Pontiac Grand Am team have worked diligently to make sure the same situations don't occur at this weekend's Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals at Firebird International Raceway, or at any of the 22 remaining POWERade Series events.

"Something happened during the last part of our test sessions and the car didn't want to go straight," Yates said. "While we were concentrating on making the car go straight, we also had a bad ignition, and we didn't realize that until after the third run at Pomona."

That, ironically, was Yates' best, 6.826 seconds, but it put him 22nd overall – hardly the position Yates expected, especially after qualifying first at a preseason event in Houston a week earlier.

"We took the car to Roger Lamb's shop in Los Angeles," said Yates. "We've worked on the front suspension, steering, alignment, wheelie bars, and the four-link, anything we felt could make the car go straight," said Yates. "We only started having problems during the last part of testing at Las Vegas.

"We think the ignition was part of our problem all along, but it wasn't until our first Saturday run that we realized we were down on horsepower. The car went straight on that run but it was slow. We thought it was slow because it wasn't going straight and getting out of the groove. We fixed the problem for the last run and had good power but we weren't able to make a good run.

"It was a reality check for us right away. We hope it will help us win more rounds as the season progresses. It cost us four rounds at Pomona, but I think the overall result is we'll have a better racecar."

Yates tested the car in Las Vegas on Tuesday to make sure it went straight. "We know we have the power to run up there with the top cars," he said. "We'll be very happy to have the running better."

For the record, Yates – runner-up last year – has 10 points, 106 less than series leader Warren Johnson. Three other members of the 2002 top 10 – Mike Edwards (7), Gene Wilson (9) and Mark Whisnant (10) – didn't start the Winternationals, either. And, if he's looking for a role model, defending Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. didn't qualify at last year's Winternationals.

Yates has two wins at Firebird Raceway, both coming in his championship seasons of 1996-97.

There wasn't anything that was going prevent Yates from making a few test laps Tuesday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Not even 24 inches of snow around his Occoquan, Va. home.

"We had to drive south, to Newport News, Va., to catch a flight to Las Vegas," he said. "There were no flights out of Washington, D.C. or Baltimore. It was worth it to be able to test our car and make sure it went straight."