The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
3. NASCAR’s bronze age:
Gordon crew chief Evernham is also among five elected.
Robert Yates (above), a NASCAR Cup champion as an engine builder and owner, and four others will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Robert Yates still remembers his college professor telling him he’d never make anything of himself.
It turns out his professor was wrong.
Yates’ 40-year career in auto racing culminated with his selection to the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Wednesday, an achievement that left him in tears.
The 74-year-old Yates admitted he wasn’t the smartest guy, but said, “I knew how to work on cars.”
Yates, a Cup champion as both an engine builder and owner, was voted in along with three-time Cup championship crew chief Ray Evernham, drivers Red Byron and Ron Hornaday Jr. and broadcaster Ken Squier. Hornaday and driver Alan Kulwicki tied for the final spot, and Hornaday won the tiebreaker.
Yates was an overwhelming favorite, selected by 94 percent of the voters.
The induction ceremony for the Class of 2018 will be in January in Charlotte.
Yates grew up in Charlotte and couldn’t play baseball and football because of a heart murmur.
“So I worked on engines,” Yates said.
He achieved most of his fame as an owner, with his drivers winning 57 Cup races.
After providing the power behind Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough with his engines, he started his own racing team in the late 1980s. Success came quickly, with driver Davey Allison winning the 1992 Daytona 500 and finishing third in the standings that season. Dale Jarrett won two Daytona 500s and a Cup Series championship for Robert Yates Racing.
Yates is battling liver cancer, but said the honor left him feeling like grabbing a jack, jumping over a pit wall and changing a tire.
“I may not sleep a wink,” he said with a wide smile.
Evernham became synonymous with Jeff Gordon when they began working together in 1992. Evernham guided Gordon to Cup titles in 1995, ’96 and ’98 as they dominated the 1990s by winning a series-leading 47 races.
Byron won NASCAR’s first race in 1948 on the Daytona beach and road course and went on to win NASCAR’s first championship. Byron was wounded in World War II and drove with a special brace on his pedal.
Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick were among the many drivers who credited Hornaday with helping them get started. Hornaday let them sleep on his couch at his Charlotte-area home.
“We moved and the only thing I saved was that couch,” said Hornaday, 59, who won four Truck Series championships. “People say why and I said, ‘Because everybody was always too drunk to go upstairs and they would always pass out on that little couch, the closest one to the door.’”