NOTABLE PASSING

By Bob Walsh

Brock Yates, notable gearhead and auto journalist, died last week in his home in Batavia, N.Y. at the age of 82.

Yates was a noted, perhaps THE noted, auto journalist in this country. He wrote for Car and Driver for many years and also wrote for other major magazines. I remember a really fine article he wrote probably 40 years ago about how to piss out the car door while you are actually driving. (It was intended primarily for men.)

He was pretty much single-handedly responsible for the development of the since defunct CANNONBALL BAKER MEMORIAL SEA TO SHINNING SEA TROPHY DASH, which raced from a garage in New York City to Hermosa Beach, CA. Liability fears brought the race to a halt as the sole criteria for winning was getting there first. This of course led to significant amounts of speeding and possibly other dangerous driving. If I recall correctly the final race was won in slightly less than 36 hours.

Two somewhat fictionalized movies were made of the race, titled CANNONBALL and THE GUMBALL RALLY.

He was an outstanding writer and, I understand, a heck of a guy. He will be missed.