CONCORD, N.C. — Bruce Cooper has been a Robert Yates Racing fan since Davey Allison raced for the team.

On Tuesday night, the Bluefield, Va., native’s car was displayed during the North Carolina Motorsports Ass’n Achievement in Motorsports banquet honoring Robert Yates.

For Cooper, it was his chance to play a part in celebration of Yates’ storied legacy and contribution to North Carolina motorsports and NASCAR.

Cooper had been searching for a retired No. 28 race car for a long time and couldn’t find one, but he did find a No. 88 Ford Quality Care Taurus that Dale Jarrett drove.

Cooper has kept it in pristine original condition, even having the engine rebuilt by the original Roush Yates engine builder Nick Ramey.

Cooper has heard horror stories about retired race cars cannibalized or simply left to a slowly rusting, inglorious fate in a barn or field. Cooper’s car will not suffer such an indignity.

Cooper was honored to have his car on display at the NCMA event.

“I couldn’t think of a better way for me to celebrate Robert Yates and the contributions he made in the sport,” he said.

The car is ready to rumble. That’s something still on Cooper’s bucket list. He’d like to strap into the 800 horsepower car and get a taste of what it’s like behind the wheel in the car Jarett once raced.

He might even be able to coax Jarett and former crew chief Todd Parrott to join him at a track sometime soon.