Reality Racing - Inside Robert Yates Racing Engine Shop

Robert Yates makeshis living racing Ford engines--he'd like to race the engine Ford builtthis century

Photography by Tom Wilson

In this world of ever-accelerating change, it's strange but true that in many respects the giant auto manufacturers are not trailblazing the technical path in motorsports development. You are. It was more than 10 years ago when dedicated enthu-siasts pioneered hooking laptops to Mustangs, while Ford, NASCAR, and other performance giants have stuck to changing the jets in their Holleys every time the weather changes.

Knowing the price of progress is trouble--you can't blame a well-oiled machine such as NASCAR for not dropping a computerized monkey wrench into the Winston Cup clockworks. Fender-rubbing excitement is NASCAR's product and you don't need computerized engines to do that. You don't need overhead cams either. In fact, you don't need anything Dearborn sells to have a good race, as suggested by the recent talk of going to generic bodywork and simply applying Ford grille and headlight decals to tell Taurii from the rest of the herd.

Horse Sense: Robert Yates Racing Engines' latest shop is new, clean, andboasts a lobby the size of a small house. But it's a racing shop, nomatter the tile, carpet, plants, trendy black furniture, andreceptionist. As soon as you walk in the door, the racer's perfume ofwarm racing oil washes over you. It's incongruous at first, this smellof racing engines in what resembles a hotel lobby, but in the WinstonCup world of Moorseville, North Carolina, it's the norm.

Because you consider auto racing more than costume wrestling, we wager you feel differently than the marketing majors at the sanctioning bodies. Should a Ford get into the winner's circle, you--and we--would like it to be sufficiently a Ford to matter. So would Robert Yates, and to that end he's warming his wrenches and technicians on what will inevitably be the next Winston Cup engine, the electronically fuel-injected Four-Valve V-8. Seeing how the pushrod-and-carbureted Yates shop was working on a paradigm-shifting development such as the overhead cam, multivalve, EFI modular engine, we packed the camera and headed to Robert Yates Racing Engines to investigate what these powerplant experts were up to.

Daytona Prototype

The vehicle for the Yates Racing Engines modular program is the Multimatic Ford Focus Daytona Prototype. This car runs in the new Daytona Prototype class sanctioned by GrandAm, the sports car racing arm of NASCAR. Envisioned as a cost-contained prototype similar to those traditionally running at the Daytona 24 Hours, Le Mans, Sebring, and other sports car classics but for less money, Daytona Prototypes are supposed to resemble their namesake cars by using stock head and taillamp assemblies and other trim parts. Still, you really have to squint to get even a hint of an SVT Focus when gandering at the low, voluptuous bodywork of the Multimatic Daytona Prototype.