Robert Yates unplugged: ‘I would have beaten (Dale) Earnhardt’ and other brash gems

Legendary NASCAR team owner and engine builder Robert Yates is seldom at a loss for a candid answer, whatever the question. Here is Yates on:

His chances of making the NASCAR Hall of Fame:

“There’s people who need to be in there ahead of me. I understand it is about patting each other on the back. I’m probably the most unpolitical person there is. I’ve always been that way. The last time I was there, I told Bill Elliott: ‘Hey, I think I need to be taken off this (nomination list) deal. I cheated one time. You should kick me off.’ But I was just laughing. I didn’t drive a car. If I did, I would have beaten (Dale) Earnhardt a lot and he wouldn’t be as famous. But I would be honored, yes.”

What he would do to make NASCAR more popular:

“We built a lot of grandstands for the entertainment, but I don’t think we understood over time what makes it work. You can’t get out front and pass and it gets boring. They beat around everything but doing the right thing: Get the skinny cars back like we used to have. Let some air go to the (second-place) car. They’re pushing too much air.”

What happens when he suggests these kinds of changes to NASCAR:

“What I’ve learned is if you do something and it’s not their idea, they would do anything not to make it work.”

The multi-car teams of today:

“It makes me so sick. The first time I watched a race at Darlington in the early ’60s, if there were two cars painted the same I hoped they went over the wall. I didn’t like the monopoly.”

This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 11:49 AM with the headline "Robert Yates unplugged: ‘I would have beaten (Dale) Earnhardt’ and other brash gems."