A little more than a week ago, Robert Yates Racing announced a partnership with Champ Car standouts Paul Newman and Carl Haas that it hopes will improve the team’s performance in a season that has been a struggle at times. And while the setups of open wheel machines and stock cars have nothing in common, the emotional boost from the merger seems to be doing just that.
At least based on Ricky Rudd’s run here at Pocono. Dan Beaver, Yahoo! Sports
Aug 01
Yates: We’ve been going through this process about a year and a half, trying to figure out how to make our program stronger. In that time frame, I’ve kind of hardened in some ways and accepted some things. On one hand, it’s a little bit sad to see RYR go to a new chapter. But then, it’s very exciting. And the partnership with Paul Newman, Carl Haas and Mike Lanigan and his family, we couldn’t have found a better fit for our company. David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
Aug 01, 2007
The influx of money should be a plus and perhaps Paul Newman’s celebrity can help lure sponsors, but I’m not sold that the engineering skills the Champ Car team brings into the mix means a hill of beans. Open-wheel success hasn’t done much for the stock-car bottom line for the organizations that do both, most notably Penske Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing. Both of those organizations have had great success in IndyCar, but neither has been able to consistently replicate that success in NASCAR. Brian De Los Santos and Charlie McCarthy, CBS.SportsLine.com
July 29
NASCAR’s Robert Yates Racing and Champ Car’s Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing exchanged rings on Friday at Indianapolis, marking an out-of-family marriage that might leave some aficionados scratching their heads.
The partnership also created one of the longest names in modern-day motorsports: Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, a moniker that should be a mouthful for TV and radio announcers. MARK DeCOTIS, FLORIDA TODAY
July 28
“They come from a world of (aerodynamic) splitters and wings, and we feel like NASCAR has put a closer tolerance on bodies,” said Doug Yates, son of RYR principal owner Robert Yates. “Now you can engineer the cars and get some results that may make sense.”
Benefits to the team of actor Paul Newman and Illinois businessmen Carl Haas and Mike Lanigan are less clear. In fact, Haas said the arrangement wouldn’t help his Champ Car team at all before
July 28
Doug Yates jokes that the new name for his father’s race team sounds more like a law firm.
Yates/Newman/Haas/Lan-igan could pass for a group you turn to when in trouble.
Car owner Robert Yates did. He looked to the three co-owners of a Champ Car Series team, which includes actor Paul Newman, to revive his languishing Nextel Cup team. They’ll join as partners.
July 28, 2007
Less than a month after he pulled out of a potential deal with an investment banking firm, car owner Robert Yates has finally found an ally to provide the one thing he needed more than money: top-notch engineering help.
Yates has sold an equity position in Robert Yates Racing to longtime Champ Car World Series team Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing and the NASCAR team was renamed Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing effective immediately, the team announced Friday.
July 28, 2007
“This is a wonderful partnership,” said Robert Yates, who founded his first Cup team in 1989. “This gives us a clear vision how to get to the top. It is our goal to continue to build so this team will be better positioned to contend for the championship.”
The Mooresville, N.C.-based team has mostly been inconsistent since Dale Jarrett won its only title in 1999. Also, it has endured a number of changes—including the departure of Jarrett and Emporia native Elliott Sadler.
July 27, 2007
NASCAR’s latest joint venture has all the signs of a merger, though the principals involved went to great lengths to call it a partnership.
Whatever it’s called, Nextel Cup team owner Robert Yates hopes the three partners he added on Friday can restore the luster to his struggling operation.
Yates announced a link with open wheel juggernaut Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, which has won 101 races and seven Champ Car World Series championships in 25 seasons, including the past three titles with French driver Sebastien Bourdais.
July 27
After taking his organization off the market last month, Robert Yates will announce Friday at Indy that he has either sold half his team to Champ car owners Paul Newman and Carl Haas or has entered into an agreement to share engine technology paving the way for a full partnership in 2008. The new organization will add at least one and most likely two cars to its stable next year. Greg Engle, Cup Scene Daily
July 27
Robert Yates Racing (RYR) and Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) have entered into a letter of intent for a partnership in NASCAR’s Nextel Cup and Busch Series. The team will be named Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing effective immediately. AutoRacingDaily.com
July 27
Robert Yates Racing is next. An announcement is expected Friday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that the venerable Ford team will be bought, partnered or merge with the Indy Car and Busch series operation co-owned by actor Paul Newman, Carl Haas and Michael Lanigan.
Doug Guthrie, DetNews.com
July 26
The seven time open wheel champion team owned by Carl Hass and Paul Newman with three-time champion Sebastian Bourdais as their driver will take over half of the team that Yates purchased from Harry Ranier in 1988. Yates took the one car operation expanded it to two in 1995, and won a championship with Dale Jarrett in 1999.
Haas’ most recent foray into NASCAR at the Nextel Cup level was as Travis Carter’s partner on the No.’s. 26 and 66 in 2002. Greg Engle, Cup Scene Daily
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