Once upon a time, blogging was the domain of individuals. The good ones were written by people who were passionate about their chosen topic. Then, along came the corporate world and created huge machines with dozens of writers. The B list keep toiling along, inspired to reach the level of the big guys. In the world of automotive blogs, the big guys are the likes of Autoblog and Jalopnik. At the top of the B-list food chain is the well read, opinionated and often inflamatory blog, The Truth About Cars.
TTAC is led by Robert Farago, a somewhat traditional freelancer who was determined to carve his very own niche in the blogosphere. Farago and his team have worked hard and been rewarded with a large, loyal following of readers. Even still, the big guns have remained just out of reach. So what to do? RF did what any General would do, he bought a bigger gun.
To say that Brock Yates is a legend of traditional automotive media would be an understatement. Yates’ controversial writing style came straight out of New York and the controversy spilled over into his real world exploits. Ever heard of the Cannonball Run? Of course you have, Hollywood made a cheesy movie of the same title. Well, Yates had more than a bit to do with that one, not to mention that it was based on the Cannonball Baker Sea To Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. I must have read Yates’ book Sunday Driver dozens of times in Junior High. His season in Trans Am taught me the importance of smoothness behind the wheel. Yates’ work has been featured in magazines, books, television and radio. Now, he is in the blogosphere, thanks to Robert Farago.
Brock Yates writing style still has that hard core, sarcastic, love it or leave it edge that has endeared readers for years. Come to think of it, the tone at TTAC has the same love it or leave it appeal. Yates should feel right at home. Maybe his star quality will help TTAC run with the bigguns!
Welcome to the auto blogosphere Brock.
6 comments ↓
If you have followed the Brock Yates thread on TTAC you will notice that many people commenting quickly admit that they have no clue or a small clue of who and what Brock Yates is all about.
RF at TTAC to get his readership up, he wants more traffic is taking full advantage of what Yates can generate for him traffic wise. The Yates editorial brought in fresh viewers since TTAC made a press release that Yates had become a contributor.
Its good to see Brock Yates express his opinion again, he’s a cool dude. It will be interesting to see how it develops.
I agree, as I read through the comments there were many, many youngsters who have no idea who the man from the Finger Lakes region is. What a shame.
As you’ve pointed out, there is indeed a whole new genre of reader at TTAC that has come with Yates. Many who have likely never read and auto blog.
Indeed it will be interesting to see where this goes!
Most of the folks that comment at TTAC are anti Detroit Iron, its the generation after Yates was popular and famous. The folks that read Car and Driver in the early / mid 60’s, the folks that remember the initial Cannonball Runs and reading about them in Car and Driver have found memories of Brock Yates as an automotive original “bad boy”.
David E. Davis found Winding Road, and Brock Yates has found TTAC.
It will be interesting to watch…
So they hired Yates?
What, Fox News offered a low ball salary and the book deal with Regnery fell through?
Didn’t Yates start writing at MPH right before they shut it down?
That (unfortunately) didn’t take long. As of today, Yates has left TTAC. Bummer.
Leave a Comment