RaceBud

In October 2002, Turn 3 Race Team members Nick, Barbie, Jeanette and I trekked to Charlotte, NC, for the fall race at Lowes Motor Speedway.

We made the trip in Nick and Barbie’s motor coach. He casually refers to it as the ‘moho,’ and his t-shirt declared him to be the moho-drivin-mofo-in-charge.

A day and a half after leaving the home track, we arrived and set up camp. Making camp with the moho was like no camp setting-up I’ve experienced before. Nick had to push a button to activate the auto-leveling device, and then push another to extend the giant awning. Whew, I was nearly exhausted! Barbie activated the champagne-pouring ritual and we toasted our arrival.

A friend of mine had put us in touch with David, who builds engines for several Busch Series teams. We scheduled a shop tour with David, who was originally from Texas and had an ongoing craving for brisket. We had thoughtfully brought a brisket, hoping it would influence the quality of our tour. What we got was beyond our expectations.

David’s shop was fairly small. He walked us through the entire process in about thirty minutes, and then excused himself to take a phone call. When he returned, he asked if we would mind delivering a small box of parts to the Robert Yates Racing shop – perhaps someone would show us around, he grinned.

We thanked him for the tour, but instead of saying the traditional “you’re welcome” he responded with the unexpected. “No…thank YOU. If it wasn’t for the fans, I wouldn’t be able to live my dream.”

We arrived at the RYR lobby, parts box in hand, and asked for Nick Ramey. While we waited, we watched the public viewing area that RYR provided for shop visitors. It consisted of a roped-off open area from the lobby, extending into the garage area. Several Yates employees were making final adjustments on a #88 UPS Ford that Dale Jarrett would drive in a few weeks.

From across the shop floor, a man approached the lobby and all the set-up guys stopped what they were doing, stood up and started applauding, calling out cheers for “Mr. Horsepower.” It was Nick Ramey.

Mr. Horsepower checked with the receptionist, who pointed us out as the group waiting for him. He approached, took his box of parts and introduced himself. Then he said, “Come with me.”

We exited the lobby through a back door, right into the shop area. More than a dozen #88 Fords stood in various stages of readiness. As we walked past the public display area, several tourists pointed and asked if they could go with us. “You’re not allowed back there,” the receptionist told them.

Ramey walked us through the various areas of the shop, stopping to explain with as much detail as we could absorb about the chassis specialists, the shock specialists, the gear guys and the fabrication shop. As we made our way through the building, we saw one other group being shown around. It was being led by a member of the pit crew.

As we made our way through the building, we approached a door that Ramey clearly held in higher regard than the others. It was the engine shop, and second only to Doug Yates, Nick Ramey was the man in charge. This was Mr. Horsepower’s domain.

We were about to enter the locked area when the tour-giving crew member ran up and asked if his group could go in with us. It was his fiancé and soon-to-be in-laws. He wasn’t allowed in the shop since he didn’t work there. Ramey agreed to let them join us and off we went.

Yates power has earned a top-notch reputation in the world of NASCAR engine building. And we were entering the Temple of Horsepower. Patiently, quietly, and with abundant pride, Ramey showed us where the used engines were broken down for inspection, how the various parts were tested and analyzed for wear and how it was all documented. Then, there was the engine-building area. Employees worked quietly, concentrating on their duties and paying us little attention.

We stopped near the bottom of a staircase for questions. And the big question was why Yates engines were so much better than the others. He pointed to the door at the top of the stairs, and grinned again. “That room is the reason we’re better. That,” he emphasized, “is the Room of Doom. It’s where quality assurance of our parts takes place. It’s the room our suppliers have come to hate.”

It was clear that this was the inner soul of the Yates engine operation. He didn’t offer us a tour of the Room of Doom and nobody asked to see it. Instead, we moved on to tour one of the team haulers, the dyno and a few other areas of interest.

This was a very special tour that we didn’t want to end. Our tour guide had taken us to the inner depths and obligingly answered all our questions, and more. Ultimately, it was time to go. “Thanks so much for a great tour, Nick,” we offered in near unison.

“No, the thanks go to you all. Because of fans like you, I’m able to live my dream,” he said in a most earnest voice. Then, he was gone and we went on our way.

We have had several opportunities to see Nick since then. Sitting in the stands in Charlotte and Texas, we looked for him through the binoculars. And sure enough, there was Mr. Horsepower in one of the Yates’ pit areas, leaning against a tool box and living his dream.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS