Yount Goes All In

Subtitle:Lites 1 Masters Competitor Making Progress, Climbing Podiums

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 16, 2015) – Don Yount earned six podium finishes in his first full season of Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda in 2014.

Not bad for someone who had never done a full season of racing. Yount first joined the series in 2009, running only a few races and tests a year until 2014.

Prior to his debut in 2009 at Road Atlanta, racing was only a dream for Yount.

“I had always wanted to race, but priorities like family and work make it difficult to always find the extra time,” Yount said. “So when the opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it. I started with the Lites.

“I looked at a lot of different cars in the beginning. But none held my attention for long, so when I found the Lites car, I said: ‘This is it. Let’s do it and learn quickly!’ Luckily, we accomplished just that and were able to become competitive quickly.”

Yount’s first full season in 2014 had a large learning curve with half of the tracks being new venues for him. Overcoming the difficulties of learning a new track led to missing a few podium finishes, but he walked away each time with more determination in his small, tight-knit Yount Motorsports team.

“The biggest thing about last year was the seat time,” Yount said. “I was getting to know the car better and learning new tracks. When it’s your first time at a track, I think you spend less time really driving and more time learning.

“It always seems like by the time you leave a new track you finally say, ‘Oh, now I get it,’ and by then the weekend’s over. It’s more fun to go back to these tracks and have the confidence to be able to really focus on getting faster.”

Yount turned the challenge of learning new tracks into an opportunity to diversify his racecraft and is reaping the benefits this season. He proved it with an impressive drive in in mid-March in the season opener at Sebring International Raceway, advancing eight positions.

“I was so excited for Sebring after last season,” Yount said. “I knew we had made a lot of improvement, so I was ready to go back. We ended up having something break on the car, and I had to start from the back.

“I drove from 20th to 12th. It felt good overcoming this obstacle, and I thought that showed improvement. I enjoy going back places so you can improve on your performance.”

Yount’s enjoyment of the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda series, along with his love of the sport and dedication to advancing his talent, was part of the reason why he jumped from running a few races per year to a full season in Lites 1 Masters competition.

“When I chose the series it was because of the professionalism in which it is handled,” Yount said. “It’s well run. Obviously, it’s not going to be to your liking all the time, but the people who run the series are high caliber. The competition is strong; the car is great. It fits the time budget and, more importantly, the time schedule I have.

“This is truly the best series to get the most bang for your buck. It’s a series you learn in, one of the things I most enjoy with regard to it being an aero-based car. It’s exhilarating, and it challenges you. There is an abundance of competitors going for the Masters Championship, which makes for a fun competition.”

Yount built his team from individual mechanics and engineers from some of the top platforms in racing. Yount Motorsports’ rise in the series came quickly but was no surprise to Yount.

“The guys on the team come from big-time-level pro racing,” Yount said. “These are Dallas-area guys who didn’t want to dedicate the time a pro-level series takes, but they wanted to stay in racing and they wanted to stay competitive. “That’s why this series is so appealing.”

Yount continues to strive for his goals in 2015 as Rounds 5 and 6 of the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda series quickly approach June 25-27 at Watkins Glen.

“Of course I’d like to win Masters this year,” Yount said. “I’d like to see us on a few of the overall podiums. We’ve been testing the PC (Prototype Challenge) car out, this year with BAR 1.

“I’m hoping by the end of the year we’ll be able to do at least one race in the PC. As of right now, I’m hoping to run it in Texas (Circuit of the Americas) and if all goes well, in Atlanta. We also have had a few meetings for running a race in Mexico, the Carrera Panamericana, in 2015.

Rounds 5 and 6 for Yount and the rest of the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda field take place June 25-27 at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York.

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