Yarborough was born in the small town of Timmonsville, South Carolina, in 1939. His father was killed in an airplane crash when Cale was just 12-years-old, and as the oldest of three sons, he was forced to grow up fast.
He spent some time as a semi-pro football player and as a Golden Gloves boxer, but it was auto racing where he would make a name for himself. After attending the second-ever Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (without a ticket) in 1951, he would later attempt to make his NASCAR Cup debut in one of the sport’s most physically-demanding races. However, he was still a teenager and lied about his age. The sanctioning body found it, and he was disqualified. Now there’s a garage at Darlington named after him…
Photo by: NASCAR Media
Cale Yarborough in front of the Darlington garage area named in his honor
He finally made his debut at Darlington in 1957, aged 18, completing just 31 laps before a mechanical failure forced him out of the event. Undeterred, he returned two years later, finishing 27th and completing 219/364 laps.
In 1960, he ran at a track other than Darlington for the first time, finishing 14th at the Southern States Fairgrounds dirt track in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In the ensuing years, he started to enter more and more races. Cale was running nearly half the 60+ race schedule in 1964, and in 1965, he captured his first checkered flag. At a half-mile dirt track in Valdosta, Georgia, he won the race with a three-lap advantage over the competition.
He continued to run a partial schedule in the years that followed, teaming up with the iconic Wood Brothers Racing team late in the 1966 season. It didn’t take long for them to win together. He won both the Atlanta 500 and the Firecracker 400 at Daytona in ’67, and that was just the beginning.
During this time, he also attempted the 1966 and 1967 Indianapolis 500. Driving a Vollstedt-Ford, he crashed out in both races.
Starting just 21 of 49 races in 1968, he still managed to win six times with the Wood Brothers including his first of four Daytona 500s. He would go on to win the Firecracker 400 again as well, sweeping the Daytona races. He finally won at his home track of Darlington Raceway, leading 169 of 364 laps in the Southern 500.
Photo by: RacingOne/Getty Images
Cale Yarborough takes the checkered flag in his third consecutive victory
The conclusion of the 1970 season was a turning point for Yarborough. Ford pulled its…
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