NHRA News: Yates eyes return to top five (2/24/2004)

Yates eyes return to top five

2/24/2004

"You have to be one of the top three or four cars if you want to win a race."
– Jim Yates

Since registering his first national-event victory in Brainerd, Minn., in 1994, Pontiac's Jim Yates has consistently rated as one of the most successful Pro Stock competitors on the NHRA POWERade circuit. Aptly applying the resources and experience that have solidly placed him in the class' elite, the two-time NHRA champion (1996-97) has finished in the top 10 of the Pro Stock standings in 12 of the last 13 seasons, and recorded eight top-five efforts, including three second-place showings in 1995, 2001 and 2002.

During the last 10 years, Yates has been a frequent visitor to the winner's circle scoring 24 career victories in 55 final rounds, and a career-best nine national events during the championship year of 1997. Although Yates' last victory was at Reading, Pa., in 2002, the 50-year-old Virginian has won at least one race in eight of the last 10 seasons, has been runner-up no less than twice in 10 of the last 12 seasons, and has claimed at least one No. 1 qualifying position in seven of the last nine seasons. Yates' 358 career round-wins total is second in the category only to Warren Johnson among active, full-time Pro Stock racers.

After a bold series of back-to-back runs at the NHRA title in '01 and '02, Yates' campaign in '03 did not produce the results expected at the season's outset. The team stumbled with a DNQ at the Winternationals in Pomona, and didn't get fully on track until an April semifinal performance at Houston.

Yates No. 7 qualifying spot at Atlanta put him in the top half of the field for the first time in '03, and two weeks later at Englishtown, N.J., the veteran competitor turned in one of his best efforts of the year. The familiar purple-and-silver Pontiac SC/T Grand Am qualified a season-best third and rocketed Yates to a career-best time of 6.715 seconds and speed of 205.79 mph. After exiting the season-opener in 17th place, Yates battled back to close out the year with a ninth-place finish, his 10th consecutive top-10 performance.

Two-time series champion Jim Yates.
Racers Edge Photography

"We definitely ran into some roadblocks last year, and it looked like every time our program was turning around and we were making progress, we would end up tripping," Yates said. "We had plenty of momentum at times where the car was running good, like at Indy where we were the No. 4-qualified car, and where it was the No. 4 or 5 qualifier for about a three-race streak in September. Just when we thought we had a handle on things, we fell backwards.

"The key this year is to learn from that. Our Pontiac Grand Am has the potential to run consistently fast, but we have to figure out where we're missing the boat. For example, we had plenty of power at Indy, but then at another race we couldn't get the job done. It's probably more of a tuning issue, and over the winter we've focused on the carburetors and fuel curve because I don't think it's necessarily an inherent lack of horsepower in the engine. I think it's more a matter of adjusting the tune-up for the conditions we're racing in."

Yates, a full-time racer for the past few seasons, builds his own horsepower.

"There were times last year when I thought there might be issues with it but at this point I feel our engine program is well on track to put this Pontiac Grand Am back at the top of the ladder," Yates said. "We have some new heads from Carl Foltz that especially look strong, and we have the new GM DRCE III block that promises to be a very nice piece. Because of the extensive research and development work we're doing, I don't know if we'll have the DRCE III running at Pomona, but it will be close.

"The nice thing is that Pomona is not the last race of the year, it's the first race, and eventually we'll have that new GM piece in our arsenal which is the best block we've had in years. Hopefully we'll have the new cylinder heads at Pomona and the new block ready to go by the time we get to Gainesville."

Helping Yates in his renewed championship charge is a new hot rod.

"We have a brand-new car we're picking up from Rick Jones that we'll use this year and we'll keep our Jerry Bickel car in reserve," Yates said. "The cars Rick has out there now have run pretty well and we've worked closely with him to develop our new Pontiac Grand Am. With the new NHRA rule mandating the beadlock wheel-tire combination, you're going to need a car that is easy to adjust. Rick has a lot experience with IHRA Pro Stock Cars, and the new tires we're using this year are very similar to what they use.

"Based on what we've learned over the winter and how we've performed so far, I can't wait to go. Because of our performance at the end of last year, I'm optimistic that we can move back into the top four cars. We have the potential; we just need to get into that elite group of cars and that will put us in position to start winning races. I feel that right now you have to be one of the top three or four cars on the circuit if you want to win a race. Hopefully, with some of the things we're doing from a technological standpoint and with the new car, we can catch up to the Greg Anderson juggernaut, which has certainly raised the bar for all of us.

"Sometimes you have to go down before you go up, and if you think about it, that's what happened to us four years ago. If you remember we had a pretty rough season in 2000 and didn't win a race that year for the first time since 1993. We came back strong in 2001 and 2002, challenged for the championship and finished second both years.

"Overall, for the last 10 years or so, our Pontiac has been one of the fastest, most competitive cars on the circuit. We're hoping that 2003 was the down season that comes right before a long string of success. If you're a survivor, if you're a winner, then you grab yourself by the bootstraps and pull yourself up. You don't sulk in the mud. You get the team together, focus on your assets and find the area of your program that needs work. Then you get on with it."

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