68 Facts About Cale Yarborough

William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough was born on March 27,1939 and is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, and farmer.

Cale Yarborough is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1976,1977, and 1978.

Cale Yarborough was one of the preeminent stock car drivers from the 1960s to the 1980s and competed in IndyCar events.

Cale Yarborough's fame was such that a special model of the Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II was named after him.

Cale Yarborough is a three-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year Award.

Cale Yarborough was born to Julian and Annie Cale Yarborough in the tiny, unincorporated community of Sardis near Timmonsville, South Carolina, the oldest of three sons.

Julian was a tobacco farmer, cotton gin operator, and store owner who was killed in a private airplane crash when Cale Yarborough was around ten years of age.

Cale Yarborough was a high school football star at Timmonsville High School and played semi-pro football in Columbia, South Carolina for four seasons and was a Golden Gloves boxer.

Cale Yarborough made his first attempt in the Southern 500 as a teenager by lying about his age, but he was caught and disqualified by NASCAR.

In 1957, Cale Yarborough made his debut as a driver at the Southern 500, driving the No 30 Pontiac for Bob Weatherly, starting 44th and finishing 42nd after suffering hub problems.

Cale Yarborough ran for Weatherly two years later, and finished 27th.

In 1960, Cale Yarborough ran one race, and had his first career top-fifteen, a fourteenth-place finish at Southern States Fairgrounds.

Cale Yarborough again ran one race in 1961, finishing 30th in the Southern 500 driving for Julian Buesink.

In 1962, Cale Yarborough ran eight races for Buesink, Don Harrison, and Wildcat Williams.

Cale Yarborough earned his first top-ten at the Daytona 500 Qualifying Race, when he finished tenth.

Cale Yarborough started 1963 without a full-time ride, but soon signed on to drive the No 19 Ford for Herman Beam.

Cale Yarborough began the next season driving for Beam, but left and finished the year with Holman Moody, finishing sixth at North Wilkesboro Speedway, winding up 19th in points.

Cale Yarborough drove for Banjo Matthews at the beginning of 1966.

Cale Yarborough 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.

Cale Yarborough ran the Indianapolis 500 in 1966 and 1967 driving Vollstedt-Fords.

Cale Yarborough continued to drive a limited schedule for the Wood Brothers in 1970, winning his second consecutive Michigan 400 and the American 500 for the first time along with one of the Daytona 125-mile qualifying races and four poles.

Cale Yarborough drove four races in 1971, posting one top-ten in Daytona in the No 3 Ray Fox-owned Plymouth.

Cale Yarborough ran in the Indianapolis 500, finishing 16th in a Gene White-owned, Firestone-sponsored Mongoose-Ford.

The next season, Cale Yarborough ran five NASCAR races, his best finish coming at Michigan driving for James Hylton.

Cale Yarborough ended the season with two consecutive Top 10's driving for Hoss Ellington.

Cale Yarborough ran his final Indianapolis 500 in a Bill Daniels sponsored Atlanta-Foyt, finishing 10th.

Cale Yarborough mostly focused on driving USAC races in 1971 and 1972.

In 1973, Cale Yarborough returned to NASCAR and ran every NASCAR Grand National race in a season for the first time in his career, driving the No 11 Kar-Kare Chevrolet for Richard Howard.

Cale Yarborough won four races, including his second Southern 500, the National 500 and the Southeastern 500 at Bristol in which he led every lap, and had 19 Top 10's, finishing second in points.

In 1974, Cale Yarborough won a career-high ten races, but lost the championship by nearly 600 points.

Midway through the season, Cale Yarborough's team was bought by Junior Johnson with Carling sponsorship.

Cale Yarborough swept both races at Riverside International Raceway, captured his fourth Atlanta 500, and his second consecutive Southern 500 and third overall.

Cale Yarborough won three races, including sweeping the events at Rockingham, but dropped to ninth in the final standings.

Cale Yarborough won the title by 386 points over Richard Petty.

Cale Yarborough became the first driver in NASCAR history to win the championship and NOT score a single DNF.

Bobby Labonte would join Cale Yarborough and become only the second driver to do the same thing in 2000.

Cale Yarborough led the Winston Cup points standings throughout the entire 1977 season, making him the only driver in NASCAR history to accomplish that feat.

Cale Yarborough finished second, and he received the bonus points for leading the most laps.

Cale Yarborough scored two victories in IROC IV, finishing second in the standings.

Cale Yarborough matched his previous career high of 10 wins from 1974, including leading every lap of the Music City USA 420, his fourth Southern 500 and first Winston 500 at Talladega, and went on to win his third consecutive NASCAR Winston Cup championship.

Cale Yarborough became the very first driver in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships.

Cale Yarborough clinched the 1978 championship with two races to go, becoming the second driver to win the title that early in the Winston Cup points system.

Cale Yarborough began the 1979 season with Busch Beer sponsorship and getting into a fight with Donnie and Bobby Allison after the Daytona 500, when Donnie and Cale Yarborough wrecked while racing for the lead on the final lap.

Cale Yarborough went on to finish fourth in the standings, winning four races, including the Coca-Cola 500 at Pocono Raceway and the National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, one pole, and finishing third in the IROC VI standings.

Cale Yarborough won a career-high and modern-era record 14 poles in 1980, captured six races including sweeping the events at Rockingham, and scoring wins at Bristol, Michigan, Texas and Atlanta.

Cale Yarborough barely missed out on his fourth championship in five years, losing the championship to Dale Earnhardt by 19 points.

Cale Yarborough won 55 races while driving for Johnson from 1973 to 1980, compiling an amazing winning percentage of 26.57 percent.

Cale Yarborough competed in 16 races in 1982, winning three, including his hometown Southern 500 for the fifth and final time.

Cale Yarborough ran the 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans finishing 13 laps before a crash ended the team's efforts.

In 1983, Anderson closed his operation, and Cale Yarborough moved to the No 28 Hardee's-sponsored Chevrolet owned by Ranier-Lundy, competing in 16 events.

Cale Yarborough won four races, including his third Daytona 500, his sixth Atlanta Coca-Cola 500, and swept both events at Michigan, along with three poles.

Cale Yarborough finished eighth in the final standings of IROC IX.

In 1986, Cale Yarborough won his final career pole at the Firecracker 400, and had five Top 10 finishes.

Cale Yarborough scored a victory at Talladega during IROC X and finished third in the standings.

Cale Yarborough ran his final season in 1988 in an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, entering 10 races and posting two ninth-place finishes.

In 1972, Cale Yarborough became the first Republican elected to the Florence County Council since Reconstruction.

That year, Cale Yarborough was reelected to the county council, this time as a Democrat.

Cale Yarborough signed Greg Sacks to drive his Thorn Apple Valley Ford in 1998, but Sacks suffered a neck injury at Texas Motor Speedway and was unable to race for the rest of the year.

Mast posted two top-tens and did not have a DNF all season, the second driver since Cale Yarborough to accomplish that feat.

In January 2000, Cale Yarborough closed the team until a buyer could be found.

Cale Yarborough sold the team in the summer of 2000 to Chip MacPherson.

Cale Yarborough was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1993, the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1994, the Court of Legends at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1996 and was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers.

In 2009, Cale Yarborough was one of the 25 nominees for the first class to be inducted in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, though he was not selected.

In 2011, Cale Yarborough finally was elected to the NASCAR HOF.

In March 2013, Cale Yarborough was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame.

In high school Cale Yarborough was a halfback, then played four years of semi-pro football and was offered a tryout with the Washington Redskins.

Cale Yarborough has owned Cale Yarborough Honda in Florence, South Carolina for over 25 years.

Cale Yarborough is not related to fellow NASCAR veteran Lee Roy Yarbrough though they were close friends all their lives.