DAVID PEARSON

'David Pearson' (born December 22, 1934 in Whitney, South Carolina) is a former American NASCAR racecar champion.
Known as the "Silver Fox", he debuted on the Grand National racing circuit in 1960 and earned Rookie of the Year honors that same season. He went on to win the NASCAR Championship in 1966, 1968 and 1969 (the only three full-time seasons of his career). Pearson ranks as one of the greatest of all NASCAR drivers and his duels with Richard Petty are legendary. Between August 8, 1963 and June 12, 1977, they finished one/two on sixty-three occasions, with Pearson coming out on top with thirty-three victories. Their most famous encounter came at the 1976 Daytona 500 when the two were running bumper-to-bumper on the final lap. They slammed hard against each other's front fender and both hit the wall. Petty's damaged car spun off the track just twenty-five yards from the finish line and the engine quit running and he could not get it to restart. All Petty could do was sit in his famous #43 and watch as Pearson's wrecked #21 limped across the finish line to claim victory.
Pearson won the "Most Popular Driver" award in 1979 and 1980. After twenty-six seasons in racing, he retired in 1986. He finished his career in second place behind Richard Petty on NASCAR's all-time win list with 105, and second in all-time pole positions.
Pearson is one of eight drivers in NASCAR history to win a Career Grand Slam, by winning the sport's four majors; Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Buddy Baker are the other seven to have accomplished the feat.

Contents

Career awards

Family

External link

Career awards

★ In 1990, Pearson was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

★ He was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.

★ He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1993.

★ He was named Sports Illustrated Driver of the Century.

Family

★ David's had a son, Larry Pearson, who won two NASCAR Busch Championships in 1986 and 1987 and had a go at the Winston Cup circuit before turning his focus back to Busch racing. Other children were involved as mechanics.

External link

★ Career statistics at racing-reference.info