#HOMETOWN HUSTLE: Yeager’s Auto Body

Welcome to #HOMETOWNHUSTLE – a SweetwaterNOW exclusive series where we highlight hardworking individuals in our community.

This month we sat down with Justen Yeager of Yeager’s Auto Body in Green River, a lifelong local whose love of cars, family, and community has driven him for decades. What started as a family shop has grown into a thriving two-location operation, and the engine shows no signs of slowing down.

The Backstory

For Justen, cars aren’t just a business, they’re a way of life. Growing up in Green River, he was surrounded by them from day one. Whether he was with his dad or his stepdad, who was also a mechanic, there was always something to work on.

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“Whether I was with my dad or my stepdad, we were always working on cars,” he said. “It’s just kind of what we did.”

The family shop originally leaned more toward mechanical work under his father’s watch, but he and his brothers gradually steered things toward auto body repair. When his dad was ready to step away, the decision to buy him out felt natural, even if it wasn’t exactly a grand plan.

“I don’t know that there was really a reason other than just, I needed a job and my dad was selling out,” he said. “So me and my wife decided to go for it.”

He and his wife, Jessica, officially took over Yeager’s Auto Body in 1999. At the time, it was a small operation with just one employee. Today, they run a team of 12.

Growing the Shop

The growth didn’t happen overnight, but it has been steady. Yeager’s has undergone two major expansions over the years, first adding a shop in the back around 2005, then adding another large section roughly seven years ago. The business also now operates a second location down the street, which handles overflow work and some mechanical jobs.

Their main office remains at 360 West Flaming Gorge Way, where the bulk of the work gets done, primarily insurance-related auto body repair.

“We’ve really tried to keep up with everything on the cars as much as we can,” he said.

That’s easier said than done. The auto body industry has changed dramatically since 1999, with modern vehicles requiring far more technology, equipment, and specialized training than the cars of decades past. His two sons, Braxton, 25, and Bryson, 20, now work alongside him at the shop, and he’ll be the first to admit they’ve got a leg up when it comes to the tech side of things.

“I kind of get stubborn on wanting to stick to my old ways,” he laughed, “and my dad did that when I bought him out, so hopefully they can take it to the next step when I’m done.”

A Racing Family

Ask anyone at Yeager’s what they do outside the shop and you’ll get one answer: racing.

It started with his father, who raced when he was young and was even a key volunteer in helping build the Sweetwater Speedway in Rock Springs. Justin still remembers riding as a small child in a big dozer with the late Al Buschelman as he cut out sections of what would become the track.

His own racing career kicked off on graduation night in 1992, and he hasn’t really stopped since. These days, his sons Braxton and Bryson carry most of the racing load, competing in the modified division at tracks across the country, from Arizona in the winter to Iowa and Nebraska in the summer. But all three of them still line up against each other on race nights.

“There’s not a lot of sports you can do with your kids,” he said. “To be my age and be able to go out and compete against them is really a lot of fun.”

He’s quick to admit his boys have surpassed him on the track, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s pretty discouraging getting beat by those kids all the time,” he said with a laugh, “but I’d much rather have them in front of me at the end of the night.”

The modified division suits the family well, it runs on a nationwide ruleset, meaning they can travel nearly anywhere and race the same class of car. And with the Sweetwater Speedway right in their backyard, they don’t always have to go far.

“People don’t even realize how nice our track is,” he said. “It’s one of the nicest tracks in the western United States.”

The local racing season kicks off Memorial weekend, with all three Yeagers expected to compete.