The Buzz: September 29, 2001

September 29, 2001
1:25 PM EDT (1725 GMT)

Earlier this week, the Mooresville (N.C.) Police Department confirmed that a race car was stolen from an area shop. A large majority of shops on the NASCAR circuit are located in the town 30 miles north of Charlotte.

Robert Yates

Although published news reports said the police would not reveal where the car was stolen from, they did say it was in an enclosed trailer. Apparently, someone had hooked the trailer up to a vehicle and towed it away.

The Buzz has learned that the car was stolen from the property of Robert Yates Racing. It wasn’t a Yates car, though, but a dyno chassis car owned by Petty Enterprises.

Richard Petty

So, what was a Petty car doing at Yates?

Well, the two teams may be making some sort of announcement in the next couple of weeks regarding either a joint venture or new ownership of an existing division of Yates. The current ownership of all race teams for both teams will remain the same.

The value of the stolen race car was listed at $200,000.