NASCAR Legend David Pearson: The Silver Fox

South Carolinas Darlington Raceway is an egg shaped terror that has become known as the track too tough to tame. If thats true, David Pearson came pretty close”during his illustrious career, he posted 10 victories and 12 poles at Darlington. These are both records for one of NASCARs most unforgiving tracks. Pearsons ability at Darlington bordered on the unreal, and he was able to follow the conventional wisdom about performing well there better than anyone. The old saying is that you need to race the track, not the other drivers, but thats a lot easier said than done. Pearson, however, made it look easy.

David Pearson was born three days before Christmas 1934 in a tough textile town near the North Carolina/South Carolina border called Whitney. His parents both worked in the local mill and did their best to provide. David quit school after the 10th grade and also worked in the mill. He was soon drawn away by his love of fast cars. He bought his own car and began racing at short tracks in the area. He ran his first race in 1952 in Woodruff, South Carolina and won his first championship at the old Greenville-Pickens Speedway in 1959.

Pearson never sought out stock car racing immortality, but some of his friends had other ideas. They began raising money to buy a car to race in the NASCAR Grand National series (the forerunner to today’s Sprint Cup). With a patchwork of financial backing, David began racing a limited schedule on the Grand National circuit and was named the 1960 rookie of the year. In 1961, he became the first driver in history to win on 3 of the 4 superspeedways in the same season (Charlotte, Atlanta, Daytona). This attracted sponsors, and before he knew it he was a top NASCAR driver winning Grand National titles in 1966, 1968 and 1969.

The 1970s saw Pearson cut back his schedule somewhat, focusing on superspeedways. In 1972, he started driving for the Wood Brothers in the #21 car that he was to make a legend. In 1973, he won 11 races in 18 starts”an incredible feat even by todays standards. Through the end of the 1970s, Pearson won 43 races. In addition to his mastery of Darlingon, he posted remarkable numbers all over the circuit. He is one of two men to have won more than 100 races, and his 105 is second only to The King Richard Pettys 200 wins. Hes also second on career poles (113) to Petty. Head to head, however, he has a slight edge over NASCARs legendary King: in races where he and Petty finished 1-2, Pearson won 33 to Pettys 30. His 11 consecutive poles at Charlotte is a feat that will likely never be matched. Another record that may never be broken is his 18.29% winning percentage, as well as his record of starting from the pole in 20% of the races he ran.

In March, 2000, SC Highway 221 through Spartanburg County was renamed David Pearson Boulevard in his honor. He lives in Spartanburg to this day. Pearson still takes to the track occasionally–he and current NASCAR driver Carl Edwards were the first to race on the newly repaved Darlington Raceway last Spring. We should all hope to be able to run with a 20 something NASCAR driver when we’re in our mid 70’s. Incidentally, he got the nickname Silver Fox due to his prematurely gray hair and cunning style behind the wheel.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer who has written on sports gambling and how to successfully bet on NFL football. He has appeared as a guest on TV and radio talking about boxing, hockey and NFL pointspreads. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a ferret.

All About American Muscle Cars

There are so many persons in the world that have shown their American pride by involving themselves in some way to American muscle cars. American muscle cars have forever been the most popular auto, and no matter how hard those that cannot figure out the feeling of the individual behind the wheel of these American muscle cars, try to take away the freedom associated with the muscle car generation away, it won’t happen.

There are laws being kicked around in legislation at the present time trying to limit the amount of big block motors and considerably enjoyable sounding exhausts which were originally found on the American muscle cars, to become obsolete from the automobile world. This is a lame attempt by third world country leaders to reduce the American lifestyle.

In the present day, muscle cars have become a hobby for the motor loving individual. There are shows that people from the muscle car group can gather and exchange stories that involve the exchange of stories involving the muscle cars, that are presently parked in a garage, and are mostly only driven on sunny Sunday afternoons. In most cases, these cars which are only driven on good weather days, are on their way to compete for the best looking, best kept, Classic muscle car.

Ford muscle cars were indeed the fastest and best sounding muscle car made. It did not matter if the cars were mustangs, galaxies, or fairlanes. The ford muscle cars made in the decades of the sixties and seventies had the toughest, meanest sound on the market, and their motors did not contradict the sound in anyway.

Chevrolet had many muscle cars also, and the sound was unique in toughness. The cars were camaros, corvettes, chevelles and the list goes on and on. Chevrolet may have been more popular because the cost of making these cars more powerful was less than the enhancement of an original ford muscle car.

Dodge has a fair amount of competitive muscle cars as well as Pontiac. Dodge is known for the hemi and the amount of horsepower that goes with it when placed in a charger or challenger. Pontiac had the GTO and other well known muscle cars. Although Oldsmobile and Chrysler were structured for luxury, there were a few cars built to get into the competition also.

To sum it all up, American pride is one of the most competitive attitudes to have in the world. American muscle cars reflects this image, owing to the fact that the automobile manufacturer’s did an excellent job of competing to make the best cars, in turn there are so many to decide from and most all of them are excellent automobiles.

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Lee Petty: A Lifetime In Stock Car Racing

Lee Petty may not be as well known as his son “The King” Richard Petty, but he also had a very important part in NASCAR history. He was a successful driver and helped grow Petty Enterprises into a dominant force in racing. And, of course, he is the father of arguably the greatest driver in NASCAR history.

Lee Petty was one of the first serious businessmen to own a NASCAR team back in the day when many drivers earned the bulk of their income from bootlegging and running moonshine. He competed in the first ever sanctioned NASCAR race on June 19th, 1949 and has the dubious distinction of causing the first caution flag in that race. The elder Petty won 50 NASCAR races including the first one ever run on a paved track. He also caused his share of trouble, including a number of fistfights. He once hit Curtis Turner over the head with a wrench and started a brawl during the pre-race festivities on another occasion. The fracas ended when Mrs. Petty joined the fray swinging her purse–which contained a .44 handgun.

Lee also won three NASCAR championships (the precursor to today’s Sprint Cup) during his career. He also shepherded his son, Richard, into the sport. Surprisingly, things didn’t immediately go well for the Petty offspring–he’d race only 9 times in the first season and ended up in a wreck more often than not. He’d eventually turn things around and the man now known as “The King” Richard Petty would go on to win a staggering 200 NASCAR races–a mark that may never be broken.

Lees career was cut short by a nasty accident at the 1961 Daytona 500, where his car hit a guard rail and flipped a few times. Lee suffered a number of broken bones and internal injuries. He raced a few more times, but hung it up for good in 1964. He remained involved in the Petty Engineering team for awhile, but soon figured it was in good hands with Richard and Maurice running the show. Never a publicity seeker, he lived out the rest of his life enjoying the fruits of his labor. An avid golfer, he played frequently until a few months before his death in 2000 at age 86.

Lee has a few entries in the NASCAR record books that might never be touched. He finished in the top five 231 times out of 427 races, and still holds the mark for best average finish for a full time driver at 7.6th place. Considering the times in which Lee raced”before big money sponsorships, against drivers who ran moonshine for a living, and on dirt tracks that werent always in the best of shape”that average finish mark is even more impressive and is a testimony to the toughness, dedication and courage of Lee Petty.