LeeRoy Yarbrough

Yarbrough grew up on the west side of Jacksonville, Florida, and developed an affinity for speed at an early age. When he was sixteen years-old, Yarbrough put together his first car, a 1934 Ford coupe with a Chrysler engine. When he was 19, Yarbrough found his way to a local dirt track. He won that race at Jacksonville Speedway in the spring of 1957. Racing at Jacksonville Speedway Park on Saturday nights Yarborough developed a penchant for carrying excess speed into the third turn and diving under any car that was ahead of him. He would then slide through the turn and run the straightway 1" from the concrete wall. The style was evident in many of his last lap wins throughout his career.

Yarbrough started his racing career in NASCAR's lower tier Sportsman division. After winning 11 races, Yarbrough moved up to the more powerful Modifieds and won 83 features in a three-year span.

Yarbrough won two short-track races in the 1964 NASCAR Grand National season, the first year he competed in more than 14 races. Two years later, Yarbrough scored his first superspeedway win at Charlotte. Driving an unsponsored and lightly regarded Dodge Charger owned by Jon Thorne, Yarbrough dominated the race, leading for 450 of the 500 miles (800 km) in the October 16 National 500. Factory-backed rides followed. His Junior Johnson-owned Ford team started out poorly early in the 1968 season. LeeRoy rebounded and won at Atlanta and Trenton.

In the 1969 Daytona 500, Yarbrough was trailing Charlie Glotzbach by 11 seconds with ten laps remaining. On the final lap, Yarbrough ducked to the low side to make the pass, but a lapped car was in that lane. Yarbrough dived to the low side in turn 3 to clear the lapped car, nearly clipping the apron. He took the lead from Glotzbach and dashed under the checkered flag a car length in front to win the Daytona 500. Next, he won Darlington's Rebel 400 in the final four laps, then won Charlotte's World 600, lapping the entire field at least twice. He also won the summer 400-miler at Daytona, prevailing in a late-race battle with Buddy Baker, making him the third driver in NASCAR history to sweep both Daytona races.^[3] Yarbrough won the summer race at Atlanta International Raceway despite a 102-degree fever. He captured The Southern 500 by passing David Pearson on the last lap. He won by a full lap at Rockingham in October, overcoming a lap deficit when a flat tire sent him into the wall. By season's end, Yarbrough had seven wins to his credit and was named American Driver of The year.^{[citation needed]}

After his successful 1969 season, Yarbrough’s performance record trailed off. A victim of the factory withdrawal, Yarbrough had to scramble to locate rides in Grand National events. He won once in 1970 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and only entered six races in 1971. In 1972, he accepted a ride in a Ford owned by independent campaigner Bill Seifert. He registered nine top 10 finishes in 18 starts. Yarbrough showed up for Daytona's 1973 Speedweeks, but failed to earn a starting berth for the Daytona 500. He virtually dropped out of sight after that, never again showing up at a NASCAR event.

On April 22, 1970, Yarbrough suffered head injuries while doing tire tests for Goodyear at Texas World Speedway. Yarbrough blew a tire between turns three and four and impacted the wall at over 160 mph. Yarbrough's head hit a roll bar inside the cockpit with such force that it cracked his helmet. He was released from the hospital that evening, and at the time, was not believed to have been a serious head injury.^[4] He was picked up at the airport by Cale Yarborough, but later had no memory of the crash, hospital, or meeting with Yarborough.^[5]

"I was unconscious for about an hour, but I feel okay today," Yarbrough said a day later. "As tightly as I was strapped in the seat, it's hard for me to believe my body moved that much. The straps made my shoulders black and blue and I'm pretty sore."^[4] Days later, Yarbrough qualified eighth at Martinsville but the race was postponed because of rain.^[6]

Yarbrough showed well in a few Indy Car starts, leading the inaugural California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway late. After Al Unser retired with 14 laps remaining, Yarbrough inherited the lead. With a margin of two laps over second place, it appeared that Yarbrough would score an unlikely victory. But with eight laps remaining, Yarbrough suffered a broken piston and blew an engine, coasting to a stop in turn four. Yarbrough drew cheers from the crowd as he pushed his car back to the pits.^[7] Yarbrough then finished 3rd at Trenton Speedway in 1971.

After competing in three Indianapolis 500s in 1967, '69 and '70, Yarbrough was driving a Dan Gurney Eagle in practice on May 9 for the 1971 Indianapolis 500 when he spun and crashed hard in turn one, suffering head injuries. Cale Yarborough was at the track hospital when LeeRoy was brought in. "He was burned on the hands and neck, and he was woozy from another lick on the head. He was the palest live man I've ever seen."^[5] Yarbrough spent the next few months, June through November, in and out of the hospital with many different ailments and memory problems. He was rumoured to have contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever from a tick bite, and also drank alcohol heavily. He most likely suffered brain trauma from the crashes in Texas and Indianapolis.

In 1977, a court, on recommendation from a psychiatric board, ruled him incompetent to handle his own affairs and he moved in with his mother, Minnie Yarbrough.^[8] Yarbrough had an alcohol problem and would sometimes collect empty bottles on the side of the road for the bottle deposits which he would use to buy beer. The alcohol abuse further irritated his brain damage.^[5] It was reported that by 1980, his drinking had reduced.^[8]

Yarbrough's mother noticed a change in his behavior in early 1980. He began spending most of his time in bed reading racing magazines, rarely leaving his bedroom. On Saturday, February 9, Yarbrough went out for a walk and someone bought him some beers. A policeman friend later brought him to a local hospital where he was released at 2 am. As his mother recalled, "they called me and told me nothing was wrong with him, except that he apparently had a drinking problem. I told them, 'Please keep him there. You don't know LeeRoy. I know my son. He needs help, and it's not the drinking.' But they released him."^[9]

On Wednesday, February 13, LeeRoy spent most of the day in bed, with his mother bringing him food. Terry Sweat, Minnie's grandson, had left the house to buy her cigarettes. While doing the dishes after dinner, LeeRoy entered the kitchen and remarked about his mouth, saying "'Mama, look how you've cut my mouth!' I said, Son, I haven't done anything to your mouth. Your mouth is all right.' LeeRoy opened his mouth. I looked at it. It was not cut." He left the kitchen and returned shortly, saying, "Mama, I'm going to do something, and I don't want to do it. I'm going to kill you." Yarbrough would proceed to strangle his mother. Terry Sweat returned and struck Yarbrough with a jelly jar until he released his mother. When police arrived, LeeRoy struck an officer in the face and needed several firefighters to subdue him.^[8]

Police arrested Yarbrough with charges of first-degree attempted murder for trying to kill his 65-year-old mother, plus assault on a police officer. Yarbrough was committed to the Florida State Hospital at Chattahoochee by Judge Hudson Oliff of Jacksonville on March 7, 1980. Judge Oliff ruled that Mr. Yarbrough was not guilty of attempted murder because he was unable to distinguish right from wrong at the time of the incident.

Yarbrough had no memory of the assault and was unaware of why he was imprisoned. For almost a month, his mother would not tell him the real reason he was in jail. Finally in early March, he received a newspaper that explained his charges. He called his mother in disbelief, saying, "Mama, is it true what the paper said? Mama, I wouldn't hurt you for nothing in this world."^[8]

In March 1981, Junior Johnson and auto racing chaplain Bill Baird had LeeRoy transferred to a mental hospital in Asheville, North Carolina and a fund was set up to pay for his expenses. Johnson said, "We haven't given up on getting LeeRoy treatment that will help him." Baird said that although the "prognosis originally was not good, the doctors who examined him are saying now that with continuing treatment at Asheville, his chances are moderate to good for significant progress. We’re told there’s a 25-30% chance he can function again in society." The Rod Osterlund Racing team, which fielded cars for defending champion Dale Earnhardt, offered Yarbrough a job with their team once his treatment was completed.^[10] Junior Johnson was also prepared to give Yarbrough a job. Unfortunately,  staff at the facility determined Yarbrough's brain damage was too severe for treatment and he returned to a Florida facility.^[11]

While in the hospital on December 6, 1984, Yarbrough had a violent seizure and fell over striking his head. He fell unconscious immediately. He was rushed to Jacksonville's University Hospital where he died the morning of December 7, 1984. The doctors said he died of internal bleeding in the brain.

Upon Yarbrough's death, Junior Johnson said, "People should always have respect for LeeRoy. He'd have been among our greats if he hadn't been so unlucky to hit the walls a time or two too many."^[12]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)

• LeeRoy Yarbrough driver statistics at Racing-Reference