Bobby Allison holds off racing driver Cale Yarborough after Yarborough, right, kicks him behind a Daytona 500 on February 18, 1979. (AP/Ric Feld)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ride through the main tunnel of the Daytona International Speedway and photos of some of the most famous events in race history line the walls.
One cannot miss.
It shows Cale Yarborough, helmet in hand, ready to unload Bobby Allison and burn a bloody, bloody slug in a 1979 Daytona 500 that turned the highly anticipated first flag-to-flag live broadcast of a race into an impressive spectacle. NASCAR on the sports map of the country.
Who are the nice boys on TV fighting instead of racing?
The pivotal moment legitimized the Daytona 500 in a flash – more like a punch – and suddenly even traditional bat and ball fans were buzzing about NASCAR and the brawl changed all that. .
The fight is a viral clip before such a term even existed and it stood for 44 years near the top of the most talked about short list, dissected and still unbelievable for the first 74 years of NASCAR.
As part of the celebration of NASCAR’s 75th season, the Associated Press interviewed 12 veteran industry contributors on topics ranging from the biggest drivers to the key challenges ahead.
With big names, a flop, and a nation of viewers, 1979’s Daytona 500 was the winner of the AP survey as the most memorable race because of its role as perhaps a substitute. The most important industry change in NASCAR history.
“Despite dozens of potential honors mentions, this seems to be replayed in the movies more prominently than anything else,” said Winston Kelly, longtime broadcaster for the Motor Racing Network. , which helps it qualify as most memorable and most important.
Among the other races mentioned were Dale Earnhardt’s 1998 Daytona 500 breakout victory and Richard Petty’s 200th win in 1984 in the July Daytona race attended by President Ronald Reagan. Damned, Edsel Ford, longtime executive at the company named after his great-grandfather Henry Fordcouldn’t narrow it down to just one.
“I would say that any race where a Ford Products of Motor Co. Winning is my most memorable race,” said Ford.
All suitable candidates. But the 1979 Daytona 500 race – it was Petty’s sixth win in the crown race – was something special. More than 15 million people watched the race and all its aftermath. It was the highest rated NASCAR race until 2001.
The mayhem broke out early in the race when Yarborough lunged at his brother Bobby and Donnie Allison and crashed into Bobby’s rear bumper, sending all three cars through a muddy courtyard. All three drivers recovered, Yarborough and Donnie Allison ultimately fighting for the lead before turning heads.
Yarborough later said Bobby Allison slowed down to stop him, later claiming that Donnie hit him down on the lawn. Bobby Allison stopped near the crashed cars to see if Donnie needed a ride to the garage. Yarborough faced him through the window.
“He ran up to me and started yelling at me,” Bobby told the AP in 2019 on the occasion of his 40th anniversary. “And then he hit me in the face with his helmet, which really surprised me. I’m still wearing my seat belt. I wear a helmet and it covers me up a bit, but it cuts my nose and lips.
“At that time, blood was flowing profusely in my heart. I either have to get out of the car and deal with this or run away from him for the rest of my life. So I got out of the car and he hit my arm with his nose.”
While Yarborough and Allison traded hay in the Florida sunshine, it was actually a snowstorm that helped widen the race’s exposure.
The Daytona 500 was broadcast live in its entirety for the first time, reaching markets that were little known about vintage racing. Have A blizzard forced a large part of the country inside. Cities were closed and TVs were turned on.
Deb Williams, an AP panelist now in his fourth decade of racing coverage, was brought on board in his first year of writing for UPI. She watched the race on TV at her parents’ home in North Carolina – snow covered the outside of the house – and then wrote a story from Raleigh’s office about fans who had gathered to pay the bill. $6,000 fine for Donnie Allison.
“There is a lot of raw emotion about the elements that people see for the first time,” said Williams, who is showing off her 29th Daytona 500 this year, to Autoweek.
And not for the last.
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AP NASCAR at 75 voting boards: Edsel Ford, longtime Ford executive; Tony Gibson, retired NASCAR team leader; Jeff Gordon, four-time NASCAR champion; Denny Hamlin, three-time Daytona 500 champion; Rick Hendrick, founder of Hendrick Motorsports; Jimmie Johnson, seven-time NASCAR champion; Winston Kelley, executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame; Steve O’Donnell, CEO of NASCAR; Richard Petty, NASCAR Hall of Fame driver; Lyn St. James, one of nine women who qualified for the Indianapolis 500; Deb Williams, award-winning NASCAR journalist; Eddie Wood, co-owner of Wood Brothers Racing.
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