HISTORY // FIGHTING WORDS @ THE 500

Following yesterday’s Daytona 500, I thought we’d take a look back at one of the most exciting, not to mention important, NASCAR races of all time, the 1979 Daytona 500.

Shortly after the green flag waved, brothers Bobby and Donnie Allison, Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty found themselves in a four-way battle for the lead. Hours later, with but a few laps remaining, Donnie Allison struggled to maintain his lead and stay ahead of the charging Yarborough. As the white flag waved, Yarborough, who was desperate to reclaim the lead, pulled into the draft and prepared to make his move. Allison, in a panic, attempted to shake Yarborough and in the process sent the both of them into the wall. The crowd went wild, especially when they realized that Richard Petty, who had been running in third, was going to win his record sixth Daytona 500... [read more]

As the two proceeded to express their dislike for one another after their cars came to rest in the infield near turn 3, Bobby Allison arrived (his race had ended prematurely thanks to the pair coming together) and within moments harsh words became fists and flying helmets.

“I was trying to talk to Donnie when Cale started hollering at me,” Bobby explained. “Then he hit me in the face with his helmet.”

“It was the lightweight championship of the world after that,” mused Donnie.

The altercation ended when a handful of nearby police officers stepped in, however the fight would live on as one of NASCARs most publicized moments.

“I think it made a lot of fans,” Cale Yarborough would say some 28 years later. “People looked at that and said, ‘These boys are real people and they do real things.‘ Looking back now, I think it’s one of the biggest things that ever happened in the sport. It got people’s attention.”



Images and Info: MotorsportRetro
Editorial: Justin W. Coffey