Racing History Minute - 1969 Daytona 500

On February 20, 1969, for the first time at Daytona, a stock car broke the 190 mph wall with David Pearson turning the trick in a Holman-Moody Ford. Even with that qualifying speed, Pearson would start 15th in the first 125 mile qualifying race. The races had been increased from 100 miles to 125 miles under the premise that such a distance would require ALL cars to make a pit stop and there would be no more running out of gas on the last lap.

Pearson had qualified at 190.029 mph but would roll of as the 15th place starter in the 125 miler to determine the inside row for the Daytona 500. Just 18 laps into the race, Pearson took over first spot and pulled away. During the two caution flags totaling 15 laps, Pearson would make two pit stops. Pearson made a fantastic dash to run down Cale Yarborough and beat him to the line by 12 car lengths.

Top five finishers:

1. David Pearson, Holman-Moody Ford

2. Cale Yarborough, Wood Brothers Mercury

3. Donnie Allison, Banjo Matthews Ford

4. A. J. Foyt, Jack Bowsher Ford

5. Benny Parsons, Russ Dawson Ford

The second race would see Bobby Isaac in the K&K Insurance Dodge pull out a 3 car length win over Charlie Glotzbach in another Dodge, this one prepared by Cotton Owens. Most of the early laps were led by Bobby Allison in the Mario Rossi Dodge, but Bobby had to park the beautiful red and gold number 22 when the engine expired on lap 32. This 125 miler also had two caution flags for a total of 16 laps.

Top five finishers:

1. Bobby Isaac, K&K Insurance Dodge

2. Charlie Glotzbach, Cotton Owens Dodge

3. Paul Goldsmith, Ray Nichels Dodge

4. Bobby Unser, Smokey Yunick Ford

5. Swede Savage, Wood Brothers Mercury

The Daytona 500 went under the green with Buddy Baker on the pole in a Ray Fox Dodge with Bobby Isaac in the K&K Dodge to the outside. Third place starter was David Pearson in the Holman-Moody Ford, with Charlie Glotzbach starting four in the Cotton Owens Dodge entry. Fifth place starter was Cale Yarborough in the Wood Brothers Mercury.

Cale Yarborough, attempting to win his second consecutive Daytona 500, blew a tire on lap 103 and slammed into the fourth turn wall, ending his day and breaking his nose. Bobby Unser, Paul Goldsmith, Swede Savage, and Bobby Isaac were also involved in wrecks which ended their day. For Isaac, it was the problem of getting stuck behind a pack of slower cars and he got nailed by Richard Petty driving a very ill handling Ford. Petty accepted responsibility for the wreck but Isaac didn't blame Petty. Isaac complained about the slower cars being the way the entire time he was in the race, singling out Vic Elford and Richard Brickhouse as the major offenders.

On the last pit stop, with 14 laps to go, Herb Nab, crew chief for LeeRoy, elected to put a very soft compound tire on the left rear knowing the tire would not last long but would give excellent traction for the short distance remaining. Returning to the track, LeeRoy proved Herb right as the number 98 flew around the track and caught leader Glotzbach with one lap to go. The two cars came off turn four with Glotzbach leading but LeeRoy pulled the slingshot move and went around the Dodge. LeeRoy beat Charlie to the line by less than a car length.

After the race Glotzbach said there was no real defense to the slingshot other than to "run LeeRoy into the grass" and "I don't race like that". Glotzbach continued "besides, I could have wrecked us both and instead of second, I would have been last". LeeRoy was overjoyed as he exclaimed "It was all the pit crew and that decision on the tires on that last stop".

There were 19 lead changes with Cale, Buddy Baker, Jame Hylton, Donnie Allison, Bobby Isaac, A. J. Foyt, Charlie Glotzbach and LeeRoy Yarbrough all getting an opportunity to show the rear bumper of their cars to the field.

Finishing Order:

1. LeeRoy Yarbrough, Junior Johnson Ford, winning $38,950.00

2. Charlie Glotzbach, Cotton Owens Dodge, winning $18,425.00 (1 car length back)

3. Donnie Allison, Banjo Matthews Ford, winning $13,275.00(1 lap down)

4. A. J. Foyt, Jack Bowsher Ford, winning $5,800.00 (1 lap down)

5. Buddy Baker, Ray Fox Dodge, winning $10,040.00 (2 laps down)

6. David Pearson

7. Benny Parsons

8. Richard Petty

9. Andy Hampton

10. Ray Elder

11. Vic Elford

12. Richard Brickhouse

13. Friday Hassler

14. Jabe Thomas

15. James Hylton

16. Neil Castles

17.Bill Seifert

18. Dave Marcis

19. Frank Warren

20.Elmo Langley

21. George Bauer

22. Dub Simpson

23. Bill Champion

24. Henley Gray

25. Dr. Don Tarr

26. E. J. Trivette

27. Cecil Gordon

28. Buddy Arrington

29. Wendell Scott

30. Bobby Isaac

31. Wayne Smith

32. Dick Brooks

33. Ramo Stott

34. Ben Arnold

35. Earl Brooks

36. Swede Savage

37. Dick Johnson

38. Cale Yarborough

39. J. D. McDuffie

40. Bobby Johns

41. Paul Goldsmith

42. Bobby Unser

43. Bobby Allison

44. Pete Hamilton

45. John Sears

46. Bill Kimmel

47. H.B. Bailey

48.Billy Taylor

49. Dick Poling

50. Roy Mayne

PERSONAL MEMORIES: For the third year in a row, I was NOT in Daytona for the 500. This time, however, it had nothing to do with snow, or serving my country in the Navy. I was not at all happy about certain issues with the race. Let me explain.

I had been a fan of Richard Petty since his very first race, the convertible event at Columbia Speedway in 1958. Most of that loyalty was because Richard was always really nice to me and very easy to talk with. Part of that loyalty was the fact that he drove a Plymouth. Back in those days of racing, a person's loyalty to a brand make of car was one of the biggest parts of being a race fan. The crowd I hung with absolutely detested Ford and Mercurys. Those brands were absolutely trash in our eyes and after the FoMoCo folks were successful in paying off NASCAR to outlaw the Hemis, which the Fords couldn't beat on the super speedways, we had even more reason to think of the blue oval folks as crybaby cheaters.

I think, if memory serves, it was November 26, 1968, when Richard announced they were going to Ford for the 1969 season. I was now off active duty with the Navy having been released in September, 1968, and although I still had 3 months of school to attend in Charleston and then reserve meetings for another year and a half, I was technically free. I remember calling Petty Enterprises the day after I heard the announcement and was told Richard wasn't in. I'm sure that's true because by that time I was well known by the receptionist/secretary there and she and I would often have long conversations.

Anyway, as I brooded over the perceived betrayal by Richard for a week, I decided I would NOT attend any of the races in 1969 except those at Columbia Speedway. Although I was happy Richard won the first time out in the Ford at Riverside, happy that it was Richard, I was not happy about that darned Ford.

True to my promise, I did not go to any races but the Columbia Speedway events. It was after the second race there that the famous duel between my brother in a Road Runner, me in a Road Runner, and Richard in one of those Ford junk heaps, happened on Interstate 26 leaving the speedway. As always, we were the last to leave and Richard was behind us coming out of the speedway. A mile down highway 321 we turned onto I-26 and as soon as we hit the "super slab" (remember that term any of you old timers) Richard went by us. I could not help myself when I passed him back. He passed me again and then my brother, following us, got in on it.

Because I now have two teenage grandsons driving, I will say only that the duel from I-26 to our exit off I-20 (about 10 miles total) was a hotly contested event. I sort of pulled back on I-20 because even after midnight, which it was, and the highway was mostly empty, the highway patrol had a habit of hanging out just over the little hill after you cross the river. That left my brother and the King to finish the duel. As the tail lights of the Ford and the Road Runner driven by my brother, also named Richard incidentally, disappeared over the hill, I knew our exit was coming up. I topped the hill just in time to see the Road Runner throw the turn signal on to exit at highway 215. It appeared, from my distant vantage point, that it was either a tie finish or my brother had The King by half a car length.

I now understand that the move to Ford was a business decision Petty needed to make. I also learned, directly from his lips, a couple months before the end of the 1969 season, that Petty would reunite with Plymouth in 1970. These days, brand makes don't mean that much to me as long as they name plates aren't hooked to a Jap Trap. The "official" Legendmobile isa Mercury Grand Marquis, but that is a story for another time and place.

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future

Brand loyalty is never to be taken lightly. lol.... I park my Chrysler in the race shop just to keep from parking side the wife's Hyundai Sonata . She gets to park with the riding mower as a garage mate......lol you rock Legend.....

Some pics from RacersReunion photo collection - with a few others sprinkled in for good measure.

Smokey Yunich was back again with yet another USAC regular - this time it was Bobby Unser. - Ray Lamm

Another driver who raced a bit in both USAC and NASCAR, Swede Savage, hitched a ride in the 1969 500 in a second Wood Brothers entry.

Pete Hamilton in a Mopar - the year before he got the ride of a lifetime with the Pettys. - Brian Norton

The twin winners - The Silver Fox & Bobby Isaac

Saturday's Permatex 300 sportsman race is perhaps most infamously known for absolutely horrific wreck and death of Don MacTavish. I won't add the pics or video here. You've ever seen them - or chosen not to. But the race did run - and was completed.

Bugs Stevens in the 43, and Wayne Andrews in the 0 - Wayne's Daytona debut.- Dennis Andrews

Some action from the 300 - Ray Lamm

Lee Roy doubled up that weekend. He won the 500 as well as the sportsman 300 for car owner Bondy Long the day before.

A couple of other drivers made their Daytona debuts in 1969. Dave Sisco from Nashville TN ran the Sportsman race.

And Richard Childress - looking a tad bit like Johnny Cash here - made his Daytona debut in the Grand Touring event in a Camaro - presumably the same Camaro he'd race as a last minute entry in the inaugural Talladega 500 that summer.

Joie Chitwood Jr. - father of current DIS president, Joie Chitwood III - raced in the Grand Touring event as well.

Miss Permatex - nuff said - Ray Lamm

No tandem, pack or 2x2 racing here. Just spread 'em out and GO. - Ray Lamm

Yarbrough in victory lane. I'm sure he was delighted. But the look on his face looks a bit devious - like he was considering slapping some dignitary upside the head.

Race program

National Speed Sport News cover page covering Yarbrough's win and MacTavish's death. - from Russ Thompson

Wonder if Pearson painted his lips with some of the sponsor's Loctite before he planted that kiss on Miss Permatex after winning his qualifier??!!

Back in the late 1980s I negotiated and handled a personal services and sponsorship contract for Plasti-Kote Spray Paint with car builder, Robert Yates and the late driver, Davey Allison. Robert had gotten his mechanical training just down the road from Wilson County Speedway as a student at the Wilson Technical Institute.

During the week of the 1989 Daytona 500 (20 years after the the race described by Tim Leeming) I was driving Robert and Davey from Daytona to Orlando for dinner with and after dinner remarks to big Plasti-Kote Spray Paint distributors brought in for the 500.

Enroute to Orlando with me driving my Ford wagon, Robert Yates told Davey and me how he had come to build the engine for Junior Johnson that powered LeeRoy to the 1969 Daytona 500 win. It was a very interesting story and I saw part of the story resurface in a 2003 Ken Willis column in the Daytona paper. I thought you might enjoy it.

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

Yates builds winning engine in 69, then gets 3 500s as a team owner

By KEN WILLIS
NEWS-JOURNAL SPORTS WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH As much as anyone in auto racing, Robert Yates has become synonymous with horsepower. He built a name in racing as a master engine builder. He powered winners for the race teams of Holman-Moody, Junior Johnson, DiGard and Harry Ranier, and eventually took over Raniers team in the late 1980s.

In the years since, Yates racing has become a NASCAR kingmaker, winning races with Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan and Ricky Rudd, and a championship with Dale Jarrett. Along the way, Yates has fielded three Daytona 500 winners.

Robert Yates (Photo: The News-Journal)

My dad was a preacher, and when I was 7, 8, 10 years old, my dad would preach about the Bluebird and this guy -- Sir Malcolm Campbell or somebody -- who made this land-speed record on the beach in Daytona.

Hed be preaching about Gods way of coming in and smoothing the sand so a man could do something like that. I remembered that, about this guy racing on the beach. He told that story again and again, talking about Gods way with nature.

I sure perked up when I heard that, because I loved cars. I couldnt wait to get on the beach with a car.

Id probably never been out of North Carolina when I was a kid. I was probably 12 years old before I ever got out of the state.

But I started hearing about Daytona, about the Speedway. I was thinking about this place way off in the distance. I had a picture in my mind about what the place looked like.

I finally came here in 1963. Some friends of mine from East Carolina College called me. I was at Wilson Technical Institute.

There wasnt no I-95 then. We met and drove down, came down Highway 301. Man, Im going to Florida. Ive never seen Florida -- this is a whole big experience.

Going to see the 63 Chevrolet that Junior Johnson is running, you know. Got down here, of course it was the first time I ever experienced going from where it was cold to where it was warm. Got down here and rolled the windows down -- thought that was a big deal.

Got down here but didnt have a place to stay. We didnt think about it. didnt really have money to rent a place anyway. wed just stay in the car.

Got down here on Friday. We walked in and got a grandstand ticket. The Friday sportsman race was going on. I walked straight to the fence, and all of a sudden, just as I got there, they had this 11-car pileup. A windshield comes out of one guys car. A friend of mine was standing beside me at the fence, and here comes this windshield out of a 63 Dodge or something, right up in the air and over the fence, and splattered right between us.

I thought that was the coolest thing that ever happened -- Man this is exciting.

I just couldnt believe I was here. It was quite an experience.

I drove on the beach the next year, driving a new 64 Dodge. Then in 65, I got a 65 Chevrolet up to about 110 miles an hour on the beach. It was early morning; there was not a soul out there. I dont know why they didnt put me in jail. It was like 6 oclock in the morning. I wanted to go down that beach wide open, and I did.

J ust a few years later, I built the engine that won the 1969 Daytona 500 with LeeRoy Yarbrough, while I was working for Holman-Moody.

It was a last-minute panic deal that happened. Our engines had been breaking bolts, and we couldnt figure out why. My job at Holman-Moody was to fit all the engine bearings. The engineers were convinced it was bolt stretch. Junior called me and said, I think these bolts are bad. That was his wisdom -- if theyre breaking, theyre bad.

He wanted to know if we had any of the black bolts we used to run. I looked in my cabinet and I had about 20 bolts. This was real late. The race was in just a few days.

Junior thought we needed to change the bolts, but the engineers wouldnt allow it. They didnt think that was the problem. Junior says, Well, they wont let us change any. But if youve got an engine with them in it, Ill run it.

So Junior, sorta not going in the front door, says, I want an engine with the black bolts.

I worked all night. Put the engine together in record time. Iss usually a three-day deal, but I did it that day and that night, had it on the dyno at 7 oclock in the morning.

Junior or somebody picked it up and ran it in the Daytona 500. I didnt get to come down for the race. LeeRoy won the race, and I didnt know if theyd run the engine or not, because back then there wasnt much communication.

So on Monday morning at the shop, Junior comes by the shop that day. He comes up to me and slips me a $100 bill. It was like, Yes! That was my claim to fame. That engine is still in Darlington at the Hall of Fame there .

I came down here in 76 to work for DiGard (race team). DiGard was trying to get me to go to work for em. They had everybody working for em. They had Smokey on the payroll -- had everybody and their son on the payroll.

They said, come down and just help us out. I loaded my toolbox on my wifes car and drove to Daytona. I pulled in the shop, David Ifft came out and said, Glad youre here, we just laid off all our engine guys.

They fired everybody but two of em. I said, Im only here for two weeks. Well, I was here for a year.

Stayed at the Scottish Inn, and at the Copacabana some. They sent me Christmas cards for years after that. Id go to McDonalds for a Coke and an Egg McMuffin, and show up at work there on Fentress every morning at 7 oclock.

I bought a condo here, over near the Chart House, a few years back -- back when you had the fires.

I like Daytona. What I always really enjoyed about Daytona is November. Theres almost nobody here, and Iss just beautiful. You can go out on the beach, and Iss quiet. Really good.

Trying to do more of that every year. -- Robert Yates

great stuff you guys dig out....really enjoyed it.

Bump