Doug Yates (left) with Elliott Sadler Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Doug Yates

DOVER, Del. -- Doug Yates, the son of one of the most noted engine builders in NASCAR racing history -- Robert Yates -- always knew he'd make a living in the world of cylinder heads, camshafts and spark plugs.

TrackPass Audio 8:59 Conversation: Doug Yates

But thankfully for Doug and his family, he has flourished in the organization his father built, Robert Yates Racing; while at the same time working closely with a manufacturer in the structuring and implementation of an allied Ford engine program in the Nextel Cup Series.

Doug Yates was busy enough marshaling his teams' efforts: The No. 38 M&M's Ford unit for driver Elliott Sadler, which is part of the Chase for the Nextel Cup; and the No. 88 UPS Taurus crew for driver Dale Jarrett, who won the 1999 NASCAR Cup championship and which is chasing the 11th spot in the 2004 standings.

In addition to his own teams' fortunes, Doug Yates also has an eye on the other three Ford teams -- fielded by engine program partner Jack Roush -- that are also in the Chase.

At Dover International Speedway, Yates talked with NASCAR.COM's Dave Rodman to discuss the benefits of working within a family operation, the performance potential of the Ford Nextel Cup engine and Ford's prospects in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

We're firmly into this Chase for the Nextel Cup, for the first time, so at this point, 28 races into the season, how well would you say the Yates/Roush partnership to produce Ford engines has been for Ford Racing?

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Doug Yates: You know, it's probably a little bit harder for me to comment, because I'm right in the middle of it. But I'll tell you that so far it's been a great partnership and a great relationship.

Obviously, the performance from the first part of the year, when we put this thing together, until now has come a long ways, and I think we're really hitting our stride at the right time.

We've got four cars in the top-10 and four cars with a chance to win this thing, so it's a pretty exciting time right now, for Ford.

When you put yourself in Doug Yates' shoes, what has that meant for you? I'm sure your schedule wasn't easy before, so is it even more hectic, now?

Doug Yates: I guess the way that my dad and I have maybe always done things, is we like to load our plate as full as we can stand it and to see if we can swim or not.

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We sat down with Jack last year in Atlanta and put this deal together. Nov. 17 was when we shook hands and agreed to do it and from then until now has been a lot to get accustomed to -- a lot of new things and a lot of great people put in place.

The biggest challenge for me -- a hands-on guy -- has been to try to back off from that side a little bit and try to lay the organization out and to get the right people in the right spots.

It's been hectic, but I probably wouldn't have it any other way.

It sounds to me like, with an inventive mind, you'd be in a heckuva lot of trouble if you weren't keeping busy.

Doug Yates: Well (laughing), yeah. We're always looking for something to do, you know? If we're getting bored, we'll go out and get another project, but I think this one's going to last for a while.

In terms of personnel and the physical makeup of the organization, what has this meant? Have you bumped up the number of personnel you're employing and managing?

Doug Yates: At the start of this year I hired 35 new employees, and that's my biggest job right now -- the management side and making sure I've got 90 people pulling in the same direction, which is neat for me.

I guess, somewhere deep inside I should have been a football coach, or something like that. Those kinds of things excite me -- everybody coming together and working for a common goal.

You've said before that one of the biggest perks of your position is that you get to work with your dad, your team owner. Do you feel like that increases or decreases the stress level in what is a stressful business?

Elliott Sadler (left) with Dale Jarrett Credit: Autostock

Doug Yates: I think that it decreases it. You know, I always have him there to lean on, (and to take advantage of) his experiences.

I had a situation last week where, boy, I just put my head in my hands and I didn't know what to do. I just called him up and got his opinion -- not that it mean that that's the path I took, but it's sure nice to know that you can pick up the phone and call somebody.

Over time, Jack and I will probably have that same -- or similar -- relationship, but it is neat to have a chance to work with my dad. It's something pretty special for me.

You have four Fords in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. With three manufacturers involved, that put you somewhat ahead of the curve, so was that ahead of your expectations?

Doug Yates: You know, the thing I like about it right now is that nobody is really talking about it, that much. Everybody was pretty much putting their money on (Jeff) Gordon or (Jimmie) Johnson.

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It's pretty neat just to have four cars in there, but you know, if you look at each individual one, there's something pretty special about each one of them.

Mark Martin, obviously, getting in and putting him in a position to where he can win his first championship (is special). If we can do that, as Ford or as an engine supplier -- however you want to look at it -- it's pretty awesome.

If you look at the 38 (Robert Yates Racing's Elliott Sadler), who would have given this team a shot to even have a chance to win a championship? So there are a lot of scenarios there that are really neat to look at.

When we sat down to do this and they announced this new playoff thing, well Jack said, 'we'll just have eight cars in there (laughing).' Obviously, that's a bit unrealistic but to have four in there is just incredible.

I think it's a great accomplishment for us as the engine supplier and for the race teams and everybody in Ford Motor Company.

In terms of your engine preparation and engine tuning for the Chase, at the racetrack, is the Chase all about doing what got you here, or are you going to get more aggressive?

Doug Yates: One of the hard things for me to overcome, as a racer, is the fact that we're building engines for eight teams a week. You can't change things as fast as you could when you had one or two cars.

Therefore, this thing's a big wheel, and when things get set in motion, you kind of have to stick to your game plan. We're going to continue to do what got us here, and try not to change any of that, because so far it's been pretty successful.

From the engine standpoint, in your own organization, to what degree can the Dale Jarrett and crew chief Mike Ford's No. 88 team help out what the 38 is doing as a Chase contender? Of course, Dale is still racing for that 11th spot, which is kind of a big deal.

Doug Yates: I think if you were to ask Dale or Robert or what my thoughts were; I think that a successful season this year for Dale Jarrett would be to get a win -- whether he finishes 11th or whether he finishes 15th (in the championship).

We're really trying hard to do that. We can go out and run a little bit riskier stuff in Dale's car and learn some things that we could be able to apply (on the 38).

You know, 10 races is a long time. And although it is a big wheel, like I just said, we do have time where we could implement some things by the end of the year that could impact the outcome of this thing.

You mentioned that the engine performance has increased as the season's gone on, but for the 2004 Ford engine package, potentially where would you say it is along its development curve and where it can be by the end of the season?

Doug Yates: We worked on this one cylinder head package for as long as I've been doing this (laughing) and the other guys (GM and Dodge) kind of leap-frogged us in the port height -- the layout of the head.

And for us to be really six months into the development of this engine, I think we've really got a long way to go. I think there are some other gains there that could be had by the year's end and definitely into the future.

Obviously, if they change to a gear rule (in 2005) and change that side of things up, it's going to take a different approach, but it's just nice to have equal ground with the other competitors, you know?

For so long it was so frustrating to -- I guess we were somewhat a victim of our own success -- because since we could compete with what we had, they wouldn't give us something else. So, you know, it's just nice to have something that has potential to go further.

As you say, it seems like it took a long time to get that new head improved and in production and in the racecars. Conceptually, I guess, what's next on the horizon for the Ford engine package?

Doug Yates: The great deal with putting this partnership together with Robert and Jack; is that now Ford is united.

I'd be kidding you if I sat here and said Ford wasn't spun out because when Jack would ask Ford for something, we would ask for something else, so we were somewhat holding each other back.

I think that's probably the best thing for Ford, right now, is that we're united and that we can work together towards the future, and obviously just to continue to refine this engine that we have.

Again, to the degree that we're not sure exactly what the gear rule is going to be, when will you really start working on developing scenarios for that? Will it be the end of this year, or is it something that can wait until you get into 2005?

Doug Yates: Actually, we've talked and we're going to have a cutoff point for this year. There's only a certain amount of time that you can impact these (2004) engines, so at a certain date we're going to stop this year's development and start on next year.

You know, obviously we don't know what RPM it's (gear rule) going to be; and I think the biggest thing for next year is going to be, instead of changing the gear, you're probably going to see (different) manifolds and headers and different combinations like that.

So we're going to start thinking about that very shortly.