Autostock)
Charlotte, N.C. — Combining forces is nothing new for engine builder Doug Yates.
In 2004, the Robert Yates Racing engine shop merged with Roush Racing to form Roush Yates Engines. Later that year they won a championship with driver Kurt Busch.
Yates, the company’s CEO, sees similarities between the 2004 alliance and the current expansion required to produce engines for Penske Racing, a new addition to the Ford camp this year. Yates has incorporated approximately 20 employees from the Penske Engine shop, and with new employees come new ideas.
“It’s similar to when Roush Racing and Robert Yates Racing put our engine programs together in 2004,” Yates told the NASCAR Wire Service. “Very different approaches, very different objectives, and when we put them together, we had a really strong program.
“It’s similar with the Penske organization and what they did. It’s always nice to pollinate your company with different ideas and different approaches. Bringing some of that technology over and trying to integrate it into our program is going to be healthy for us.”
Healthy enough to bring Ford another championship?
“That’s our goal every year, but this year, it’s really (at the) top of mine,” Yates said. “Ford Motor Company’s in a good spot.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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