Cale Yarborough, considered one of the greatest drivers of all time NASCAR and the first to win three consecutive Cup titles, died on Sunday. He was 84 years old.
“Cale Yarborough was one of the toughest competitors NASCAR has ever seen. His combination of talent, grit and determination set Cale apart from his peers, both on the track and in the record book,” said Jim France, NASCAR president and CEO. “He was respected and admired by competitors and fans alike. fans and he was as comfortable behind the wheel of a tractor as he was behind the wheel of a stock car.”
Known for his fierce toughness and grit, Yarborough won the Daytona 500 four times and the Southern 500 at his home track of Darlington Raceway five times. His 83 Cup Series wins are tied with Jimmie Johnson for sixth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, and Yarborough is fourth with 69 poles.
But one of his most famous moments came in the 1979 Daytona 500, the first to be televised live flag-to-flag across the country. Yarborough, a Golden Gloves boxer who also earned a football scholarship to Clemson, crashed while racing Donnie Allison on the final lap for the win. The two drivers got out of their wrecked cars to fight, Allison’s brother Bobby stopped to join the fight, and it was two Allison brothers against Yarborough as Richard Petty crossed the finish line first.
It was a watershed moment for NASCAR, which, due to a snowstorm on the East Coast, was broadcast on live television to its largest audience to date.
Yarborough left full-time racing after winning six races in 1980 and finishing second in the Cup standings after winning three consecutive crowns from 1976 to 1978. He said at the time it was to spend more time with his three daughters. During his NASCAR Hall of Fame induction speech in 2012, Yarborough said he felt like he had completed his journey from the bottom rung of the ladder to the top.
“I was certainly hoping to get to this point because working in the back of the fields under that scorching sun would make you want to do something else,” he said. “I always dreamed of… ending up where I ended up tonight.”
After retiring, Yarborough opened and operated a used car dealership in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina and served on the Florence County Council.
“The NASCAR industry and our millions of fans have lost one of the most courageous and successful superstars of all time,” Winston Kelley, executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, said in a statement. “Cale’s remarkable legacy and accomplishments in NASCAR will live in our minds, our hearts and the archives of the NASCAR Hall of Fame forever.”
Yarborough is survived by his wife, Betty Jo, and daughters Julie, Kelley and BJ
Source: AP
