Former NASCAR team owner Robert Yates is beginning to receive treatment for liver cancer, according to his son, Doug, who tweeted about it on Monday.
In 21 years as a NASCAR Premier Series team owner, Robert Yates won 57 races and had 49 poles. In 1999, NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Jarrett won the championship driving the No. 88 Robert Yates Racing Ford Thunderbird.
Early on, Yates built his reputation as one of NASCAR’s finest engine builders, which Doug carries on today as the head of Roush Yates Engines.
He began his career at Holman-Moody Racing in 1968 and three years later moved on to work with another NASCAR Hall of Fame member, Junior Johnson.
Yates built the engines that powered Bobby Allison to a Premier Series championship in 1983 with DiGard Racing. In the late 1980s, Yates launched his own team, Robert Yates Racing.
All told, Yates won three Daytona 500s as a car owner, the first with Davey Allison and the next two with Jarrett.
FOXSports.com sends best wishes to Robert and the Yates family for a speedy recovery.
