Legendary NASCAR driver Cale Yarborough dies at 84

WAKA Action 8 News,

Posted: Dec 31, 2023 12:38 PM CST

FILE – Cale Yarborough walks away after blowing the engine of his Oldsmobile just after completing his first lap in pole position qualifying for the Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Fla., Feb. 11, 1979. Yarborough, considered one of NASCAR’s all-time greatest drivers and the first to win three consecutive Cup titles, died Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023. He was 84. (AP Photo/Hal Moore, File)

Cale Yarborough, considered one of NASCAR’s all-time greatest drivers and the first to win three consecutive Cup titles, has died.

NASCAR announced that the Hall of Famer and South Carolina native died Sunday. He was 84.

Yarborough won the Daytona 500 four times and the Southern 500 at his home track of Darlington Raceway five times. His 83 Cup Series victories are tied for sixth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.

But one of Yarborough’s most famous moments came in the 1979 Daytona 500. He crashed while racing with Donnie Allison, a member of the famed “Alabama Gang” from Hueytown, on the final lap for the win.

FILE – Cale Yarborough, stock car racer, is seen in this 1972 photo. Yarborough, considered one of NASCAR’s all-time greatest drivers and the first to win three consecutive Cup titles, died Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023. He was 84. (AP Photo, File)

The two drivers got out of their wrecked cars to fight, Allison’s brother, Bobby, pulled over to join the scrap, and it was two Allison brothers versus Yarborough as Richard Petty crossed the finish line first. The fight was shown on the first live flag-to-flag broadcast of the Daytona 500 on CBS and became a moment that attracted millions of fan to the sport.