1969 – Yarbrough Wins Dampened Southern 500

 

Lee Roy Yarbrough acknowledges the crowd from victory lane after winning the rain-shortened Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. 

Darlington, S.C. (September 1, 1969) – Lee Roy Yarbrough, known for his exciting finishes, on the NASCAR Grand National circuit, breezed past David Pearson on the last lap to win a rain-shortened 20th annual Southern 500 stock car race Monday at Darlington.

The Columbia, S.C., chauffeur driving a 1969 Ford Torino Talladega from the Junior Johnson stable, barreled down the backstretch and went by Pearson in the third run for his first Southern 500 victory. Yarbrough, who collected a winner’s check for $21,800, boosted his yearly total to a whopping $164,915, the highest single money winning season in NASCAR history.

Lee Roy racked up his sixth superspeedway win as he continued to rewrite the record books. His other triumphs came in the Daytona 500, Rebel 400, World 600, Firecracker 400, and Dixie 500.

Lee Roy’s average speed was a disappointing 105.612 miles per hour, well short of Richard Petty’s 1967 standard. But this was due to the fact that the race was shortened to 230 laps after NASCAR officials waited out a four-hour rain delay. The official time of the race was 2 hours, 59 minutes, and 40 seconds.

Buddy Baker of Charlotte, N.C., was third in a Dodge Charger. The Allison brothers of Alabama – Donnie in a Ford and Bobby in another Dodge Charger – were fourth and fifth, respectively.

There were 19 lead changes among eight different drivers. Lee Roy led seven times for the most laps – 83. Two other pilots, Pearson, and Cale Yarborough were ahead four times each. Baker, Dave Marcis, James Hylton, and the Allison’s led once each.

As the race went 316.5 miles of the scheduled 500, there were eight caution flags for 85 laps. Twice it was stopped for rain.

Pearson, hungry for his first Southern 500 win, passed Yarbrough in the third turn with 10 laps left. Lee Roy lost a little more ground to Pearson when he tapped the wall coming out of the fourth turn.

When they received the white flag, Lee Roy trailed Pearson close until the first turn when Pearson went high for a split-second.

It enabled Lee Roy to gain momentum on his challenger. As they hit the backstretch, Yarbrough let it fly and went inside of Pearson on the third turn and held on for dear life and victory.


Results –

 

1. Lee Roy Yarbrough, Columbia, S.C.
2. David Pearson, Spartanburg. S.C.
3. Buddy Baker, Charlotte, N.C.
4. Donnie Allison, Hueytown, Ala.
5. Bobby Allison, Hueytown, Ala.
6. Charlie Glotzbach, Georgetown, Ind.
7. Richard Brooks, Spartanburg, S.C.
8. Buddy Young, Fairfax, Va.
9. Richard Petty, Randleman, N.C.
10.Richard Brickhouse, Rocky Point, N.C.