BROCK WENDEL YATES (Oct
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To Educate… To Preserve… To Support Generous support from the Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation Winter 2016 “The Information Place” Volume 18 # 4 BROCK WENDEL YATES (Oct. 21, 1933 – Oct. 5, 2016) Irreverent and outspoken; automobile racing in any form - opinionated and disobedient – right up until he didn’t, that is. Brock Yates put his money where There were never any punches his mouth was. He was the elo- pulled with him – in print or other- quent rebel – hurling insults at the wise. establishment and shaking his fist “There was a day when you at the powers that be by going 150 could identify a NASCAR Ford, -plus miles an hour across our Chevrolet, or Dodge and they ac- ing into the forefront of American great nation. He was to the end a tually looked like "stock cars." sports by inadvertently televising die-hard advocate of the internal Now they are pod machines, slick live the fistfight between Donnie combustion engine, and an enemy on the outside but still powered by and Bobby Allison and Cale Yar- of anyone who admonished it or the same Neanderthal carbureted borough following a final lap colli- pushrod V-8s that have been under sion that cost them the race. He Up Coming Events their hoods for half a century. If was also executive editor of Car & Driver magazine. His love of auto January 14 — 16, 2017 this is real auto racing, then the racing and the edge-of-the-knife Arizona Concours d'Elagance, WWF ought to be part of the Phoenix, AZ Olympics.” lifestyles of the drivers when off- track –in short, ‘the good old days’ February 24 — 26, 2017 His words carried weight, too. - seemed to be evaporating as he BIG3 Parts Exchange, It’s not like he wasn’t speaking got older and wiser, noting seem- Qualcomm Stadium, from experience. Yates had been ingly at every opportunity that cor- San Diego, CA associated with the automobile and porate interests in a sport that he February 26, 2017 car racing virtually his whole life, once loved above all others had Annual Membership Meeting and spent a considerable amount practically castrated its character – El Cajon, CA (pg7) of time in the pits during the Win- sterilizing it to the point of a bore- March 17-18, 2017 ston Cup era reporting for CBS in dom he could no longer endure. the 1970’s and 80’s - prior to the Chickasha Pre-War Swap Meet “I realize this is blasphemy, Chickasha, OK protests from the “PC police” over its link to the Tobacco manufactur- but a few weeks ago I tried to April 6-8, 2017 er R.J. Reynolds, and its subse- watch a NASCAR race being run Bakersfield Swap Meet & Tour quent rechristening of the fran- at Talladega. I lasted about five Bakersfield, CA minutes before terminal boredom chise to the ‘Nextel Cup,’ and then April 9, 2017 finally the ‘Sprint Cup.’ overtook me. It appeared to be La Jolla Concourse d’Elagance nothing more than a high-speed La Jolla, CA In fact, Yates was present and freeway commute--a mob of lurid- commentating during the 1979 May 27, 2017 ly painted, identical lumps of met- Daytona 500 – aka “The Fight,” al loping at 180 mph around the American Heritage Car Show which arguably put NASCAR rac- Grape Day Park, Escondido, CA banking, fender to fender, nose to President’s Corner… Once again the Holidays are upon us; actually we are well into the Holiday season. I hope everyone will have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. At the Library we are continuing to process donations and scan many publications. In fact this year we got behind on the donation letters since we were scanning a very large collection of publications on loan to the Library that was not in our col- lection. This collection consisted of American Chauffer, American Automobile Digest, Automotive Service Digest, Motor Car Journal, Motor Era, and Touring Topics which will allow us to provide more complete coverage of our publications. As you may have noticed there have been problems with our website which we are working on the resolve. This is a time consuming and expensive process and as result it will take some time to resolve. If you are a web designer who can help please let Mac know. If you would like to donate funds for the website that would also be appreciated. Last it is time to renew your membership with the Automotive Research Library of the HCFI, so please do this and consider upgrading to the next member level. The Library runs on donations which includes the membership fees. Thank you for your membership and have a Great Holiday! Brock Yates Continued from Page1 tail. Knowing the scenario would ored with their raucous life style. tion with him. surely devolve into a multicar That has all changed, with the “The whole movie thing has demolition derby that would thrill drivers of today polished and never been a source of great pride the goobers in the grandstands, I clean-cut athletes who are ex- for me, in that Burt Reynolds, who turned off the set to later learn that pected to behave like commercial starred in the picture, butchered this time it was Jimmie Johnson puppets in public.” the original script I had written for who triggered the eight-car me- It’s no secret that Yates him- the late Steve McQueen, and the lee.” self not only revered these heroes result, while a massive money- Though having once been of old, but would be inevitably maker, was lashed by the critics. quoted in the not-so-distant past as remembered as one of them for his But like the old joke about Pierre saying “Racing is bulging at the own antics behind the wheel. He the Bridge Builder, The Cannon- seams with pure nutball charac- was in it for what the racers secret- ball Run is indelibly inscribed on ters, men who can drink more, ly were in it for, although they’ll my so-called career portfolio, and screw more, fight more, laugh never say it aloud these days: it few conversations with strangers more, joke more, than practically wasn’t for the money or for the pass without the subject of the pic- any collection of people in the competition – he was in it because ture arising.” world,” he would be remiss in the it was fun - not only the racing, His career portfolio, however, latter days of his life – and a touch but the people – at least back then. was quite impressive. There argu- more abrasive than normal, stating It was a spirit that was supposed to ably would not have been the film later that “To be sure, NASCAR be captured in a film he had been had Yates not actually lived the stars were initially ex-bootleggers reluctantly associated with for story in the first place – and in the for the most part drawn from that many years, but fell short in his process inspiring others to contin- talent pool in the Carolinas hills: eyes. “Cannonball Run” was fun ue the defiant tradition even to this "good ol' boys" as they referred to for us (speaking strictly for my- day. It’s my belief that he would themselves. That's exactly how self, having seen it in the theatre have rather been remembered for they would be described in the upon its release and many times that more than having co-written press that slowly became enam- afterward), but a point of conten- Brock Yates Continued from Page2 the script of that movie – or the other movie he co-wrote with Needham, “Smokey and the Ban- dit II” for that matter. Yates – whose articles were being published in Science and Mechanics magazine as early as sixteen - was also a prolific author; his 20+books dating back to “Sport and Racing Cars” (Harper & Row 1954) which he co-wrote with his father. He dedicated the book to his auto racing hero – three-time Indy 500 winner Wilbur Shaw, who contributed the for- ward to the book, and sadly died later that year while still managing head of the Indianapolis Speed- way. It was his book “Sunday that stood for almost forty years. in a most unassuming vehicle – a Driver” (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, Yates, however, was not content to full-sized Dodge van. The second 1972) that allowed him to take us simply attempt the race in order to (in 1972) was one for the record all with him to meet the characters break the record, but presented the books, and Yates was accompa- of the racing world. effort as a personal protest to the nied on the run by racing greatness looming speed limit laws that were – none other than legendary racer No stranger to the racetrack about to cast a shadow over speed Dan Gurney. The cross-country himself, Yates actually wanted to and freedom lovers across the record was shattered by Yates and know firsthand what drivers expe- country. Yates was quoted later Gurney (35 hours, 53min.) in a rienced on the track behind the about it saying: “The early 1970s Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona, re- wheel, so in his true walk-the-walk was a time when illegal acts were splendent in Sunoco Blue. Though style, he enrolled at Bob Bondu- in style. Everybody was going nuts the unsanctioned race was run five rant’s Competition Driving with causes, most of them against more times under that moniker School. Under the tutelage of Bon- the law.” It was also a protest of (1971 thru 1979), Yates never won durant and the son of the afore- the ever-growing list of personal again.