Yates looking forward to passing team to his son

DOVER, Del. -- Robert Yates is preparing to "pass the torch" to his son at the end of the season as he steps down as president of Yates Racing, but what exactly is Doug inheriting? If you look at it from a glass half-full or glass half-empty standpoint, you wind up with two very different conclusions.

First, the positives. Doug Yates will have the benefit of a strong working relationship with Jack Roush's operation, a solid core of dedicated employees, two drivers just reaching their primes and guaranteed starting spots for both cars for the first five races of the 2008 season, if they remain in the top 35 for the rest of the year. It's a chance to start his own operation with a clean slate.

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The negatives: The two drivers in his stable have four combined top-10 Cup finishes, both cars are in danger of falling out of the top 35 with nine races to go -- and perhaps most disconcerting -- there's a good chance his primary sponsor is leaving the team at the end of the season. There may be a foundation there but little else.

But the most important thing Robert Yates is leaving his son -- and the sport -- is his integrity.

"I want out of the ownership position," Robert Yates said Friday at Dover International Speedway. "I think it's wonderful he can pick it up, to pass that on down, and the best way to give it to Doug is let him earn it.

"He wants to do that, and the best thing to do is -- I give Doug nothing, but a hard time and a hard job, and I think he'll do well at it. I'll be rooting for him, but that's where we are."

Where we are is attempting to sort out a whirlwind of announcements and directional shifts that haven't abated all summer.

It wasn't more than two months ago, in a packed conference room under the grandstands at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, that Robert Yates announced plans to merge his operation with open-wheel's Newman-Haas-Lanigan.

Earlier this month, Yates changed his mind again, deciding instead to retire. And this week, he handed over his championship-winning numeral to a grateful Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Robert Yates is a throwback to the early days of the sport, when the numbers on the dyno meant more than the numbers in the checking account, which is why it seems in hindsight, a logical decision to give away the No. 88.

"The thing with Dale Jr., people don't know, but Ralph Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt ... taught me a huge lesson in life," Robert Yates said. "It would be a long story to explain that, but certainly they taught me that respect is earned and not something that you can demand. You have to earn that.

"I had so many relationships and deals with those two guys, to see Ralph's grandson and Dale's son, he's going to do a great job with the number. And some of my life really got started with Rick Hendrick, so I think they'll do that number justice."

If luck is the place where opportunity meets preparation, Yates might describe his career is a series of lucky breaks. But it's obvious that talent plus integrity can take you much farther than sheer luck.

"I don't think people realize I never got into this sport to be an owner," Yates said. "And I always said, I was just a responsible person and it fell on me, and I worked at it, but not as an owner. I worked as an engine builder, I worked as someone who worked on the cars, and I do not care about ever being anybody's boss. I try to be good to people, but I'm not enjoying that contribution, and I will find something that I can do.

"As a car owner you have think too much about the budgets and all that, and I really don't want to go to work for somebody else now."

When asked about the future of Yates Racing -- particularly whether Doug will return to the No. 28 -- Robert Yates excused himself from the debate.

"You'll have to talk to Doug," he said. "I'll tell you people this: The kids do so much better when it's their decisions, when they have to tough through it. It's just hard to pass the wisdom, it's hard to pass on anything to your kids, but Doug is pretty close on my heels to help build this the last 20 or so years.

"He's not like a normal second-generation, silver-spoon kid, but he's learning, he's challenged, he wants to do this, and the best thing for me to do is let him make these decisions, whether it be the number or how he runs or what he does. So, it's up to Doug. You'll have to talk to Doug, because if I make the statements for him, he respects his dad enough that he'll try to do that. It's totally Doug's decision. So, you'll have to talk to Doug."

So how will Robert Yates exist outside of the sport that has shaped his career -- and his life -- over the last four decades?

"I really enjoy this sport and I want to be able to come around and I'm going to root for Doug Yates, and I'll probably watch Rick Hendrick and the 88 number and I'll feel proud about that," Yates said. "I think also that that deal, they both have a stake in something that's good for each other. I won't go into detail; I think everybody understands what I mean there.

"So life is good. My life is good. Carolyn's waited 40 years on me to spend time with her -- if she doesn't fire me from retirement right away. I'm going to do things that I enjoy, and I'm not sure what that's going to be."