John Yale

[Mike Schmidt]

John Yale died peacefully at his home in Meriden, Ct. on Monday. The wake will be on Saturday from 2:00 to 5:00 at the Wallingford Funeral Home in Wallingford, Ct.

John stared racing in the CSH and DSH classes in the late 1950's. After a stint in the Navy, he got serious about boat racing. He won the highly competitive CSH National Championship in 1969 and 1970. He and his partner in crime, Franny Petrillo branched out into the AOH class. He then started driving for Dick O'Dea. He won the DOH National Championship at Depue in 1973. In the late 1970's he also won the 850 National Championship.

In the 1974 john stared building Yale Boats. His boats were "state of the art" at the time and were some of the very best craftsmanship ever. He built hydro's for every class of Stock, Mod and Alky. His boats won MANY National Championships, set many records and won thousands of races. He retired from boat building in the late 1980's.

After boat racing, John and his son (John Jr.) got into stock car racing. All I can say is that he made the Tech Inspectors work real hard.....

John was a huge influence on my racing and many other racers.

Race In Peace John.

[Matt Dagostino]

Sorry to hear..........i was one of the first Stock Outboard guys to drive Yale Boats in the mid 1970's. I later won DSH Nationals in 1980 with a 45 degree angle transom Yale Boat that John innovated from this Alky experience. John was always a great guy and had ice water running in his veins on the race course. There were few drivers that were as calm and calculated as John! Many of us like Skip Berberie, Tommy Good, Elmer Grade, Hoz Compton , Brad Snow etc etc were fortunate to be involved with John Yale. My condolences to his family.

[2.5H]

John was constantly looking for ways to improve boat performance. Here are a few of the innovations I remember being around for when I assisted him in the mid 70s:

• Sharp leading edge at the beginning of the bottom to better define the division of the air above and below the deck and change the lift/angle relationship to reduce blowover tendencies.
• “Spray rails” on the chines to cut down water drag by aiming the water away from the full height of the chine while lifting the chine to reduce digging in.Both effects improved speed in corners.
• The 45 degree transom to optimize the way the motor pushes the boat both in a straight line and in corners.
• The “Tunnel Bottom” which reduced drag, improved cornering, and relieved air as the bow rose to reduce blowovers.

John was amazingly ingenious while being an all-around great guy as well. He helped me accomplish feats I never would have without his help and guidance. Fond memories of John will live on for many of us.

Brad Snow

[bcause]

In my 50 plus years of being involved in this great sport I have owned boats by some of the best builders. They include Sid , Dick Reese , Dick Sooy , Gary Pugh and last but not least John Yale. After many years in the stock division I decided to try PRO. I teamed up Jack Gosman and John built a 500 for Jack and a 350 for myself. All I can say is WOW the first time I drove it. I thank you John for allowing me to own one of your great master pieces. Barry Byers

[Bob Rusnak]

So sorry to here about John, he was some competitor, I ran against him many times in DOH. He built some very good race boats. We had one of his 250 Hydro's we ran in the RB class with a FA Konig. I still have the clamp on mid section that would go on the 45 deg. transom.

[raceright]

John taught me how to set up my cresent,, I still have a yale boat in our basement that was special boat
wonderfull person and very talented . very sorry for this news.