American automotive journalist and editor of Car and Driver — creator of the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash (the inspiration for the Cannonball Run films) and biographer of Enzo Ferrari.
Automotive counterculture journalist: Yates combined serious automotive criticism with a countercultural attitude toward speed laws and automotive establishment. The Cannonball Run (1971, 1979) — an unsanctioned coast-to-coast race as a protest against the 55 mph speed limit — became culturally iconic. His Ferrari biography is the most widely read English-language account of Enzo Ferrari.
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