Championship Drag Racing

K&N Filters Winternationals
Pomona
(Feb. 27-29)

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Jim Yates Pontiac Grand Am Pro Stocker

Reports: Sunday

Pomona, Sunday: Just when Jim and Jamie Yates thought they'd figured out what their new Sea Ray Boats-B&W Pro Stock Pontiac Grand Am wanted in the way of competitive tune-ups, the car changed its mind. Or so they thought.

The car didn't respond to changes when Yates needed it the most and the Sea Ray Boats-B&W Pontiac missed the starting field for the season-opening K&N Filters Winternationals at Pomona Raceway by one-thousandth of a second.

"As good as the car was during our winter testing," said Jamie, the team's crew chief, "it threw us a curve here. We just blew off the tires on our last qualifying run. We'd changed the clutch and things around and the car acted like we didn't do anything."

Yates' best elapsed time was 6.803 seconds at 202.94 mph and it took a 6.802 to get into the show. In his four qualifying laps run over two weekends due to a rain delay from Feb. 21 to Feb. 27, Yates was consistent – 6.843, 6.827 6.803 and 6.815 seconds.

"We tested at a track in Surprise, Ariz., Tuesday and Wednesday," Jim said, "and we had our quickest 60-foot time, so we put the car into the trailer and returned to Pomona. It turned out we had the wrong setup on the car for these conditions and we didn't catch it until Sunday morning when it was too late.

"It's very disappointing not to qualify at the Winternationals. We will be making a few more test runs at Surprise before Friday (when the Checkers Schuck's Kragen Nationals begins at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Ariz.) and we'll be ready to go."

Yates won at Firebird Raceway in 1996 and 1997, the same years he reigned as NHRA Pro Stock champion. He was runner-up in 1998.