As drag racers we spend a vast amount of our time traveling from one end of this country to the other. Back and forth, up and down, some of us flying and others of us driving but all of us eventually ending up at the same national event. We do our jobs to the best of our ability – whether we are the driver of a race car, the crew chief, the crew member, or the hospitality manager of a large team. Whatever the role we play most of us, at the end of the weekend are ultimately concerned with reaching the same goal – collecting those valuable points and obtaining that coveted Wally.

With that being said, you can understand how easy it is for all of us to get caught up in the stress and responsibilities of working on or with a professional race team. Some weeks it seems as if there aren't enough days in the week or hours in the day to get everything accomplished and before we know it the weeks have turned into months and we look back and say, "Wow, where has the time gone?" I know we have been guilty of that.

I often think about all of the wonderful memories that Jim and I have made over the last 20+ years of racing. We have been blessed with a successful racing career which included our family every step of the way. We have seen people come and go; some make a notable mark on our sport and others just seem to be passing through – here one day and gone the next. But, have you ever really thought about those people that really have made an impression with you in the sport of NHRA Drag Racing?

I personally have had the wonderful opportunity, for the last 20+ years to be an active part of owning, managing and actively working on a Pro Stock team. I have met so many amazing people who have been involved in our sport in every capacity. But there is one person who, in our first years of racing, made a great impression on me – the late Buddy Ingersoll.

Now some of you probably didn't follow Buddy's career in Pro Stock nor did you ever have the opportunity to meet him in person. I'm not here to give you a rundown of his career highlights, Bobby Bennett wrote a fantastic article on Competition Plus which will give everyone insight into Buddy's racing accomplishments – make sure you read it. (http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/20526-buddy-ingersoll-the-day-modern-technology-scared-pro-stock) He was just a man that made a great impression on me as Jim and I struggled in our early years to make our mark in Pro Stock.

I could go on and on with funny stories about Buddy, but that would take up quite a bit of blogging space so I will summarize my memories of Buddy as a great man with a wonderful sense of humor. He would always have a funny comment coupled with a hearty laugh whenever I passed him in the pits, compared starting line notes or just had a quick chat with him in the staging lanes.

I do have to share one funny story with you. Back in the early 90s when we were testing at West Palm, Buddy was making a test run and at the end of the track there sat a flock of sea gulls. No big deal right? I know that back then we didn't run the speeds we run now and I don't know how fast Buddy was going but just as he came upon that flock of gulls they frantically flew up in the air in an attempt to get out of the way of the oncoming race car.

Well, you can only imagine what happened next. Yep – those gulls flew up just as Buddy came through the finishline and he hit that flock of gulls head on – taking most of the impact on the front end and windshield of the race car. Now I'm not going into detail of the mess that incurred with this particular impact – I'll leave that to your imagination – but I will say that the windshield broke, Buddy ducked his head and the birds came through the race car…pretty yucky. It did a lot of damage to his race car but Buddy cleaned himself up, laughed at the bizarre happening and took it all in stride. We later dubbed him "The Bird Man" a name that stuck around for quite a while after that.

Sadly, Buddy passed away on March 11 while we were all racing in Gainesville. His son, Mark is the crew chief for AJ's Mopar team and he has been keeping us all updated on Buddy's recent decline in health. Today, Jim and many others are traveling to Illinois to attend the services for Buddy. I am sorry that I was unable to go but I will be thinking of him and saying a special prayer for him, Mark and his family.

For those of us involved in NHRA racing we will continue to travel back and forth and up and down this country, complaining that there isn’t enough time in a day, we will still be concerned with those all important points and of course we will all be striving to hold that coveted Wally in the winner's circle at the end of the weekend. We will still continue to meet wonderful people who are involved in this great sport and many of them will make a lasting impression, just as Buddy did for me.

Buddy is in a better place now, free from pain and suffering. His legacy will live on in the sport of NHRA Drag Racing for years to come. But more importantly the memories of a man that I fondly called my friend will live on forever. May you rest in peace dear friend.

Hello faithful blog readers! Here is a blog from your recently not so faithful blog writer and for that I apologize. I am sure that many of you are asking yourselves what in the world has the Yates family been up to? Well, I won’t bore you with the details of the past two races since AJ did a very nice job recapping our season openers in his blog. I will say that I am really excited with the potential that this Mopar team has this year.

Of course everyone wants to start the season off with a couple of back-to-back wins but unfortunately that usually doesn’t happen. We did a lot of testing this winter and we learned a lot of very promising combinations that will prove very valuable to our program this year. Mark and I seem to have the race car making great consistent runs, Roy and the guys have these Johnson and Johnson racing engines running really fast and AJ is doing a great job of driving. Put that all together and it won’t be long before we end up in the winner’s circle. Hey, I think that Gainesville will be a great place to start!

After flying home from Phoenix I have been going non-stop. I have spent hours analyzing all of the computer graphs from the past two races and strategizing with Mark to come up with a game plan for our upcoming Bradenton test session and Gainesville race. It is so nice to be able to sit, concentrate and discuss the runs when we aren’t in the heat of battling for qualifying positions.

Besides doing my homework for Gainesville over the past two weeks, Toni and I have been extremely busy working on our warehouse property. Toni says that instead of “flipping houses” like you see on HGTV, we are “flipping a warehouse”. We have been trying to rent our warehouse for the past two years and with the depressed real estate market it has been quite a challenge. The good news is, we have recently had some interest in our location and so Toni and I decided that we needed to spruce it up a bit. All we needed was a plan of action to get us started.

One of the retail rooms

Ready for tile

Oh boy! This is my specialty! With list in hand we headed to our local Lowes for a load of supplies. The first project on the list was to clean, paint, trim, and re-tile the retail portion of our building. This sounds pretty easy except for the fact that the retail area is about 10,000 square feet. Not a problem! I decided to man the paint roller and gave Toni the job of taping and trimming all of the doors, windows, etc. Hey, I’m good with a paint roller I just don’t have the patience to do all of that tedious detail work. That is what Toni is good at. What a team huh?

 Well, we have been working seven days a week dividing our time between our warehouse project and the shop and after 10 gallons of paint, four rolls of tape, 1 roll of paper, 6 paint brushes and countless rollers we only have the tile work left to do in our first phase of the project. The next phase will require knocking down some walls that the former tenant had put up, more painting and more tile work. Sounds like fun right? Toni swears that I have been watching way too much HGTV with my grandson Ryan. Ryan comes over and the first thing he wants to do is watch “worker boys” with Poppop. I even promised him that he could help me when tear down the walls. That is his favorite part of the shows. How can you not love the world seen through the eyes of a 3-½ year old?

As you can see, between my construction project and our racing program, I have been crazy busy – but in a good way! I’m excited to be leaving tomorrow to drive to Bradenton where we plan on testing for three days before the Gainesville race. Mark and I have a game plan ready and we can’t wait to get back to the track.

If you have been reading my blogs for a while you already know that Gainesville has always been one of our favorite races. We have had so many wonderful memories of fun family time incorporated around the Gatornationals. When the kids were little we would leave the race and surprise them with a trip to Disney World for a day or two and as they got older we would spend spring breaks on the “Finishline” cruising wherever the tides would take us. Awesome memories for sure!

I am hoping that we will make some more awesome memories in Gainesville this year…perhaps a final round appearance or even a trip to the winner’s circle would be a nice way to end the weekend. Right?

Hopefully many of you will be able to attend the race next week – if you do please make sure you stop by the pits and say hi! Thanks for checking in and I promise to be a more faithful blog writer in the future. Have a great weekend!

 

I’m back! Well at least for two more days anyway. I’m glad that Toni has been keeping you all updated on our off season progress while I have been busy working at AJ’s shop, testing in Florida, testing in the Windshear Wind Tunnel in Charlotte, and in my spare time trying to keep up with my real estate projects. Whew, don’t know where the off season has gone but I do know that during this off season I have been having a blast with AJ, Roy, Mark and the rest of this Mopar team as we get ready for the season opener in Pomona.

To say that this Mopar team is pumped up for Pomona is an understatement. We ended the 2011 season on a high note and that momentum has kept this team fired up and motivated throughout the entire winter. As most of you know AJ brought out the new Jerry Haas Avenger for the 2011 Countdown and with an intense six race push for the Championship it didn’t leave much time for testing a new race car. When we left the World Finals last November, even with a limited number of runs on this chassis, we were still very excited about the future of this new car and couldn’t wait to get some time to test.

Well, exit Pomona in November…enter test mode in December! We had the opportunity to test in Florida twice over the off season as well as spend 12 hours in the Windshear Wind Tunnel. At each session we had a list of things to do, combinations to try, parts to experiment with and new engines to run. It has been intense but I have to say it has also been so very rewarding. We learned so many things at the wind tunnel as well as at our two Florida test sessions. Though AJ couldn’t drive in testing because of his arm surgery, we had Richie Stevens behind the wheel and could still collect all of that valuable data. I am here to say, we could not have been happier with the results. I mean when you run a record pass of 6.466 at 212.51 how can you be disappointed? Right?

But you know what they say, testing is testing and racing is racing. We do feel that we have definitely made some improvements in our program during the off season. As well, we have had the opportunity to work together and gel as a team, and that is what is important. This is only the first race of a long season and until all 20+ cars line up for qualifying in Pomona on Thursday afternoon we really won’t know, will we? I know one thing for sure, I haven’t been this excited to start a racing season in a long, long time!

On Sunday morning I leave for Vegas for one last test session. We plan on testing Monday and Tuesday along with lots of other teams before heading to Pomona on Wednesday morning. Though Mark and I have another long list of things to try, the main reason for this test session is to get AJ back behind the wheel of his Dodge Avenger. He hasn’t been able to drive since having his surgery in November, so I know he is more than ready to drop the clutch. All I can say is he better be ready for a fast ride!

As you probably have gathered I am really pumped to start our season this year. AJ and Roy have put together an awesome team, and I am so happy to be a part of such a hard working group of people who all share my determination and passion for NHRA Pro Stock. With Vegas test, Pomona and Phoenix within a 14 day span it will be a busy couple of weeks for sure.

Well, thanks everyone for checking in. Don’t forget to keep your NHRA apps running, your computers turned onto www.NHRA.com, your audio tuned into Bob Frey, and of course don’t miss all of the great TV coverage that is scheduled for next weekend. If you are at the track be sure to stop by the pits to say hi!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that you and your families have been blessed with great health, happiness and prosperity as the year 2012 starts to unfold. The Yates family is having an awesome year so far; very busy with family, holidays, birthdays, weddings and of course Jim has been extra busy working with A.J. and the team getting ready for Pomona – which is only 23 days away!

I guess you are wondering why I am once again filling in for Jim's blogging. Well, since Christmas he has only been home six days and presently is in Bradenton, Fla., testing with A.J. and most of the other NHRA Pro Stock teams. I did get a report this morning that A.J.'s Dodge (with Richie Stevens behind the wheel) went a 6.48 so I know that the guys were pretty pumped up about that. Those numbers make everyone excited to get to Pomona!

While Jim is working hard on the race team I have been holding down the fort here at home and the shop. In my free time I did get a chance to go through my 900 pictures that I took the weekend of the wedding – hey one cannot have too many pictures to look at! The wedding weekend was amazing. Melissa had a four-page schedule (she is her father's daughter, that's for sure!) and thankfully every day and every event went according to plan. Whew! The weather was awesome, the church was beautiful and the newlyweds were just glowing with love and happiness. Add to that all the special friends and family who were able to share in Melissa and Joey's special day and the weekend was just perfect. It makes me teary to just think about it. LOL

After the wedding we stayed in Charlotte an extra day to attend the Civali's New Year's Eve Party and then headed home on New Year's Day. I had just enough time to get unpacked, get some laundry done and repack Jim so that he could head to A.J.'s shop to work for the week. His schedule has been pretty hectic – working during the week with the race team, home for a couple of days and then back on the road again. Of course, you know Jim, there is nothing he likes better than working, racing, analyzing and tuning a Pro Stock car – well other than maybe driving one!

So now you have been brought up to speed on the crazy, wonderful year that the Yates family has been having. I am looking forward to hearing some more testing results but unfortunately, Bradenton and Jim's phone are rarely compatible – when he arrives at the track it is like he enters the "dead zone." Hopefully I will get a full report when he gets back to the hotel tonight.

With Pomona almost upon us, Jim will most certainly be busy for the next 23 days but I will make sure that he writes next week and fills everyone in on their Bradenton test session. I think that the team will be home for a week before they load up and head west to Vegas for the "Superbowl" race and then Pomona. I will be going to Pomona and then Phoenix and I can't wait. Enough of this "off season" – I'm ready for NHRA racing to begin: 23 days and counting!!