LeeRoy Yarbrough

When he was sixteen years-old, Yarbrough put together his first car, a 1934 Ford coupe with a Chrysler engine.

When he was 19, Yarbrough found his way to a local dirt track.

Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough (September 17, 1938 – December 7, 1984) was an American stock car racer.

He won that race at Jacksonville Speedway in the spring of 1957.

Racing at Jacksonville Speedway Park on Saturday nights Yarborough developed a penchant for carrying excess speed into the third turn and diving under any car that was ahead of him.

He would then slide through the turn and run the straightway 1" from the concrete wall. The style was evident in many of his last lap wins throughout his career.

Yarbrough started his racing career in NASCAR's lower tier Sportsman division.

After winning 11 races, Yarbrough moved up to the more powerful Modifieds and won 83 features in a three-year span.

During his entire career from 1960–1972, he competed in 198 races, scoring fourteen wins, 65 finishes in the top-five, 92 finishes in the top-ten, and ten pole positions.

Yarbrough won two short-track races in the 1964 NASCAR Grand National season, the first year he competed in more than 14 races.

Two years later, Yarbrough scored his first superspeedway win at Charlotte.

Driving an unsponsored and lightly regarded Dodge Charger owned by Jon Thorne, Yarbrough dominated the race, leading for 450 of the 500 mi in the October 16 National 500.

Factory-backed rides followed.

His Junior Johnson-owned Ford team started out poorly early in the 1968 season.

LeeRoy rebounded and won at Atlanta and Trenton.

His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, tallied 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211 ($0 when inflation is taken into account).

In the 1969 Daytona 500, Yarbrough was trailing Charlie Glotzbach by 11 seconds with ten laps remaining.

On the final lap, Yarbrough ducked to the low side to make the pass, but a lapped car was in that lane.

Yarbrough dived to the low side in turn 3 to clear the lapped car, nearly clipping the apron.

He took the lead from Glotzbach and dashed under the checkered flag a car length in front to win the Daytona 500.

Next, he won Darlington's Rebel 400 in the final four laps, then won Charlotte's World 600, lapping the entire field at least twice.

He also won the summer 400-miler at Daytona, prevailing in a late-race battle with Buddy Baker, making him the third driver in NASCAR history to sweep both Daytona races.

Yarbrough won the summer race at Atlanta International Raceway despite a 102-degree fever.

He captured The Southern 500 by passing David Pearson on the last lap.

He won by a full lap at Rockingham in October, overcoming a lap deficit when a flat tire sent him into the wall.

By season's end, Yarbrough had seven wins to his credit and was named American Driver of The year.

After his successful 1969 season, Yarbrough’s performance record trailed off.

A victim of the factory withdrawal, Yarbrough had to scramble to locate rides in Grand National events.

Yarbrough also competed in open-wheel racing, making 5 starts in the USAC Championship cars, including 3 Indianapolis 500s, with a best finish of 3rd at Trenton Speedway in 1970.

His racing number was 98.

When asked about his passion, Yarbrough described racing as "what I call my life."

He won once in 1970 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and only entered six races in 1971.

In 1972, he accepted a ride in a Ford owned by independent campaigner Bill Seifert.

He registered nine top 10 finishes in 18 starts.

Yarbrough showed up for Daytona's 1973 Speedweeks, but failed to earn a starting berth for the Daytona 500.

Yarbrough was admitted to a mental institution on March 7, 1980, after trying to kill his mother by strangulation.

All attempts to rehabilitate him (both in Florida or in North Carolina) failed and LeeRoy eventually died in 1984 after a fall.

In 1990, he was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association's Hall of Fame at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.

LeeRoy Yarbrough is not related to NASCAR champion Cale Yarborough.

Yarbrough grew up on the west side of Jacksonville, Florida, and developed an affinity for speed at an early age.