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Cale Yarborough
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William Caleb (Cale) Yarborough (born March 27, 1940 in Timmonsville, South Carolina, near the famous Darlington Raceway), is a businessman and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. He is the one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, before Jimmie Johnson in 2006-2008. In the past, he has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
His 83 wins places him at number five in the all-time NASCAR winner's list (behind Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip, who are tied for third with 84).
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Encyclopedia
William Caleb (Cale) Yarborough (born March 27, 1940 in Timmonsville, South Carolina, near the famous Darlington Raceway), is a businessman and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. He is the one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, before Jimmie Johnson in 2006-2008. In the past, he has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
His 83 wins places him at number five in the all-time NASCAR winner's list (behind Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip, who are tied for third with 84). Yarborough won the Daytona 500 four times - his first win coming in 1968 for the Wood Brothers, the second in 1977 for Junior Johnson, and back-to-back wins in 1983 and 1984. In 1984, he became the first driver to qualify for the Daytona 500 with a top speed of more than .
Cale Yarborough is not related to fellow NASCAR veteran Lee Roy Yarbrough; as their last names are spelled differently.
Beginnings
Yarborough's father was a tobacco farmer. According to his autobiography "Cale," Yarborough attended the second Southern 500 in 1951 as a young spectator without a ticket. He made his first attempt in the race as a teenager by lying about his age, but he was caught and disqualified by NASCAR. In 1957, Yarborough made his debut as a driver at the Southern 500, driving the #30 Pontiac for Bob Weatherly, starting 44th and finishing 42nd after suffering hub problems. He ran for Weatherly two years later, and finished 27th. In 1960, Yarborough ran at Southern States Fairgrounds and had his first career top-fifteen, a fourteenth-place finish. In 1962, he earned his first top-ten at the Daytona 500 Qualifying Race, when he finished tenth. He ran seven more races and finished 50th in the final standings.
1960s
Yarborough started 1963 without a full-time ride, but soon signed on to drive the #19 Ford for Herman Beam. His best finish was fifth twice, at Myrtle Beach and Savannah Speedway, respectively. He began the next season driving for Beam, but soon left and finished the year with Holman Moody, finishing sixth at North Wilkesboro Speedway, winding up nineteenth in points. The next season, he drove for various owners before picking up his first career win at Valdosta Speedway driving the #06 Ford for Kenny Myler, rising to tenth in the final standings.
Yarborough drove for Banjo Matthews at the beginning of 1966. Despite two consecutive second-place finishes, he left the team early in the season and ended the year driving the #21 Ford for the Wood Brothers. He won two races in 1967 at the Atlanta 500 and the Firecracker 400 for the Wood Brothers, but dropped to 20th in standings because he only ran 17 races. After running the season-opening Middle Georgia 500 for Bud Moore Engineering, finishing 21st, Yarborough ran the rest of the season for Wood Brothers, winning the Daytona 500 as well as the Firecracker 400, garnering a total of six wins that season. He finished seventeenth in points. The next season, he won just two races but had six pole positions.
In 1968 Ford Motor Company produced a Cale Yarborough Special Edition Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II Limited Edition. ( Approx. less than 1000 were made ) The car was also called The Talladega/Yarborough Cyclone. There were two engines available. The 429 cubic inch was for the Talladega/Yarborough model and the 351 cubic inch for the Yarborough Cyclone Spoiler II. These were made because NASCAR had a rule that for any car raced they had to have at least 500 cars available to the public for sale. The Yarborough Cyclone II wasn't very popular and was discontinued after the first year. They are now one of the most desired collectable automobiles today. Originally selling for around $3800.00 in 1968, a correct model today can fetch as high as $100,000+ with everything original and with Cale Yarborough's signature, according to Barrett-Jackson Car Auctioners.
1970s
Yarborough continued to drive for the Wood Brothers in 1970, winning three races and four poles, but only ran 19 races, forcing him to 34th in the final standings. At the end of the season, Yarborough was released and drove four races in 1971, posting one top-ten in Daytona in the #3 Ray Fox-owned Plymouth. The next season, Yarborough ran five races, his best finish coming at Michigan International Speedway driving for James Hylton. He ended the season with two consecutive top-tens driving for Hoss Ellington. In 1973, Yarborough ran every race in the season for the first time in his career, driving the #11 Kar-Kare Chevrolet for Richard Howard. He won four races and had nineteen top-tens, finishing second in points.
In 1974, Yarborough won a career-high ten races, but lost the championship by nearly 600 points. Midway through the season, Yarborough's team was bought by Junior Johnson with Carling sponsorship. He began 1975 without major sponsorship, and missed three races, before Holly Farms became the team's primary sponsorship. He won three races but dropped to ninth in the final standings.
The following season, Yarborough won nine races, including four in row, winning his first career championship. He repeated his nine-win performance in 1977, a season in which he finished every race and did not finish outside of the top-five during the last eleven races of the season, earning him his second championship. In 1978, his team switched to Oldsmobiles and received new sponsorship from 1st National City Travelers Checks. He matched his previous career high of 10 wins and won his third consecutive championship.
Yarborough began the 1979 season with Busch sponsorship and getting into a fight with Donnie and Bobby Allison after the Daytona 500, when Donnie and Yarborough wrecked while racing for the lead. This was the first NASCAR race to be broadcast on live television in its entirety (through CBS Sports). The confrontation, and the exciting race that lead up to it, are credited with starting the mass growth of NASCAR. Yarborough won four races that season, and finished fourth in the standings.
Indy 500 career
| Year | Car | Start | Qual | Rank | Finish | Laps | Led | Retired |
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| 1966 | 66 | 24 | 159.794 | 15 | 28 | 0 | 0 | Crash FS |
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| 1967 | 21 | 20 | 162.830 | 30 | 17 | 176 | 0 | Crash T3 |
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| 1971 | 21 | 14 | 170.770 | 19 | 16 | 140 | 0 | Cam Cover |
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| 1972 | 21 | 32 | 178.864 | 33 | 10 | 193 | 0 | Flagged |
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| Totals | 509 | 0 | |
| | Starts | 4 |
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| Poles | 0 |
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| Front Row | 0 |
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| Wins | 0 |
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| Top 5 | 0 |
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| Top 10 | 1 |
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| Retired | 3 |
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Final years
Yarborough won a career-high fourteen poles in 1980, and won six races, losing the championship to Dale Earnhardt by 19 points. At the end of the season, Yarborough was replaced by Darrell Waltrip and announced he would run a part-time schedule for the rest of his career.
Yarborough drove the 1981 season in the #27 Valvoline Buick for M.C. Anderson, winning the Firecracker 400 and the Coca-Cola 500, finishing in the top-ten a total of six times. He won three more races the following season, including his hometown Southern 500. He also ran the 24 Heures du Mans in 1981, finishing 13 laps before a crash ended the team's efforts.
In 1983, Anderson closed his operation, and Yarborough moved to the #28 Hardee's Chevy for Harry Ranier. He won four races, including the Daytona 500, over the course of the season and had three poles. In 1984 he repeated by winning the Daytona 500 and finished 22nd in points, his highest finish over the decade. In 1985 driving a Ford, he won the Talladega 500 and scored his final win in the Miller High Life 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
In 1986, Yarborough won his final career pole at the Firecracker 400, and had five top-ten finishes. In 1987, he took the Hardee's sponsorship and began running the #29 as an owner/driver, posting two top-five finishes. He ran his final season in 1988, posting two ninth place finsishes. He retired at the end of the year.
Ownership
During the 1988 season, Yarborough split time in the 29 car with Dale Jarrett, who had one top-ten finish in nineteen starts. Following Yarborough's retirement, Jarrett was named the full-time driver for 1989, as he posted two top-five finishes and finished 24th in points. Hardee's left at the end of the season, and was replaced by Phillips 66/TropArtic and Jarrett was replaced Dick Trickle. Trickle posted two top-fives and won his only career pole at Dover International Speedway, finishing 24th in points. Trickle began 1991 with Yarborough, but left after four races. Lake Speed took over as his immediate replacement, and had three top-ten qualifying efforts. Despite an eleventh-place run at the Busch 500, Speed left and was replaced for the duration of the season by Dorsey Schroeder, Chuck Bown, and Randy LaJoie.
Yarborough hired Chad Little to be his driver in 1992. After six races and no finishes better than 22nd, Little was replaced by Bobby Hillin, Jr. for one race, before Jimmy Hensley took over for the rest of the season, posting four top-ten finishes and winning Rookie of the Year honors. In 1993, the team switched to the #98 Ford Thunderbird with Bojangles' sponsorship and Derrike Cope driving. Cope had an eighth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway and finished 26th in points. Cope began 1994 with Fingerhut sponsorship, but after no top-tens, he was replaced by Jeremy Mayfield, whose best finish was a nineteenth at North Carolina Speedway,
RCA became the team's new primary sponsor in 1995, and Mayfield had an eighth-place run at Pocono Raceway, finishing 31st in points despite missing four races. In 1996, Mayfield had two top-five finishes and won the pole at the DieHard 500. Towards the end of the season, Mayfield left to drive for Michael Kranefuss, whose previous driver John Andretti moved to the 98, finishing fifth at Martinsville Speedway. Andretti won the pole at Talladega again in 1997, and at the Pepsi 400, he led 113 laps and won Yarborough's only race as a car owner.
Despite the win and a 23rd place points finish, RCA left the sport and Andretti signed with Petty Enterprises. Yarborough signed Greg Sacks to drive his Thorn Apple Valley Ford in 1998, but Sacks suffered a neck injury at the Texas 500 and was unable to race for the rest of the year. Rich Bickle took his place, and had three top-five qualifying runs and a fourth-place finish at Martinsville. Bickle resigned to drive for Tyler Jet Motorsports and Thorn Apple departed due to financial problems within the organization. Due to the lack of financing, Yarborough originally closed his team up, but soon reopened and hired Rick Mast as its driver and car dealer Wayne Burdett as a co-owner. Despite having no primary sponsor, Yarborough and his team ran the full schedule, picking up short-term deals with Sonic Drive-In and Hobas Pipe. Soon after, Burdette left the team and the team signed Universal Studios/Woody Woodpecker as its primary sponsor. At the end of the season, Mast posted two top-tens and did not have a DNF all season, the second driver since Yarborough to accomplish that feat. Despite rumors of a second team with Michael Ciochetti driving, Mast departed for Larry Hedrick Motorsports and Universal left the sport. Yarborough attempted to sell the team to various businessmen, none of the deals going through. In January 2000, Yarborough closed the team until a buyer could be found. He sold the team in the summer of 2000 to Chip MacPherson, who debuted the new team at Lowe's Motor Speedway with Jeff Fuller, finishing 41st after suffering engine failure. Geoffrey Bodine ran the Pennzoil 400 later that year, but wrecked. The team soon disappeared from the Cup circuit.
Acting
Two episodes on the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard featured Cale playing himself: "The Dukes Meet Cale Yarborough" (1979), and "Cale Yarborough comes to Hazzard" (1984).
He appeared in the 1983 Burt Reynolds movie Stroker Ace.
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