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Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough
LeeRoyYarbroughNASCAR1969.jpg
Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough's official publicity photo (1969)
Born (1938-09-17)September 17, 1938
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Died December 7, 1984(1984-12-07) (aged 46)
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Achievements 1969 Daytona 500 Winner
1969 Southern 500 Winner
1969 World 600 Winner
First driver to win NASCAR's "Triple Crown" (1969)
Awards Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998)
Named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers (2023)
NASCAR Cup Series career
198 races run over 12 years
Best finish 15th (1964)
First race 1960 Atlanta 500 (Atlanta)
Last race 1972 Old Dominion 500 (Martinsville)
First win 1964 Savannah 200 (Savannah)
Last win 1970 National 500 (Charlotte)
Wins Top tens Poles
14 92 10
NASCAR Grand National East Series career
1 race run over 1 year
First race 1972 Greenville 200 (Greenville)
Last race 1972 Greenville 200 (Greenville)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
Statistics current as of December 18, 2012.

Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough (September 17, 1938 – December 7, 1984) was an American stock car racer. His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, tallied 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211 ($1,351,708.46 when inflation is taken into account). 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 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."

LeeRoy 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.

Career

Early stock car career

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

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 miles (800 km) 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.

1969 and later

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. 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. He virtually dropped out of sight after that, never again showing up at a NASCAR event.

Later career and life

On April 22, 1970, Yarbrough suffered head injuries while doing tire tests for Goodyear at Texas World Speedway. Yarbrough blew a tire between turns three and four and impacted the wall at over 160 mph. Yarbrough's head hit a roll bar inside the cockpit with such force that it cracked his helmet. He was released from the hospital that evening, and at the time, was not believed to have been a serious head injury. He was picked up at the airport by Cale Yarborough, but later had no memory of the crash, hospital, or meeting with Yarborough.

"I was unconscious for about an hour, but I feel okay today," Yarbrough said a day later. "As tightly as I was strapped in the seat, it's hard for me to believe my body moved that much. The straps made my shoulders black and blue and I'm pretty sore." Days later, Yarbrough qualified eighth at Martinsville but the race was postponed because of rain.

Yarbrough showed well in a few Indy Car starts, leading the inaugural California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway late. After Al Unser retired with 14 laps remaining, Yarbrough inherited the lead. With a margin of two laps over second place, it appeared that Yarbrough would score an unlikely victory. But with eight laps remaining, Yarbrough suffered a broken piston and blew an engine, coasting to a stop in turn four. Yarbrough drew cheers from the crowd as he pushed his car back to the pits. Yarbrough then finished 3rd at Trenton Speedway in 1971.

After competing in three Indianapolis 500s in 1967, '69 and '70, Yarbrough was driving a Dan Gurney Eagle in practice on May 9th for the 1971 Indianapolis 500 when he spun and crashed hard in turn one, suffering head injuries. Yarbrough spent the next few months, June through November, in and out of the hospital with many different ailments and memory problems. He most likely suffered brain trauma from the crashes in Texas and Indianapolis.

In 1977, a court, on recommendation from a psychiatric board, ruled him incompetent to handle his own affairs and he moved in with his mother, Minnie Yarbrough.

Yarbrough was committed to the Florida State Hospital at Chattahoochee by Judge Hudson Oliff of Jacksonville on March 7, 1980.

Death

While in the hospital on December 6, 1984, Yarbrough had a violent seizure and fell over striking his head. He fell unconscious immediately. He was rushed to Jacksonville's University Hospital where he died the morning of December 7, 1984.

Motorsports career results

American open-wheel racing

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

USAC Championship Car

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Pos Points
1966 PHX TRE INDY
DNQ
MIL LAN ATL PIP IRP LAN SPR MIL DUQ ISF TRE SAC PHX NC 0
1967 PHX TRE INDY
27
MIL LAN PIP MOS MOS IRP LAN MTR MTR SPR MIL DUQ ISF TRE SAC HAN PHX RIV NC 0
1968 HAN LVG PHX TRE INDY
DNQ
MIL MOS MOS LAN PIP CDR NAZ IRP IRP LAN LAN MTR MTR SPR MIL DUQ ISF TRE SAC MCH HAN PHX RIV NC 0
1969 PHX HAN INDY
23
MIL LAN PIP CDR NAZ TRE IRP IRP MIL SPR DOV DUQ ISF BRN BRN TRE SAC KEN KEN PHX RIV NC 0
1970 PHX SON TRE INDY
19
MIL LAN CDR MCH IRP SPR MIL ONT
8
DUQ ISF SED TRE SAC PHX 35th 250
1971 RAF RAF PHX TRE
3
INDY
DNQ
MIL POC MCH MIL ONT TRE PHX 23rd 280
Indianapolis 500
Year Car number Start Qual Rank Finish Laps 500 Led Retired
1967 67 26 163.066 24 27 87 0 Crash NC
1969 67 8 168.075 8 23 65 0 Split Header
1970 27 13 166.559 19 19 107 0 Turbo Gear
Totals 259 0
Starts 3
Poles 0
Front Row 0
Wins 0
Top 5 0
Top 10 0
Retired 3

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)

Grand National Series

NASCAR Grand National Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 NGNC Pts Ref
1960 Chevy CLT CLB DAY DAY DAY CLT NWS PHO CLB MAR HCY WIL BGS GPS AWS DAR PIF HBO RCH HMS CLT BGS DAY HEI MAB MBS ATL BIR NSV AWS PIF CLB SBO BGS DAR HCY CSF GSP HBO MAR NWS CLT
DNQ
RCH 137th 84
82 Chevy ATL
33
1962 Lewis Osborne 97 Chevy CON AWS DAY DAY DAY CON AWS SVH HBO RCH CLB NWS GPS MBS MAR BGS BRI RCH HCY CON DAR
30
PIF ATL
17
BGS AUG
13
RCH SBO AUG
19
SVH
20
MBS BRI
42
CHT NSV HUN AWS STR BGS PIF 36th 4240
Nichels Engineering 39 Pontiac CLT
12
DAY
25
CLB ASH GPS
Ralph Smith 179 Chevy VAL
5
McMillion Racing 83 Pontiac DAR
27
HCY RCH DTS AUG MAR NWS
Jimmy Baker 81 Mercury CLT
43
ATL
37
1963 BIR
20
GGS THS RSD DAY 26th 7872
E. A. McQuaig 30 Pontiac DAY
11
SVH
6
DTS BGS ASH OBS BRR BRI GPS NSV CLB AWS PIF BGS ONA
39 DAY
13
PIF AWS HBO ATL
7
HCY CLT
33
BIR ATL DAY MBS
Lou Sidoit 69 Mercury BRI
5
MAR
17
Lyle Stelter 55 Mercury AUG
9
RCH GPS SBO BGS NWS
26
CLB
10
THS
W. M. Harrison 71 Chevy DAR
16
ODS RCH
Don Harrison 92 Ford DAR
29
HCY RCH MAR DTS NWS THS
Ray Osborne CLT
34
SBO HBO RSD
1964 E. A. McQuaig 39 Pontiac CON AUG JSP
20
15th 16172
90 Plymouth SVH
17
RSD DAY
David Walker 89 Plymouth DAY
21
DAY RCH ATL
22
Roscoe Sanders 71 Plymouth BRI
11
Louis Weathersbee 45 Plymouth GPS
4
BGS AWS
8
HBO
14
PIF
14
CLB
3
SVH
1
LGY
9
HCY
4
SBO GPS
1
ASH CON
12
NSV CHT BIR VAL
2*
PIF
2
ODS
12
OBS
6
ISP
15
MBS
3
AWS DTS ONA CLB BGS STR AUG
23
JAC
Paul Clayton 70 Pontiac NWS
26
MAR
Fox Racing 03 Dodge DAR
8
CLT
26
ATL
11
DAY
11
BRR
18
GLN
2
LIN
18
BRI
4
NSV DAR
17
HCY RCH ODS HBO MAR
27
SVH NWS CLT
5
HAR
1965 3 RSD DAY
12
DAY DAY
DNQ
PIF AWS RCH HBO ATL GPS NWS MAR CLB BRI DAR LGY BGS HCY 37th 5852
Chevy CLT
14
CCF ASH HAR NSV BIR ATL
34
GPS MBS VAL DAY
34
ODS OBS ISP GLN BRI NSV CCF DAR
27
HCY CLT
5
HBO CAR DTS
Gary Weaver 10 Ford AWS
19
AUG
4
CLB
6
DTS BLV BGS
Gene Hobby 99 Dodge SMR
21
Sam Fogle 31 Ford PIF
12
LIN
23
ODS
25
Petty Enterprises 43 Plymouth RCH
34
MAR NWS
1966 Jon Thorne 12 Dodge AUG RSD DAY DAY
4
DAY
8
CAR
32
BRI ATL
21
HCY CLB GPS BGS NWS MAR DAR
29
LGY MGR MON RCH CLT DTS ASH PIF SMR AWS BLV GPS DAY
24
ODS BRR OXF FON ISP BRI SMR NSV ATL
43
CLB AWS BLV BGS DAR
8
HCY RCH HBO MAR NWS CLT
1*
CAR
39
26th 10528
1967 33 Chevy AUG
20
37th 7012
Jon Thorne 12 Dodge RSD
34
DAY
1
DAY DAY
34
AWS BRI
24
GPS BGS ATL
30
CLB HCY NWS MAR SVH RCH DAR BLV LGY CLT ASH MGR SMR BIR
Bud Moore Engineering 16 Mercury CAR
18
GPS MGY DAY
6
TRN OXF FDA ISP BRI
16
SMR NSV ATL
3
BGS CLB SVH DAR
39
HCY RCH BLV HBO MAR
35
Junior Johnson & Associates 26 Ford NWS
3
CLT
DNQ
CAR
14
AWS
27
1968 MGR
17
MGY
20
RSD
37
BRI
3
RCH MAR
4
DAR
5
BLV LGY 16th 1894
Mercury DAY
2
ATL
2
HCY GPS
Lyle Stelter 56 Ford CLB
9
CLB
3
BGS AWS
Junior Johnson & Associates 98 Ford CLB
5
CAR
28
GPS TRN
1*
BRI
32
SMR NSV DAR
27
HCY RCH BLV HBO MAR
3
CLT
41
CAR
3
Lyle Stelter 55 Ford AUG
15
AWS
Junior Johnson & Associates 98 Mercury CLT
3
ASH MGR SMR BIR DAY
2
ISP OXF FDA ATL
1*
NWS
3
AUG
Lyle Stelter 56 Mercury SBO
20
LGY
23
JFC
5
1969 MGR
16
MGY 16th 2712
Junior Johnson & Associates 98 Mercury RSD
6
ATL
11
CLB HCY GPS RCH NWS
2
MAR
4
AWS DAR
1
BLV LGY CLT
1*
MGR SMR MCH
4*
KPT GPS NCF
Ford DAY
9
DAY DAY
1
CAR
23
AUG BRI
2
DAY
1*
DOV
15
TPN BRI
11
NSV SMR ATL
1*
MCH
8
SBO BGS AWS
22
DAR
1*
HCY RCH
10
TAL
Wth
CLB MAR
20
NWS
4
CLT
38
SVH
4
AUG
4
CAR
1*
JFC
4
MGR
29
TWS
10
DeWitt Racing 14 Ford TRN
5
BLV
1970 Junior Johnson & Associates 98 Ford RSD
3
DAY
3
DAY DAY
9
RCH CAR
29
SVH ATL
4
BRI TAL NWS
3
CLB DAR
26
BLV LGY MCH
4
RSD HCY KPT GPS BRI
2
SMR NSV
23
MAR
7
MGR 43rd 625
Mercury CLT
29
SMR DAY
25
AST TPN ATL
3
CLB ONA MCH
7
TAL BGS SBO DAR HCY RCH DOV NCF NWS CLT
1*
CAR
29
LGY
Matthews Racing 27 Ford MAR
26
Donlavey Racing 90 Ford TRN
30
1971 Junior Johnson & Associates 98 Mercury RSD DAY
4
DAY DAY
34
ONT
6
RCH CAR
6
HCY BRI 73rd 98
Seifert Racing 45 Ford ATL
28
CLB
44 GPS
DNQ
SMR NWS MAR DAR SBO TAL ASH KPT CLT DOV MCH RSD HOU GPS DAY BRI AST ISP TRN NSV ATL BGS ONA MCH TAL CLB HCY DAR MAR
Howard & Egerton Racing 98 Chevy CLT
34
DOV CAR MGR RCH NWS TWS

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 NWCC Pts Ref
1972 Nichels Engineering 99 Plymouth RSD DAY
DNQ
RCH ONT 34th 2157.5
Seifert Racing 45 Ford CAR
4
ATL
9
BRI
4
NWS
6
TWS
41
BRI
19
TRN TAL
33
MCH NSV
28
MAR
30
NWS CLT CAR TWS
Bud Moore Engineering 15 Ford DAR
26
Seifert Racing 45 Mercury MAR
23
TAL
7
CLT
5
DOV
3
MCH
28
RSD DAY
6
Donlavey Racing 90 Ford ATL
5
DAR
39
RCH DOV
1973 RSD DAY
DNQ
RCH CAR BRI ATL NWS DAR MAR TAL NSV CLT DOV TWS RSD MCH DAY BRI ATL TAL NSV DAR RCH DOV NWS MAR CLT CAR
Daytona 500
Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish
1963 E. A. McQuaig Pontiac 22 13
1965 Fox Racing Dodge DNQ
1966 Jon Thorne Dodge 8 8
1967 3 34
1968 Junior Johnson & Associates Mercury 3 2
1969 Ford 19 1
1970 5 9
1971 Mercury 7 34
1972 Nichels Engineering Plymouth DNQ
1973 DNQ

Grand National East Series

NASCAR Grand National East Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NGNEC Pts Ref
1972 Seifert Racing 45 Ford JSP HCY GPS
3
CLB NSV SMR ONA MBS AST ISP CLB HCY BGS LPS CLB
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