With most of the motorsports world on hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve decided to highlight some of the sport’s legends on a daily basis. We begin each story within the pages of National Speed Sport News.
Thousands of drivers have entered NASCAR competition since the sanctioning body was formed in 1948. Few, however, have enjoyed the recognition William Caleb “Cale” Yarborough has as one of the toughest and most determined drivers in history.
The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, who raced for 31 years, knew only one way to drive — flat out.
The legendary stories of wrestling an alligator, crashing airplanes and being struck by lightning twice are true. His years as a farmer, Golden Gloves boxer and high school and semi-pro football star set the stage for the difficult battles he fought on short tracks and superspeedways.
By the time he reached his 40th birthday, Yarborough had won three NASCAR Cup Series championships, having become the first driver in NASCAR history to win three consecutive titles while driving Chevrolets fielded by the legendary Junior Johnson.
He made his NASCAR debut in the 1957 Southern 500 driving a Pontiac owned by Bob Weatherly. He finished 42nd. He drove for numerous teams before joining the famed Holman Moody Ford operation in 1964.
In 1965, Yarborough scored his first of 83 victories at Valdosta (Ga.) Speedway for team owner Kenny Myler. He drove in select events in 1966 and in ’67 before being hired by Wood Brothers Racing at the start of the 1968 season. He won 13 major superspeedway events during a four-year span for Glen and Leonard Wood.
A completely unexpected turn of events took him out of NASCAR and unknowingly set the stage for his greatest success. Ford Motor Co. withdrew its factory support of NASCAR teams in 1970 as the result of a rules dispute with NASCAR officials. With the future uncertain, Yarborough was released from Wood Brothers Racing.
Yarborough accepted an offer to drive an Indy car owned by Gene White, running a limited schedule that included the Indianapolis 500. He finished 16th and 10th in two Indy runs in 1971 and ’72.
In early January 1973, he received a surprise phone call from team owner Richard Howard with an offer to enter the full 29-race Cup Series season.
Yarborough won 55 Cup Series races under Johnson’s direction between 1973 and 1980. Johnson bought the team from Howard in 1974 and even though the 1975 season was one of their most dismal with a series of crashes and blown engines, the next season was truly phenomenal, setting the stage for years of dominance in NASCAR’s premier series.
During those championship years, Yarborough, Johnson and their dedicated team based in Ingle Hollow, N.C., logged 28 victories, 70 top-five finishes and 104 top-10 efforts from 1976 through ’78.
A fourth championship in five years fell short by only 19 points in 1980 to Dale Earnhardt.
Yarborough cut back his schedule after the 1979 season, but still won another 20 races during his Cup Series career.
He won four Daytona 500s and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
