Alli and Jon

Ryan and his race car

Jamie, Cynthy, and Ryan

Ryan helping Grandpop grill

Snow, snow, go away! I want to go on the record as saying that I am now categorizing myself as a warm weather person. I don’t think that I have been home for an entire winter in about 20 years because we are always testing and racing during the coldest winter months. Granted, it can get really cold in Vegas or Pomona; even Phoenix, but never have I been “snowed out” for a race. I have decided that I am ready for one of two things — either spring to get here fast or my phone to ring letting me know that I need to load up my Sunglass machine and head to Pomona. I prefer the latter!

So far, though, it doesn’t look like we will be racing in Pomona. If that ends up being the case, it will be the first time since 1990 that I did not compete at the Winternationals. However, Toni and I are still going to attend the race for a couple of days. I have some contacts to meet with and I also have a RFC Board meeting to attend. It won’t be the same, but maybe Bob Frey won’t mind sharing the announcer’s booth with me for a couple of sessions of Pro Stock. We are still hopeful that something will transpire in the next week or so, but if it doesn’t, I will set my sights on a start in Gainesville. Just keep your fingers crossed for some good news to come my way.

With my racing program on a temporary hold, we are still staying extremely busy with our warehouse project. Equipment and tools are going fast and Toni, Jon, and I have started getting rooms ready to tear down. Late Saturday afternoon, during the middle of our snowstorm, Toni and I tore everything out of a “Laboratory” that had been built in the back of the warehouse. That meant cabinets, counters, shelving, equipment, sinks, and tons of lab supplies had to be removed. The only thing left in the room is the ceiling lights, and Toni refused to let me take them down without Jon or Jamie’s help. She kept making comments about tall metal ladders and electricity. What? For some reason I don’t think she trusts me!

So, for the time being, I have traded my fire shoes, firesuit, and helmet for steel-toed boots, coveralls, and a hard hat. Luckily, we all have our Wiley X eyewear, which also count for safety glasses. If I don’t get to race in Pomona and Phoenix, my goal is to have the building demolition project done by the first week in March. That way, we will have time to test in Bradenton before heading to the Gatornationals… one of favorite races. Now that is a plan that I am excited about!

In between the long weeks of physical labor, we have, however, stopped to enjoy some fun family time. We have had everyone together the past couple of Sundays to celebrate first Cynthy’s birthday and yesterday, Alli’s birthday. With Ryan being a very active 15 month old who loves to run around, we find it is way more fun to get together at our house instead of going out to dinner. We spend the day relaxing, enjoying each other’s company, and having an early birthday dinner. Ryan has plenty of family around to play with and loves helping unwrap any birthday present. I couldn’t ask for a better end to a long week.

Well, I am going to call it quits and get this blog sent out. I must admit that I have really enjoyed sitting here at my desk resting my sore body while I write my blog. Maybe this will be a good excuse for me to be more diligent in my blog writing huh? I figure that sooner or later Jon or Toni will be in here accusing me of “milking this job,” but hey, I’m the boss so I get to milk a few jobs now and then. LOL I’ll write soon to keep everyone updated on what is happening at Jim Yates Racing. Be sure to check back soon!






 

Hi there! All I can say is thank goodness I needed to write a blog. I needed an excuse to sit down for a while, and I couldn't think of a better reason than to catch up with my blog. I don't know if you remember me telling you about my real estate project that I have been working on for the past couple of months, but I am here to tell you that I never knew that owning property can be such hard work.

Twenty years ago, when I was in the auto parts business, we bought a piece of property and building that I eventually used for my automotive parts warehouse and corporate offices. After selling the stores, several years ago, there was no need for me to keep such a huge building for my own use, so I leased it to a company that produced hydrogen generators. They were a great tenant, and they made a lot of updates and modifications to the original building. Unfortunately, the hardships of today's economy took its toll on them, and as of the end of the year; they sold the assets of their business and moved out. Well, they sorta moved out.

Exit my old tenant; enter the Yates Family Real Estate and Construction Company. You think I'm kidding? I wish I was! LOL I should have known that I was in trouble when Toni surprised me with a brand new pair of steel-toed Caterpillar work boots for Christmas this year. I laughed when I opened the box. What in the world would I ever need with steel-toed work boots? Well, for once, I have to admit that she knew what she was doing when she picked out that present. They look like I have been wearing them for five years, and I know they have saved my feet over the last several weeks.

Anyway, the tenant, being in the manufacturing industry, had a magnitude (and I mean a magnitude!) of equipment, tools, fabrication materials, etc., as well as office furniture, computers, and other electrical equipment. All of it was left in the building. Needless to say, we have been working 24/7 cleaning, inventorying, organizing, demolishing, scraping, trashing, and finally selling all the items in the building. When everything is gone we will begin the final demolish project to restore the building to its previous condition. In the meantime, we have been showing the building to prospective tenants and hopefully one of them will want to make a move as soon as we get everything back to normal.

The good thing is that Jon has been working side by side with me every day. He is such a hard worker and I don't know what I would have done without him. I knew that all of those years working on a Pro Stock car would pay off. He has been really busy using his engineering skills to design blueprints, floor plans, and other CAD drawings which have been very helpful to our project. Not only can he disassemble a reactor room, unwire huge electrical panels, and categorize scrap metal, but he is an awesome designer with his engineering CAD programs. It is funny how similar he and Jamie are as they get older.

Speaking of Jamie, he has just finished a mini semester over Christmas break and will start his final semester at the University of Maryland next Monday. With only three classes left to take before graduation, we are confident that he will be able to maintain his perfect 4.0 average through the end. How cool is that?

I guess, by now, you have noticed that I haven't been talking a lot about racing lately. The Sunglass Machine is tucked in the shop, the tractor trailer is clean and stocked, the clutches and transmissions are all rebuilt and ready, and Ryan, Jon, Toni, and I are ready to head west. Unfortunately, (I really dislike that word) we do not yet have a final deal put together to start our 2010 racing season. Time is running short, and if we don't have something finalized in time for Pomona and Phoenix, we will set our sights for a start in Gainesville — just like several other teams may be doing. I am really confident that things will eventually work out, maybe not on my preferred time frame, but I think they will work out for us soon.

Well, I guess I have been sitting here resting my sore back long enough. I have some people coming by tonight to look at some welders and shelving that we have for sale so I better get my act together and get back out to the warehouse. Last weekend a couple of NASCAR guys came up and purchased some big equipment, and I think that more of the guys are coming back this weekend. One thing is for sure, life around the Yates family is anything but boring right now. Everyday brings a new adventure, and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. If you are in the Alexandria, Va., area and need used equipment, tools, computers, or office furniture, just give me a shout — I'm on call all the time! Thanks for checking in!

A Yates Family Christmas
Playing in the snow
Our happy snowman	Melissa, Jon, and Jason
Melissa and PopPop
A group of Yates cousins
Our next generation

Hi everyone! I hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday and you are all looking forward to a great New Year! I know I am. We have been having a wonderful time in the Yates family over the past week.
 
I am happy to report that I did get all of my shopping done in plenty of time for both of our Christmases and Santa didn't have any trouble with his gift calendar. I'm sure it is because I was so good this year. J

I'm sure that everyone heard of the infamous "Blizzard of 2009" that hit the east coast last week. Well, we were right in the middle of the "eye" of the blizzard. (What would these weather people do without hyping up a snowstorm?)

When everything had settled we probably had about 30 inches of the white stuff and since we kept up with the shoveling and plowing during the course of the storm it really wasn't that bad. OK, I will admit that Toni and Jon kept up with the shoveling and I got to keep up with the plowing while riding in the snow plow with my buddy Carlton Phillips. We were very busy plowing parking lots, streets and driveways and that is really hard work, you know!

Anyway, by Sunday the snow had stopped and we had everything cleared for everyone to come over for our first family Christmas. Melissa and her boyfriend, Chris, came up from North Carolina and Jamie, Cynthy, and Ryan joined Jon, Alli, Toni, and I for a great day of sledding, dinner, presents, and just some great family time.

Everyone had their ski outfits on and played in the snow, sledded in the back yard and then built a happy snowman that looked right in our back window. Ryan wasn't so thrilled with the snow, but I'm sure the fact that it was almost over his head didn't have anything to do with that! LOL

After playing in the snow all day we had an early dinner and then opened presents. It was such a great day that I really didn't want it to end.

The following week Jamie and Cynthy headed to New Hampshire and Alli went home to South Carolina to be with her family for Christmas. We wrapped things up at the shop and then finished up with last-minute preparations for our Yates family Christmas Eve which was hosted by my brother John and his wife Diane.

It was another memorable Christmas Eve with all of our young "great nieces and nephews" in attendance. It is so cool to watch a new generation of children grow up in our family. While watching them open presents I can't help but think of my own kids when they were that young. Wow, where has the time gone?

Anyway, it was a quiet Christmas day at our house with Toni's dad, Don, and then it was back to work. Jon and I have been working at our warehouse location for the past few days trying to clean things up as the current tenant moves out. There is lots to do before the end of the week in order to get the building in shape to lease to another tenant – hopefully really soon!

I am going to close this short blog, try to share some fun pictures with you, and then I am going to head home early to take Toni out for our anniversary. Today is our 35th wedding anniversary and we had hoped to spend it skiing in Park City, but with our real estate project still ongoing we decided to forgo our trip this year. I can't really match a quiet dinner at our favorite restaurant on Main Street in Park City, but I have a couple of places in mind that will work just fine.

So with that being said, I'm on my way! Because I probably won't talk to you again until next year I am going to wish everyone a very happy and blessed 2010. May your year be blessed with love, health and happiness. I'll talk to you again soon. 
 

Ho, ho, ho! Happy Holidays everyone! Are you as busy as I am right now? Gee, you think that as soon as the season is over you are going to have lots of free time to do lots of things that you haven't been doing during the year and then before you know it the holidays are upon us and there aren't enough hours in the day! Of course it is a fun time of the year so it really isn't that bad.

Before I left to go to the PRI show Toni and I spent two days decorating the house and putting the tree up. I think this is a record for me! First off, I usually escape the decorating by testing, going to PRI or just "having to work extra hard in the shop." I think after all of these years, Toni has finally got all of my excuses covered. She wanted to get the tree over Thanksgiving weekend but I talked her out of that so she settled for last weekend. Of course before we got the tree we had to put up the outside lights and then I had to help her with some of the garland hanging. All in all, it really wasn't that bad and the house looks great. The good thing is that we have everything done early enough so that we can enjoy all of the Christmas decorations before it is time to take everything down. 

While Jon has been busy getting everything in the shop done I have had to take some time to spend working on my real estate. One of my tenants is moving at the end of the year and there is a lot of work to be done before they vacate the property. Not only have I been busy trying to find another tenant to take their place but there is an issue of getting the building cleaned out and getting things ready for another tenant to move in. This, of course, may require some demolition so I've got my work boots and my safety helmet ready. I guess the timing isn't really great with the holiday season in full swing but I should have a better idea of what will be involved over the next week or so.

Speaking of next week, we are planning on an early Christmas celebration with Jamie, Cynthy, Ryan and Alli this weekend. This is Jamie and Cynthy's year to spend Christmas in New Hampshire with her family and Alli will be going home to South Carolina for Christmas so we decided to celebrate early so that everyone could be together. That will leave just Melissa, Jon and Toni's dad, Don, for Christmas Day. The way I look at it is it is really like getting two Christmas Days! How fun is that? I hope Santa can keep all of this straight in his gift calendar.

Well, I know this is short but I promised myself that I would at least try to get some Christmas shopping started tonight. My theory is that you never really want to start shopping too early or you miss out on all of the last minute sale items. Right? You guys know what I'm talking about. There are no better sales than on Christmas Eve … of course there isn't a lot left, but that is beside the point. LOL I will admit that the kids are usually pretty good partners when it comes to picking up presents for Toni, especially Melissa, so I don't worry too much about it. Unfortunately, this year Melissa has been busy traveling and working, Jamie has got two more finals, a project and a presentation due on Thursday and he will finally be done with his semester at U of MD. He figures that sleep won't be an option for the next couple of days. Jon is my only hope and I have him buried at the shop so I guess this time I will venture out on my own.

Oh, before I close I want to remind everyone to check out my newly updated Web site when you get a chance at www.jimyates.com . Jon has been working really hard with Don over the last month and he has given our website a whole new look complete with bios on Ryan as well as links to lots of great NHRA sites. Let me know what you think.

I hope everyone gets all of their shopping, wrapping, cooking and decorating done over the next 10 days. Yikes! Did I say 10 days? Oh boy, I better get moving. I'm outta here! Ho, ho, ho!!!!