Cale Yarborough

Cale Yarborough

status	not active
NASCAR Cup Series statistics
Best placement	1. - (1976, 1977, 1978)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10 560 83 69 319

William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough (born March 27, 1939 in Timmonsville , South Carolina ) is a former American NASCAR racing driver. He was a three-time Winston Cup champion and racing car owner and also the first driver to win the championship for three consecutive years. With 83 victories, Yarborough ranks fifth among the drivers with the most wins in NASCAR history. He also won the all-important Daytona 500 four times at Daytona International Speedway in 1968, 1977, 1983 and 1984. He became the first driver to qualify for the 1984 race with an average speed of over 200  mph (322 km / h) ).

Beginnings

Yarborough tried to compete in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway as a teenager by giving false information about his age. When this hoax was exposed, it was disqualified by NASCAR. He drove his first official race in 1957 at the Southern 500 when he drove a number 30 Pontiac for Bob Weatherly . He started in 44th and finished the race in 42nd after a problem with the distributor on his car . Two years later he went back to the start for Weatherly and was 27. In the 1960 season, Yarborough drove to the Southern States Fairgrounds and reached 14th place for the first time in his career a place in the top 15. The first place in the top-10 followed in the Daytona 500 qualifying race of the 1962 season when he was tenth. This season he drove seven more races and finished the year 50th in the championship.

1960s

Yarborough started the 1963 season without a permanent contract for the entire season, but after a short time signed with Herman Beam , for whom he drove a number 19 Ford . The best results were two fifth places, one in Myrtle Beach and one on the Savannah Speedway . In the following season he started for Beam, but changed at short notice to Holman Moody , for the Yarborough, among other things, a sixth place on the North Wilkesboro Speedway and 19th in the championship. The 1965 season Yarborough drove for various car owners and secured the first victory of his career in a # 06 Ford for Kenny Myler at Valdosta Speedway. At the end of the year he finished 10th in the championship.

At the beginning of the 1966 season, Yarborough was in a car for Banjo Matthews , but despite two consecutive second places, the team moved early to the Wood Brothers , for whom he drove a # 21 Ford. In the 1967 season he won two races for the Wood Brothers with the Atlanta 500 and the Firecracker 400 . In the championship, however, Yarborough slipped from 20th place because he only contested 17 races. He drove the Middle Georgia 500 early in the 1968 Bud Moore Engineering season and finished 21st. He drove again for the Wood Brothers for the rest of the season, winning his first Daytona 500, the Firecracker 400 and four other races. At the end of the season he was 17th in the championship. In the following season, 1969, Yarborough could only win two races and finished the championship in 23rd place.

As a special feature, Ford brought a Cale Yarborough Special Edition Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II Limited Edition onto the market in 1968, of which fewer than 1000 were produced. This model was also known as the Talladega / Yarborough Cyclone. This particular model was produced because there was a rule that there must be at least 500 of each car driven in a race as a production model. This car has become a collector's item and achieved in their original state prizes of up to 100,000  US dollars .

1970s

Yarborough also drove for the Wood Brothers in the 1970 season. Despite three wins and four pole positions, he was only 34th in the championship in the end, due to his participation in only 19 races. In the following season there were only four participations, but including a top 10 result at the Daytona 500 in a Plymouth with the starting number 3 for Ray Fox . Also in the 1972 season Yarborough drove only a few races. In five starts he achieved a top 5 and a total of 4 top 10 results. In 1973 Yarborough drove a full season for the first time in his career and competed in all 28 races. At the wheel of a # 11 Chevrolet for Richard Howard, he had four wins, 19 top 10 results and second place in the championship at the end of the season.

Despite his personal record of 10 wins in the 1974 season, Yarborough lost the championship by almost 600 points to Richard Petty . After the 1975 season began without sponsorship, he won three more races, but fell back to ninth place in the championship.

With nine races won, including four in consecutive races, Yarborough secured its first championship in the 1976 season. With a further nine victories, he secured his second championship in the following season despite not having a single top 5 result in the last eleven races. After changing his team to Oldsmobile and a new sponsor, Yarborough repeated his performance from 1974 in the 1978 season, again winning 10 races and thus securing the third championship in a row.

The Yarborough 1979 season began with a boxing match with Donnie and Bobby Allison at the end of the Daytona 500, when he and Donnie had an accident while fighting for the lead. This race was also the first to be broadcast completely live from start to finish. This boxing match in particular should be decisive for the rise of NASCAR. Having won four races, he finished the season fourth in the championship.

Last years

In the 1980 season, Yarborough was a total of 14 times on pole position and won six races. In the end, however, he lost the championship to Dale Earnhardt , only 19 points behind. At the same time he was replaced by Darrell Waltrip , after which he announced that he would only want to participate in isolated races for the rest of his career.

Yarborough started in the 1981 season with the number 27 Buick for MC Anderson, for which he won the Firecracker 400 and the Coca-Cola 500 , and achieved six top 10 results. The following year he won three races, including his home race, the Southern 500 . Yarborough also started at the 24 Hours of Le Mans . An accident ended the race after only 13 laps.

Yarborough in the number 28 Chevrolet for Harry Ranier

When Anderson gave up his team for the 1983 season, Yarborough switched to the # 28 Chevrolet for Harry Ranier . During the season he won four times, including the Daytona 500, and achieved three pole positions. He was able to repeat this victory in the 1984 season. Yarborough's last win was in a Ford at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1985 .

The last pole position of his career Yarborough achieved at the Firecracker 400 of the 1986 season, as well as five top 10 results. In the 1987 season he appeared as a driver and car owner and was able to achieve two top 5 results. After two ninth places, Yarborough ended his career as a driver at the end of the 1988 season.

Car owner

During the 1988 season, Yarborough shared the number 29 car with Dale Jarrett . Upon his retirement, Jarrett became a full-time driver for Yarborough in the 1989 season. He scored two top five finishes and finished the championship in 24th. End of the season, Phillips 66 / TropArtic replaced Hardee's as sponsor and Jerrett was replaced by Dick Trickle . Trickle achieved two top five results and the only pole position of his career at Dover International Speedway . After finishing 24th in the 1990 season, Trickle also started for Yarborough in 1991, but left the team after only four races. Lake Speed ​​stepped in as a substitute and achieved three top 10 results in qualifying. Despite an eleventh place in the Busch 500 , Speed ​​left the team. Dorsey Schroeder , Chuck Bown and Randy LaJoie drove for Yarborough until the end of the season .

For the 1992 season, Yarborough hired Chad Little . After six races and no result better than 22nd place, Little was won by Bobby Hillin Jr. replaced for one race before Jimmy Hensley completed the remainder of the season. Hensley scored four top 10 results and won the title of Rookie of the Year. For the 1993 season the team switched to the Ford Thunderbird with the starting number 98, Bojangles as sponsor and Derrike Cope as driver. Cope finished eighth on the Talladega Superspeedway and 26th in the championship. After Cope could not achieve top 10 results in the 1994 season, he was replaced by Jeremy Mayfield , whose best result was a 19th place on the North Carolina Speedway .

RCA became the new team sponsor for the 1995 season and Mayfield finished eighth on the Pocono Raceway as the best result. He finished the season 31st despite four missed races. In the 1996 season, two top 5 results and pole position at the DieHard 500 for Mayfield were on the list of results. Towards the end of the season he moved to Mike Kranefuss , whose driver John Andretti then moved to Yarborough and was fifth at Martinsville Speedway . In the 1997 season he achieved a pole position on the Talladega Superspeedway and at the Pepsi 400 , after 113 laps in the lead, he took the only win for Yarborough as a car owner.

Despite the win and a 23rd place in the championship, RCA left the sport as the main sponsor and Andretti moved to Petty Enterprises . Yarborough brought Greg Sacks to the team to drive his Thorn Apple Valley-sponsored Ford for the 1998 season. After a neck injury at the Texas 500 , Sacks was out for the remainder of the season and Rich Bickle came on as a replacement. He scored three top five qualifying results and a fourth place in Martinsville. At the end of the season, Bickle moved to Tyler Jet Motorsports and Thorn Apple retired due to financial problems. Due to a lack of funding, Yarborough initially dissolved and started again a short time later with Rick Mast as driver and Wayne Burdett as co-owner. The team started all races without a main sponsor and entered into short-term sponsorship contracts with Sonic Drive-In and HOBAS Pipe. After a short time, co-owner Burdett left the team and Yarborough secured Universal Studios / Woody Woodpecker as a sponsor. At the end of the season, Mast had achieved two top 10 results and achieved the goal in all races of the season, which only Yarborough had previously achieved as a driver. After rumors about a second car with Michael Ciochetti as driver, Mast switched to Larry Hedrick Motorsports and Universal withdrew as a sponsor. Yarborough tried to sell the team to various business people, but was unsuccessful. In January 2000 he ceased operations until a buyer could be found. That summer he sold to Chip MacPherson and made his debut with the new team at Lowe's Motor Speedway with Jeff Fuller at the wheel. After a 41st place after an engine failure and an accident on the Pennzoil 400 by Geoffrey Bodine later that year, the team disappeared from NASCAR.

actor

Yarborough had an appearance in two episodes of the series " A Duke Seldom Comes Alone " in which he plays himself: "Cale Yarborough comes to Hazzard" (1984) and "The Dukes Meet Cale Yarborough" (1979).

He also had an appearance in 1983 in the film " Der raging Gockel " by Burt Reynolds .

statistics

Indianapolis 500 Achievements

year dare begin Agony Rank target Round Leadership laps task 1966 66 24 159,794 15th 28 0 0 Accident start / finish 1967 21st 20th 162,830 30th 17th 176 0 Accident curve 3 1971 21st 14th 170,770 19th 16 140 0 Engine problem 1972 21st 32 178,864 33 10 193 0 flag Total 509 0

Starts 4th Poles 0 Victories 0 Top 5 0 Top 10 1 task 3

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1981	Stratagraph Inc.	Chevrolet Camaro	Billy Hagan	Bill Cooper	failure	accident

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th
1964	John Lewis	Chevrolet Corvette	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
			DNF
1981	Stratagraph	Chevrolet Camaro	DAY	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	BRH
										DNF

Web links

Commons : Cale Yarborough  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Driver statistics on racing-reference.info
• Car owner statistics on racing-reference.info

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Top 10 Daytona 500s Ever - No. 2: The 1979 Daytona 500