It might not be an identical Karate Kid scenario like in the movie, but when rookie Pro Stock driver Camrie Caruso and veteran crew chief Jim Yates hit the track in 2022, they’re hoping for similar results.

Caruso, the third-generation drag racer and soon to be NHRA Pro Stock’s second female racer in competition, she’s determined to master her “wax-on wax-off” routine when it comes to learning from Yates, who was once a decorated championship competitor as a driver.

The first point Yates would like to make is Caruso is a good driver, and his role is just to help her get better.

“I think most of the pressure is going to be on herself, not from me,” Yates said. “I’m not going to put pressure on her; it’s going to be on herself. My job is to help her figure out how to do a better job if she struggles with something, is to show her maybe some secrets about how to maybe get the shift points a little closer, or to drive the car a little smoother, not oversteer it, stuff like that.

“But I got to watch her race first. I can’t start telling her what to do before I see her go down the track. But from what I’ve seen of her history, she’s done a great job in the past. A good driver is harder on themselves than body else will ever be. We talked about that last week when I was down [at her shop]. If you’re smart enough to read a time card, you’re smart enough to look at a graph. You’re going to know what you’re doing and where to improve it, and it’s up to you. I don’t have to yell at you or lecture you, and I’m not going to do that. You’ll see it. It’s going to be plain and simple, and you just got to work on it.”

Having someone the caliber of Yates as her mentor and shot-caller doesn’t intimidate Caruso at all.

“I’m excited, honestly,” Caruso said. “He has driving experience and tuning experience. I feel like he brings even more, and he can help me as a newer driver to the ProStock, develop as a driver too. I’m excited. I don’t know that I’m intimidated by it.

“I don’t want to disappoint anybody. I don’t want to disappoint my team, or my grandpa, or my dad, or really anybody behind me, just because I like to do the best I can every single time. So it’s definitely nerve-wracking to that extent.”

Caruso, the 23-year-old Pro Stock rookie, daughter of former Pro Modified racer Marc Caruso and granddaughter of “Papa Joe” Caruso, who raced in Super Gas, Top Sportsman, and Pro Mod, brings much more to the competitive table than just an excellent racing pedigree.

Caruso began driving in the NHRA Jr. Dragster League before attending Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School and earning her Super Comp license. She has continued to move up through the NHRA competition classes for over a decade. After three years of competing in the 8.90 index class, she returned to Frank Hawley and obtained her Top Dragster license, successfully competing in both PDRA and NHRA for three years.

In 2019, Caruso landed a seat with the championship Top Alcohol Dragster team of Randy Meyer Racing. In her second start in Top Alcohol Dragster at the famed Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Caruso qualified second and captured her first TAD win. She advanced from Top Alcohol Dragster, then to Elite Top Dragster and Pro Outlaw 632 on the PDRA circuit. The team’s 632 car was a naturally aspirated, clutch-equipped former Mountain Motor Pro Stock GXP that is very similar to an NHRA Pro Stock car.

After that, she raced in Top Dragster and, most recently, in Pro Outlaw 632 on the PDRA circuit. The team’s 632 car was a naturally-aspirated, clutch-equipped Pontiac GXP strikingly similar to a current NHRA Pro Stock car.

Caruso has seen and performed a lot in her relatively short career and understands the magnitude of the situation she plans to enter as the team debuts at the 2022 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca.

“I’ll be the first to admit it, I definitely underestimated what was going to go into it and the time and everything,” Caruso admitted. “I’ve called my dad multiple times, and I’m like, ‘Hey, we need to hurry up.”

“He’s like, “just chill; everything will be fine.” But it’s definitely a lot, but I’m excited for it.”

The transition from driver to crew chief many years ago was a natural one for Yates, who sold his successful auto parts chain and went to work for Gray Motorsports.

There’s a tie into his former employer as the team will begin competition with four of the 500 cubic inch Gray Motorsports engines, refurbished and now maintained by Eric Latino’s Titan Racing Engines in Denver, N.C., will provide the power for Caruso’s Denver, N.C.-based, Jerry Haas-built Camaro.

Transforming a rookie driver into a champion isn’t a proposition that scares the cagey veteran in the least.

“I’ve done it a couple times in the past,” Yates said. “I worked with Shane Gray when he was a rookie back in 2010 when I first stopped driving the car and started crew chiefing for him and Johnny. We worked with Shane all year, and Johnny and Shane ended up number four in the country. Won Pomona at the end of the year and had a good shot at rookie of the year.

“I worked with Grace Howell back when she was racing with Jim Cunningham, and taught her how to drive. She’d never driven a clutch car before. I have a reasonable expectation level. I’ve seen the stuff she’s driven before. It’s a lot faster than some of the stuff I’ve driven. She drove a Top Alcohol dragster. She won a race. So, I mean, she knows how to go fast, and she’s a competitive person.”

Yates understands this opportunity isn’t only great for Caruso; he’s equally benefitting.

“This is a great opportunity to get out here and try and help this team really be the most it can be, and they’re committed,” Yates said. “They want to run fast. They want to run at the front, and I think she’s got the ability to do that. It’s exciting for me to be the leader of the program, as far as the car and that part of it. I mean, they’ve got a good engine program going with Stevie Johns and Mike Smith, and what’s going on down there at Titan Racing Engines.

“But when it comes to the car and the team and we’re going to the track and running it, I get to be the leader. That’s exciting for me because I’ve done it before and I think with the commitment they have and the commitment I have, I want to be successful. I’m not coming out here just to go up and down the racetrack and just put in laps. I want to win, and that’s what I told him. I said, “I don’t race and get involved at this level, just to up down the racetrack. I want to be running in a position where we can win races”. It’s a challenge for me, and I’m up for it.”