|| *Comments on the 1968 Southern 500:* View the most recent comment <#15> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Petty43 posted: 12.25.2007 - 4:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Cale is a better driver than David Pearson and should have won the 73 and 80 cups 2. Sébastien posted: 07.24.2009 - 12:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) David Pearson #17 was sponsored by "East Tenn. Motor Co.". 3. Spen posted: 10.25.2009 - 4:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) And if you use the regular point system, Cale would have won '74, too. 4. North Charleston posted: 05.23.2011 - 10:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I attended this race. Frank "Sgt. Carter" Sutton of the Gomer Pyle show was the celebrity MC and rode in the white Camaro pace car at the start. After the race, the back straightaway fence was opened in the middle for you to climb down on the track and walk over to the pit area to get autographs and stick your head into the cars. The drivers were there to meet and greet. It was a memory I'll never forget and Cale was the man that day as he battled Pearson at the end. 5. Walleyewhacker posted: 07.04.2011 - 11:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cale had the advantage in 1968 on the superspeedways over David Pearson due to the 1968 Mercury Cyclone being a good 2-3 MPH faster on the supperspeedways than the 1968 Ford Tornino due to the downturn on the leading edge of the hood. 6. myself posted: 01.26.2012 - 12:32 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) Of his 83 wins, Cale declares this one to be his favorite. 7. dozierthegreat posted: 11.20.2012 - 5:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors on cars: #1 Pete Hamilton - King Enterprises #93 Paul Dean Holt - Hurst 8. v2v1v5 posted: 05.26.2013 - 2:17 am Rate this comment: (4) (0) This race was an absolute thriller!I love seeing 2 of the greatest in an all out duel!They were exchanging sheet metal and turning each other every which way but loose,before Cale would drive one "battered" Wood Bros. Mercury Cyclone to Victory Lane.David Pearson said he thought he had the faster car at the end,but couldnt have passed Cale without wrecking both cars,and he didnt want to do that.David Pearson would go on and win 16 races and the 1968 NASCAR championship in the Holman&Moody #17 Ford Torino.Cale would win 6 races in his limited schedule for the Wood Bros. and always call this victory the greatest of his career. 9. drummer1964 posted: 06.27.2013 - 5:48 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) I was there, and I recall meeting some of the drivers afterwards, as North Charleston posted. Cale and David (my fave) were in an all out duel, bangin and rubbin...no doubt. I will never forget the grip of the drivers' hands when they would shake your hand ! I was in the 8th grade; this was a b-day gift from my parents to attend a big race ! 10. Jim posted: 08.26.2014 - 2:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) J.D.McDuffie had the only Buick in the field. I bet it was purple haha 11. nascar_vd / racing-reference.info posted: 08.03.2015 - 1:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Note for visitors: we have found some informations missing and/or correction until now on the website (lineup, one dnq). Note: Walson Gardner drove the car #93 in practice, qualifying and qualifying race but Paul Dean Holt (initially DNQ with a '67 Ford #01) borrowed the car for the race. Note: It's a 4-lap qualifying. Two qualifying session and one qualifying race (20 laps and average speed = 112.370 mph, time of race = 0h14m02s). Note: Both Glotzbach and Yarborough turned their four lap time trial in identical time. Glotzbach takes the pole position by virtue of making his attempt first. But there are still a lot of missing information (sponsors, others DNQ ??). 12. RaceFanX posted: 09.02.2016 - 6:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Yarborough's first win at Darlington, a great victory for the South Carolina native. Cale said this victory meant more to him than his Daytona 500 wins, as noted before it is still one of his favorites. 13. Seb posted: 08.05.2019 - 12:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #3 Baker sponsor was "Royal Dodge" #6 Glotzbach sponsor was "Dodge" #16 Lund sponsor was "Hall Mark Homes Mercury" #22 Dieringer sponsor was "Plymouth" #27 D Allison sponsor was "Dick Brannan Ford" #49 Spencer sponsor was "Presnell Chrysler Plymouth" #98 Yarbrough sponsor was "Winebarger Motor Co." 14. RaceFanX posted: 12.09.2020 - 7:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Sponsor: #39 Friday Hassler- See Rock City DNQ Car: Neil Castles- self-owned #06 Howard Furniture Plymouth (His car was visible in the race film doing laps and in the pit garages for this race but something must have happened during the weekend to sideline him for the race) NASCAR put up a 4K restored promotional film of this race made by the track. The narrator noted that "who would have believed one day we'd be racing stock cars at 144 miles per hour?" 15. RaceFanX posted: 12.09.2020 - 7:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cale Yarborough's win here would be a hard fought one. He jumped into the lead at the start but after Richard Petty took the top spot he he wore his tires out and had to pit for four fresh ones at a time when two was still the standard. With with the Wood Brothers' legendarily fast pit stops that move cost Cale two laps but he was zooming through the field afterward and got one of them back passing LeeRoy Yarbrough on a restart. He later got the other one back as the race turned into a de facto one-on-one between Yarborough and David Pearson. Pearson went for the top spot only for the two to get together, resulting in a spin for the #17 Ford and a smashed left front for the #21 Mercury. Yarborough had to pit late for two fresh right side tires and pulling the fender off the wheel, the Woods got him back out in just 19 seconds and he maintained the lead. Yarborough held off Pearson at the end for the big win. David Pearson missed part of qualifying due to an ear infection, starting further back than normal as a result. His #17 Ford was a fast on race day though and he rallied to the front to give Cale a nice run for the money. The Silver Fox won the spring race here at Darlington but while he won many races here he had to wait until 1976 to finally win the Southern 500. LeeRoy Yarbrough's white Junior Johnson-entered #98 Ford was the class of the field early in this one as once he got past Richard Petty for the lead he was starting to check out with only Cale fast enough to really challenge him. It wasn't to be though as a blown motor on the front stretch sent the Torino for a loop and then to the sidelines. LeeRoy would however bounce back from this bitter defeat to win the Southern 500 the following year. Richard Petty drove this race with a spring wiring his helmet to this shoulder. Apparently it was intended to take pressure off his neck in the corners. Petty took the lead from Yarborough early on, using J.D. McDuffie's blue #70 Buick as a pick only moments before it dropped out with mechanical failure, but this would turn out to be a rough day for the King. He narrowly averted disaster with only light involvement in a multi-car crash but ultimately the Petty Blue #43 Plymouth went out with a blown motor while he was running fifth. Buddy Baker lost the brakes in the #3 Dodge late in this race. He still stayed in it though and managed to bring his Mopar home third to be the best of the Chrysler racers in this one. Maryland racer George Davis would have a rough day as his #07 Chevrolet ended up taking a long ride against the wall after he and Dr. Don Tarr got together. Both continued but Davis went out only a few laps later with a mechanical failure. Dr. Tarr and his #0 would salvage a top-20. The big one hit on lap 57 with a nine-car pileup in turn one. Bobby Mausgrover blew a motor and spun his #52 Ford into traffic with flames coming out from under the hood. Jabe Thomas hit the wall but snuck past Mausgrover but Bobby Isaac wasn't so lucky and plowed into him at almost full tilt, spinning the #52 like a top as Pete Hamilton slammed into Isaac. John Sears almost flipped his #4 Ford after he got clipped at speed by H.B. Bailey in the same accident. Mausgrover was injured in the wreck and made no further Cup starts in 1968 and wouldn't be back on the tour until the following April. Another multi-car crash on backstretch later on as Jim Hurtubise go for a brief wall ride in the white-and-red #59. Herk got bot the inside and the outside walls hard but walked away, done for the day, from Tiger Tom Pistone's totaled Mercury. Daryl Derringer and Tiny Lund were also taken out while Petty avoided disaster. Given the timing they may have hit oil from LeeRoy Yarbrough's blown motor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: