Cale Yarborough, repeat NASCAR and Daytona 500 champion, dies at age 84

Cale Yarborough, the NASCAR driver who won three championships while , died Sunday. He was 84. The details of Yarborough’s death were not released to the public. “Cale Yarborough was one of the ,” NASCAR Chairman & CEO Jim France said in a statement. “His combination of talent, grit and determination separated Cale from his peers, both on the track and in the record book.

He was respected and admired by competitors and fans alike and was as comfortable behind the wheel of a tractor as he was behind the wheel of a stock car.” Yarborough won the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s signature race, four times, but he is perhaps best remembered for the . In a , Yarborough attempted to pass on the inside, leading to a wreck that knocked both drivers out of the competition.

Both men immediately hopped out of their cars and began throwing punches. “I was going to pass him and win the race, but he turned left and crashed me,” . “So, hell, I crashed him back. If I wasn’t going to get back around, he wasn’t either.” It was the first NASCAR race televised from beginning to end, and the .

Yarborough, whose given name was William Caleb Yarborough, was born March 27, 1939 in Florence County, S.C. He worked on farms as a kid but tried various avenues to escape — including — before settling on racing. Though he racked up 83 NASCAR Cup Series wins throughout this career, Yarborough was forever associated with one track in particular: , which was one county from his birthplace.

He won five Southern 500s at the track. Yarborough is survived by his wife, Betty Jo, and daughters Julie, Kelley and B.J..