Cale Yarborough was a consecutive three-time NASCAR champion and one of the winningest racers in series history with 83 career victories.
- Died: December 31, 2023 (Who else died on December 31?)
- Details of death: Died in Florence, South Carolina, at the age of 84.
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Cale Yarborough’s legacy
Yarborough dreamed of racing cars as a child. When he was a teen, he lied about his age in an effort to compete in the Southern 500 but was caught before he could race. In 1957, however, he was finally able to do so legitimately and made his first start. He finished in 42nd place. His first top 15 finish came three years later, and by the mid 1960s he was consistently competing for top 10 spots.
In 1967, Yarborough’s career swung upwards. He won six races that year, including the Daytona 500, and he finished 17th overall despite running a limited schedule. He won a career-high 10 races in 1974, but still fell short of winning the year’s championship series. However, in 1976 he began a run that remains among the most dominant in NASCAR history, winning the Winston Cup three years in a row, including a 1977 season in which he finished every race and defeated Richard “the King” Petty by over 380 points.
All told, Yarborough won 83 races, placing him sixth on the most NASCAR victories of all-time list, and he had 319 top 10 finishes and 69 pole positions. His first and last wins came two decades apart, in 1965 and 1985. He was inducted to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, along with the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, and Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, among others. He is widely considered one of the greatest drivers of all time.
On cutting back his schedule after 1979:
“I had decided that I was going to cut back on my schedule and spend more time with my family. That’s what I did and have never regretted it. I would have loved to have won that fourth one, but I felt like I needed to spend more time with my family. That was more important than a fourth championship.”—from a 2008 interview for the Arizona Daily Star
Tributes to Cale Yarborough
Full obituary: ESPN
