Cale Yarborough led the first lap and the 200th lap to win $17,500 as he directed a one-two sweep for Mercury in the Daytona 500 at Daytona Int’l Speedway in 1968.
Yarborough, a husky five-foot-seven, 215-pound former football player, waged a duel with fellow Mercury driver Lee Roy Yarbrough during the last 10 laps of the race and took the checkered flag one second ahead of his rival in a twin Cyclone GT.
Despite the high-speed qualifying runs, Yarborough’s winning average speed of 143.251 mph was the slowest Daytona 500 since 1960. The caution flag was out 11 times for 50 laps of the 2.5-mile track.
Only 23 of the 50 starters were running at the end of the race.
