for those who follow NASCAR, you know his name and the impact he had on the sport, but for those who don't follow, he was a well know NASCAR owner and a engine builder who built engines that got some big name drivers to victory lane in NASCAR. but the NASCAR/Motorsports word is mourning the lost of a well beloved team owner of it's past and engine builder.
Robert Yates passed away Monday at the age of 74 after a battle with cancer, his son Doug announced his passing on twitter. the NASCAR race team owner owned Robert Yates Racing (later renamed to Yates Racing when his son Doug took over as team owner after Robert retired in 2007 as car owner).
Yates started his career in NASCAR in 1967 at the Holman-Moody organization race team where he was hired orginally for cleaning the floors, he then became an engine builder for that team, then built engines for the legendary Junior Johnson's NASCAR team and then DiGard Racing where his engines went to victory lane. t wasn't until 1988 that Yates became a owner of a NASCAR race team. he started Robert Yates Racing in 1988 when he bought out Ranier-Lundy Racing from it's previous owners Harry Ranier and J. T. Lundy.
Robert Yates racing went on to win the Daytona 500 in 1992 with the late Davey Allison and again in 1996 and 1999 with Dale Jarrett as well as the 1999 NASCAR Cup Series Champion with Jarrett as well.
Yates Racing folded 2 years after Robert retired and let his son Doug take over the team.
in November of last year, Doctors diagnosed him with liver cancer, in which in August of this year, he was told by one of his doctors that he wouldn't make it 4 weeks and was told he would need to go to a hospice care center.
in May 2017, NASCAR announced that Yates would be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame for the 2018 class next year. sadly he's now going in post-humorously even if he was alive to find out he was inducted.
Robert Yates' legacy in NASCAR will be honored long after his passing with his Hall of Fame induction and his family name being still on all the Ford race engines which is being built with a partnership with Roush-Fenway racing and it's owner Jack Roush where the engines are built under the name Roush-Yates engines.
https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2017/10/02/robert-yates-dies-liver-cancer-nascar-hall-of-fame-2018/
Robert Yates passed away Monday at the age of 74 after a battle with cancer, his son Doug announced his passing on twitter. the NASCAR race team owner owned Robert Yates Racing (later renamed to Yates Racing when his son Doug took over as team owner after Robert retired in 2007 as car owner).
Yates started his career in NASCAR in 1967 at the Holman-Moody organization race team where he was hired orginally for cleaning the floors, he then became an engine builder for that team, then built engines for the legendary Junior Johnson's NASCAR team and then DiGard Racing where his engines went to victory lane. t wasn't until 1988 that Yates became a owner of a NASCAR race team. he started Robert Yates Racing in 1988 when he bought out Ranier-Lundy Racing from it's previous owners Harry Ranier and J. T. Lundy.
Robert Yates racing went on to win the Daytona 500 in 1992 with the late Davey Allison and again in 1996 and 1999 with Dale Jarrett as well as the 1999 NASCAR Cup Series Champion with Jarrett as well.
Yates Racing folded 2 years after Robert retired and let his son Doug take over the team.
in November of last year, Doctors diagnosed him with liver cancer, in which in August of this year, he was told by one of his doctors that he wouldn't make it 4 weeks and was told he would need to go to a hospice care center.
in May 2017, NASCAR announced that Yates would be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame for the 2018 class next year. sadly he's now going in post-humorously even if he was alive to find out he was inducted.
Robert Yates' legacy in NASCAR will be honored long after his passing with his Hall of Fame induction and his family name being still on all the Ford race engines which is being built with a partnership with Roush-Fenway racing and it's owner Jack Roush where the engines are built under the name Roush-Yates engines.
https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2017/10/02/robert-yates-dies-liver-cancer-nascar-hall-of-fame-2018/