NASCAR legend Cale Yarborough remembered for ‘grit and determination’

Cale Yarborough, the NASCAR legend whose unique style propelled him to set records and draw praise from fans and the industry alike, has died. He was 84.

NASCAR confirmed Yarborough’s passing Sunday on New Year’s Eve.

In 560 NASCAR Cup Series starts, Yarborough earned 83 wins, 255 top-5 finishes, 319 top-10s and 69 poles.

Yarborough is one of nine drivers to win three or more NASCAR Cup Series championships but he did it in just seven full-time seasons.

More impressively, he won all three of his Cup Series championships in a row. With titles in 1976-78, he became the first driver to win three Cup titles in a row.

To this day, he is still one of two drivers to accomplish that feat.

Jimmie Johnson won three in a row from 2006-08 then received a surprise from Yarborough at the 2008 awards banquet.

Johnson won two more titles in 2009-10, then tied Yarborough on the all-time wins list in May 2017 at Dover. After taking off his helmet honoring Yarborough, Johnson wore a Hardee’s No. 28 hat and called Yarborough his childhood hero.

“I was a big Cale Yarborough fan and I remember going to a race in Oklahoma with my family and my brother. I saw a Hardee’s and had no idea it was a burger stand, I really thought I was going into his race shop. That day I understood how the world of sponsorship worked,” Johnson joked. “To be here to tie him is awesome. Cale, you’re the man. Thank you for all that you’ve done for the sport.”

Past or present, everyone bestowed respect upon Cale Yarborough. He was a tough customer who literally fought to help cement NASCAR on a national stage in the 1979 Daytona 500.

Yarborough once noted “driving a stock car is like dancing with a chainsaw” He practiced the art well but knew how to claw back when he stepped on the chainsaw’s toes.

While qualifying for the 1983 Daytona 500, Yarborough clocked in a lap averaging 200 mph. He went for more on lap two but his car broke loose and flipped exiting turn four.

Needing a backup car, the team found a show car at a nearby Hardee’s and prepared it for Yarborough. In his Twin 125 race (now Duel), Yarborough finished third and started eighth in the 500.

Yarborough hung around the front all day. He led 22 laps before losing the lead to Buddy Baker on lap 189.

Yarborough knew what he was doing, as he pulled off a final lap, slingshot move, earning the win for the former show car and the first win for a car with a camera inside.

The 1983 win highlighted Yarborough’s masterwork on NASCAR’s most legendary tracks. He won nine points races at Daytona, including four 500s (1968, ’77, ’83-84), becoming only two drivers to win the Daytona 500 in three decades (Richard Petty is the other).

Yarborough also won nine times at Bristol, eight times at Michigan, seven times at The Rock, six times at Martinsville and five times at North Wilkesboro. He also won five times at Darlington, where an in-car camera captured him muscling his car around barehanded and talking while doing so.

As a good ol’ boy from North Carolina, Yarborough will be remembered for his grit and determination. With such an influential spirit that captured and inspired the hearts of millions, Cale will live on forever.

Statement on Cale Yarborough from NASCAR CEO Jim France

“Cale Yarborough was one of the toughest competitors NASCAR has ever seen. His combination of talent, grit and determination separated Cale from his peers, both on the track and in the record book. He was respected and admired by competitors and fans alike, and was as comfortable behind the wheel of a tractor as he was behind the wheel of a stock car. On behalf of the France family and NASCAR, I offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Cale Yarborough.”