Yates team caught in NASCAR's financial squeeze

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Daytona without Robert Yates? It just doesn't seem the same.Yates, the renowned NASCAR engine whiz, has been here doing his thing since the 1960s, but somehow Yates and son Doug got off-track a few years ago. Last fall, Robert decided to call it quits as a team owner and turn it all over to Doug, who promptly cancelled a high-profile deal with Paul Newman and asked Jack Roush, a fellow Ford team owner, for help. Roush sent Max Jones over to try to revamp the Yates operation.And for the first time in ages, Robert Yates isn't here walking the Daytona International Speedway garage in anticipation of the Daytona 500."This is the first time down here without my dad, so there are a lot of things going on, and it's a very different feel," Doug said. "I miss my father being here. He may come next week and help us out some, but it does feel different."The economic side of the family business that Robert started 20 years ago isn't looking too bright at the moment. Doug is still looking for two big-buck sponsors for his two-car operation, and the Daytona 500 opener is only five weeks away.Travis Kvapil, one of the Yates drivers, is a journeyman racer trying to reestablish himself on the Sprint Cup tour. He has shown good speed here in the first week of testing.But it's Jones who is really under the gun, to come up with some companies willing to write those multi-million dollar checks it will take to compete on the Sprint Cup tour this season. If the benchmark budget for a stock-car team is $15 million to $20 million a year, then Yates and Jones will need to find about $30 million to $40 million pretty soon.At the moment, where a sponsor's logo should be on the team's quarter panels, there is the curious line: "SponsorYates.com."Last season, Mars backed both teams, but the company moved to Joe Gibbs' Toyota operation to back rising star Kyle Busch. And long-time sponsor UPS split the year before, following Dale Jarrett to Michael Waltrip's Toyota camp.But Jones seems confident that things are going to work out, even though the Yateses really haven't had competitive cars in some time. The Yates' two Fords were on the front row for the Daytona 500 a year ago, but the season went downhill from there. Neither team really caught fire."We're only six weeks old, and we're a new team," Jones said. "We don't have any sponsors at the moment, but we're talking to a lot of people."There are a lot of things to consider ... but we're not the first team to come to Daytona without sponsorship money."With the organization Doug and I have put together, and the drivers we have, I believe we're really a strong candidate. It's not like we've got a rag-tag group of guys we dragged down here to Daytona. This is a solid organization with great cars."You can look at the speeds. We're not embarrassing ourselves. So I think it's a great opportunity for somebody."Jones, like the Yateses, is a racer."I've never been a carpet salesman or sold washing machines," he said. "This is all I've ever done, and it's all Doug has ever done. This wasn't a hasty decision. We thought and thought about this for a long time."We knew what was in front of us, but we feel really good about it, and we feel strong about where we're at right now."Being solid in the point-standings to start the season (thus guaranteed starting spots), we're not like some teams last year that didn't have points (and had to make fields on speed)."Doug Yates is clearly here to prove something."My father and I have always enjoyed coming to Daytona," he said. "It's been a passion for us to come down here and run well."But he said, "One of our weaknesses was having somebody who could run the business side and run the race teams. My father and I were always under the hood; that's where we're most comfortable."That makes this thing with Max and me so special, because the things I'm short on he fills really well."He's been a successful driver, he's been successful running race teams. That allows me to continue working on the engines, and touching and feeling the cars. The things we were weak in, and short on, we've shored up by partnering with Max."Yates likes to talk about "the exciting potential," but he realizes that his two teams must get off the mark quickly, even though turning things around in the sport is quite difficult."We need to go out and perform well, that's what people are looking for, to be part of something they can be proud of and get their employees energized about," Yates said.The days of single-car teams is ancient history, and even multi-car teams struggle at times."We realized when we decided to go do this that we were going to need two sponsors," Jones said. "If you come down here and perform well, there will be a lot of opportunities."We've talked to a lot of people, but you want to make sure you're putting the right package together."And maybe bringing back the number 28 one their lead car may help. That's the number that Davey Allison and Ernie Irvan made special for many years."I've been asked about the 28 a lot this week," Yates said, "and through the years we had to put the 28 on the shelf. Just about every time I would go on a show the first question would be 'When are you bringing the 28 back?'"That's gone on four or five years now, and it brings back a lot of memories, brings back a lot of pride."(Contact Mike Mulhern at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)