Cale Yarborough, a three-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion considered one of the sport’s all-time greatest drivers, has died at the age of 84. The driver famous for being the first to win three consecutive Cup titles died Sunday, ESPN reports. A cause of death has not been reported.
“Cale Yarborough was one of the toughest competitors NASCAR has ever seen,” NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France said in a statement. “His combination of talent, grit and determination separated Cale from his peers, both on the track and in the record book. He was respected and admired by competitors and fans alike and was as comfortable behind the wheel of a tractor as he was behind the wheel of a stock car. On behalf of the France family and NASCAR, I offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Cale Yarborough.”
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Yarborough is most famous for winning four Daytona 500 victories and five Southern 500 wins at his home track of Darlington Raceway. His Cup Series championships in 1976, 1977 and 1978 made him the only driver to win three straight NASCAR titles until Jimmie Johnson won five in a row from 2006 to 2010. Yarborough and Johnson are tied for sixth place on NASCAR’s career wins list with 83 wins each.
Johnson honored Yarborough with a tribute on social media on Sunday. Giving his condolences to the Yarborough family, Johnson called him his “childhood hero” and said that “the legacy of Cale Yarborough will forever live on.”
Known as one of NASCAR’s most tenacious drivers, Yarborough’s life story is flanked by his accomplishments and folklore alike. People from his South Carolina hometown community of Sardis told tales of how he survived a lightning strike, once flew and landed an airplane with no training, and even wrestled an alligator.
Born on March 27, 1939 in Florence County, South Carolina, William Caleb “Cale” Yarborough was the oldest of three boys. His family, helmed by father Julian and mother Annie, farmed tobacco and cotton; Yarborough reportedly was driving a tractor to help with plowing by age 9. His father was killed in a plane crash when Yarborough was 11, which led to him taking on a more prominent role managing the family’s land and business affairs. “Somehow, I knew there had to be a better way to make a living than digging around in the dirt and picking tobacco worms off leaves by hand,” Yarborough said in 1988, according to NASCAR.
Before finding his career with NASCAR, Yarborough tried his hand at other sports, including amateur boxing and football. He even received a football scholarship to Clemson under coach Frank Howard, but moonlighted in racing at local race tracks closer to home during the summer months, which ultimately led to Howard giving him an ultimatum between racing and football. “So I packed my clothes and left,” Yarborough told reporters in 2008.
After retiring from racing in 1988, he owned Cale Yarborough Motorsports, which competed in the Cup Series until 2000. He also owned several agricultural businesses and a used car dealership. He is survived by his wife, Betty Jo, whom he married in 1961, and daughters Julie, Kelley and B.J.
