The Dominator Of Darlington: David Pearson
South Carolina s Darlington Raceway is an egg shaped terror that has become known as the track too tough to tame. If thats true David Pearson came pretty close–during his illustrious career he posted 10 victories & 12 poles at Darlington. These are both records for one NASCAR s most unforgiving tracks. Pearson s ability at Darlington bordered on the unreal & he was able to follow the conventional wisdom about performing well there better than anyone. The old saying is that you need to race the track not the other drivers but that s lot easier said than done. Pearson however made look easy.
David Pearson was born three days before Christmas 1934 tough textile town near the North Carolina/South Carolina border called Whitney. His parents both worked the local mill & did their best to provide. David quit school after the 10th grade & also worked the mill. He was soon drawn away by his love fast cars. He bought his own car & began racing at short tracks the area. He ran his first race 52 Woodruff South Carolina & won his first championship at the old Greenville/Pickens Speedway 59.
Pearson never sought out stock car racing immortality but some his friends had other ideas. They began raising money to buy car to race the NASCAR Grand National series (the forerunner to today s Sprint Cup). With patchwork financial backing David began racing limited schedule on the Grand National circuit & was named the 60 rookie the year. In 61 he attracted sponsors & started to race full time schedule. Not long after he was considered among the best the sport winning Grand National titles 66 68 and 69.
The 70s saw Pearson cut back his schedule somewhat focusing on superspeedways. In 72 he started driving for the Wood Brothers the #21 car that he was to make legend. In 73 he won 11 races starts an incredible feat even by today s standards. Through the end the 70s Pearson won 43 races. In addition to his mastery Darlingon he posted remarkable numbers all over the circuit. He is one two men to have won more than 100 races & his 105 is second only to The King Richard Petty s 200 wins. Hes also second on career poles (113) to Petty. Head to head however he has slight edge over NASCARs legendary King: races where he & Petty finished 1-2 Pearson won 33 to Petty s 30. His 11 consecutive poles at Charlotte is feat that will likely never be matched. Another record that may never be broken is his . 29% winning percentage as well as his record starting from the pole 20% the races he ran.
In March 2000 SC Highway 221 through Spartanburg County was renamed David Pearson Boulevard his honor. He lives Spartanburg to this day. Pearson still takes to the track occasionally–he & current NASCAR driver Carl Edwards were the first to race on the newly repaved Darlington Raceway last Spring. And he s still known as The Silver Fox nickname given to him for his prematurely gray hair.
Ross Everett is consulting handicapper for Oddsbay & an expert on World Cup soccer betting (http://www. oddsbay. com). He has written extensively on sports betting (http://www. oddsbay. com) auto racing travel & fencing. He lives Las Vegas with three dogs & pair racing wombats.