Hey there! Wow how time flies when you are having fun. Since my last blog our Yates family has been very busy. Let’s see, where do I start? I have some exciting news but I am going to get to that at the end of the blog. First, a couple of weeks ago, Toni and I borrowed a trailer from Prince William, Marina and headed to Clemson to pack up my son Jon and his girlfriend Alli. We loaded up all of their worldly possessions into the trailer along with their three cats and headed back home to Occoquan.

Yep, Jon and Alli have officially moved into the downstairs of our house and we are so excited to have them home. Jon will be working as my crew chief for the next several months (more news on that later in the blog) and Alli was fortunate to be able to transfer jobs to a sister office right down the road from the race shop. How lucky was that?

Well, we only had time to drop the trailer in the driveway, settle the cats in their new home and then turn around and head back down to the University of Virginia for my nephew, Jason Jr.’s graduation. We are so very proud of him. On May 17 Jason graduated with his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering (notice a pattern developing with these Yates guys?!) and almost the entire Yates family was there to help him celebrate his big day. I’ll just say that any celebration with my crazy family is always a fun event and this was no exception – we all had a great time.

After the Sunday morning diploma ceremony at UVA and a quick lunch at Jason Jr.’s apartment it was back to Occoquan with Jon and Alli to try to at least get some of their possessions moved into their new basement apartment. Monday was Jon’s first official day as the crew chief for Jim Yates Racing and we were also fortunate that Jamie was on break between his spring and summer sessions at the University of Maryland so we had all hands on deck for a week of preparing our Wiley X GXP for the racetrack.

I know, I know, I will get to that story in a minute! But before I do, I have to first stop and say how very proud we are of Jamie's accomplishments after his first semester back to college after a 10-year absence. Not only did he adapt to a very difficult senior mechanical engineering schedule but more importantly he ended up with straight A’s in all of his classes! Now that is something to be so very proud of! Way to go, Jamie!!

We know that it was a big decision that Jamie made to go back to school and complete his education – especially after being away for so long. I know how much he misses being involved in the day-to-day racing operation and how much he misses being at the track with us (and we miss him, too!) but he has worked so hard and we are so happy that all of his hard work has paid off for him. Unfortunately, Jamie only has a couple of weeks off before he starts his summer sessions and we are gong to make the most of his expertise during that time in order to get ready for testing and racing in Chicago. Now did I say racing in Chicago?

Yep, it is official! Our Wiley X GXP will be racing six races starting with the Chicago race and including Englishtown, Norwalk, Reading, Indy and Charlotte. Almost everything will remain the same; the same car, engine program, paint scheme, crew and racing operation. There is only one small change – Ryan Ondrejko will be driving the Wiley X GXP instead of me. For the first time in my career, I will be enjoying my Pontiac from an entirely new perspective – standing on the starting line watching it race down the track instead of actually sitting in the driver's seat pulling those levers myself. How cool will that be? Toni hasn’t decided if I can have a radio on or not – she says that drivers have no business standing on the starting line! She even suggested that I spend some time in the announcer's booth with Bob Frey or hang around Alan at the finish line. Now I wonder what in the world is up with that?! LOL

Anyway, I have to say, I am really excited about this great opportunity to work with another young exceptional driver. Ryan comes to us with a great profile as a driver in NHRA Super Gas and Top Sportsman. He has won two Super Gas divisional titles and is currently the points leader in the Division 1 Top Sportsman class. He has won several races already this season and is looking forward to competing in his first professional Pro Stock race.

Before going to Chicago, however, Ryan will be testing the WileyX GXP  for a couple of days and then on to Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis for two more days of testing. It will be a busy week for all of us but by the time Ryan pulls into the staging beams on Friday afternoon in Chicago, I am confident that he will be very comfortable in his new ride. 

I know that this program is a little different for us but I am very happy to be able to get our Sunglass Machine back on the racetrack. I am also looking forward to being a teacher/mentor to an accomplished young driver like Ryan who may well be one of the new up and coming drivers in our sport.

So, there you have it my friends – the news that I have been waiting to share with everyone.  I am really looking forward to being back at the track and seeing all of my fans and friends again. If you are at the event, make sure that you stop by our pits to say hi. I shouldn't be hard to recognize…I will be the guy in the Wiley X uniform not wearing the fire pants! Thanks for checking in and stay tuned for an update on how our testing goes this week!