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David Pearson
By Gregg Leary
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
DOB: 12-20-34 (73)
Whitney, SC
105 Wins (2nd all time)
3 Cup Titles 1966, 68, 69
Petty won the 1967 Championship with 27 wins…10 in a row
113 Poles (2nd to Petty’s 126)
Pearson’s 105 wins in 574 starts was an 18.29% winning percentage (to Petty’s 16.88%)
If he had run in Petty’s 1185 starts he would have had 217 wins and 233 poles
He and Petty ran 1-2 in 63 races…Pearson won 33…Petty 30
Pearson finished in the Top 5 in over half his races
He was nicknamed “The Silver Fox” because of his cunning…and prematurely graying hair
Rookie of the Year in 1960
Pearson’s 1976 Daytona 500 win was his only one (Petty won 7)
When they crashed on the last turn of the last lap…Pearson kept the clutch in to keep the engine running…Petty stalled…Pearson limped across the finish line to win at about 20 mph. The finish was televised LIVE on National TV by ABC.
Petty was angry with Pearson’s outfoxing him in the 1974 Firecracker 400… DP flipping off the ignition, pretending to run out of gas on the last lap while leading…Pearson let Petty pass then used a slingshot to repass Petty for the win…says Pearson, “I think he was upset because he didn’t think of it first.”
Going into the 1976 Daytona 500 Pearson was 0 for 16 (2nd, 3rd, two 4ths, 5th, two 6ths)
Coming off turn four of the last lap…Pearson’s crew had radioed him…”There’s a wreck off turn four.” Pearson replied, “Yeah I know. I’m in it.”
Afterwards Petty said…”I had one ulcer before the race…now I’ve got two.”
Ramo Stott started from pole after the 3 top qualifiers were DQ’d…AJ Foyt and Darrell Waltrip for nitrous and Dave Marcis for a grille flap
Sports Illustrated named Pearson NASCAR’s greatest driver
Cotton Owens said, “Pearson was the greatest driver who ever lived. There’s no doubt about it. He could drive any kind of car on any kind of track.”
Pearson ran eight seasons for the Wood Brothers starting in 1972… winning 43 times in 143 starts
In 1973 he won 11 times in 18 starts…10 superspeedway wins
In April of 1979 at Darlington’s Rebel 500…Pearson thought it was a two tire stop and pulled away…it became a “two tire stop” as the car collapsed…Pearson and the Woods parted…
In the fall race at Darlington in 1979…Pearson subbed for the injured Dale Earnhardt and won the Southern 500 for owner Rod Osterlund. The next year he won the Rebel 500 for Hoss Ellington…his last win.
Pearson continued driving until 1986 but recurring back spasms caused him to retire. He was never hurt in a race car.
He won the Cup Title in 1966 for Cotton Owens…68 and 69 for Holman-Moody.
In 1969 Pearson was the first to break the 190 mph qualifying barrier at Daytona
Won $13 in one of his first races.
The “David Pearson Fan Club” helped him buy his first competitive ride.
Humpy Wheeler said…”You never saw Pearson, particularly at a superspeedway until the end. The last ten percent, he’d show up.”
From 1973-78 Pearson won 11 consecutive poles at Charlotte.
At Darlington Pearson had 10 wins and 12 poles…both best all time. He “tamed” the “Lady in Black” and had many of his most famous moments at his home-state track.
He quit his Holman-Moody ride at Darlington in the 1971 Rebel 400 when the steering failed…quit the Woods Brothers ride at Darlington in the 1979 Rebel 500…when he literally “drove the wheels off.”
David has 105 Cup wins and 1 win in both Busch and IROC