His 83 wins places him at number five in the all-time NASCAR winner's list. Yarborough also 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 200 miles per hour.
Cale Yarborough is not related to fellow NASCAR veteran
Lee Roy Yarbrough . Most notably, their respective
Surnames have different spellings.
Yarborough's father was a
Tobacco farmer. As a young child, Yarborough attended the first Southern 500 in
1950 as a spectator without a ticket. He attempted to make 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.
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.
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 , and failed to finish outside of the top-five during the last eleven races of the season, earning him his second championship. During that season, he also finished every race. In
1978 , his team switched to
Oldsmobile s 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.
