During his 30- year Cup Series career, Yarborough earned 69 pole
positions and won 83
races, including three
Daytona 500s and
five Southern 500s
at Darlington (S.C.)
Raceway.
Yarborough’s first
ride was quite a bit
slower than the ones he
routinely drove to victory
on Sunday afternoons.
It was a matter of
convenience, but also a
matter of necessity.
“The first car I ever
had was a 1929 Model
A Ford,” Yarborough
said. “Back in 1955,
I was working in a
tobacco warehouse in
Timmonsville, S.C. I re-
ally needed transporta-
tion to get to work and
didn’t want to walk. So I
started looking around
for something to drive.
“I just happened to
go by a dealership one
day and there was that
Model A sitting there. All
they wanted for it was
$50 dollars. That was
it. I said to myself, ‘I can
make that payment!’ I
got them to hold it for me
so I could go and get it.
The car was at a Chrysler
dealership there in
Timmonsville that’s not
there anymore.”
Yarborough held
onto the car for many
years and even made
some pretty heavy
modifications to it as
time went by. For de-
cades, Yarborough has
owned car dealerships
of his own and has
seen countless cars
come and go. However,
that original Model A
will always be in his
mind’s eye, especially
since he still has a
reminder of that first
car close at hand.
“That ole’ car ran
good and I got good
service out of it for a
long time,” Yarborough
said. “I ended up
making a hot rod out
of it. It finally just wore
completely out, but I got
a lot of good out of that
car. I wish I still had it.
I have another Model A
just like it, though.”
Country Cruiser
YARBOROUGH’S FIRST RIDE CAME FROM NECESSITY
Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Cale Yarborough
made his living winning races and going fast. So fast that he once
topped 200 mph in qualifying for the 1983 Daytona 500, but then
flipped the Harry Ranier-owned Chevrolet he was driving.
BEN WHI TE GE T T Y IMAGES
■ A 1929 Ford Model A