INDUSTRY: Writer, Cannonball run founder Yates dies

Above, from left: Pamela Yates with Dan Gurney, Evi Gurney and Brock Yates.

Motorsports journalist and "The Cannonball Run" screenwriter Brock Yates has died after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

"Today, after suffering with Alzheimer's for the last 12 years, my father finally succumbed," Brock Yates Jr. wrote on Facebook. "He touched many lives, but sadly no more."

• MILLER: Brock Yates tribute

Yates, a longtime editor of Car and Driver magazine, created the first Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash in 1971 to protest the imminent 55-mph national speed limit. Five Cannonball runs took place between 1971-79, with Yates and Dan Gurney winning the first official run in a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona.

"Our good friend, the brilliant writer, my Cannonball teammate Brock Yates passed away yesterday after a long and brave struggle with Alzheimer's disease," Dan and Evi Gurney said in a statement released by All American Racers. "Although Brock has been 'gone' for some time, the finality of his leaving is hitting all of us in the automotive world with shock and sadness. He was brave, kind, funny, unconventional and talented. For decades starting in the 1960s his columns in Car and Driver magazine were jewels in the sea of motor racing literature.

"Brock Yates' creation of the 'Cannonball Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Run' and the movies resulting from it are cultural landmarks celebrating a freedom loving era which is gone forever. He set a mark in motor racing history and he leaves a hole in our hearts."

Yates and friend Hal Needham, a director and stuntman, co-wrote "Smokey and the Bandit II." Yates also was a prolific author whose books included "Against Death and Time: One Fatal Season in Racing's Glory Years," "Cannonball!: World's Greatest Outlaw Road Race," "The Indianapolis 500: The Story of the Motor Speedway" and "The Decline and Fall of the American Auto Industry."