Petty was upset. "That could have been very dangerous," he said. "When a driver signals with a raised arm, it means he has car trouble."
A few weeks later, Petty beat Pearson by a car length to win at Talladega.
In 1976 Petty and Pearson drove off the fourth turn on the last lap of the Daytona 500. Pearson was leading, and Petty, right on his bumper, tried to pass on the inside. Their cars touched and both spun down on the apron of the track.
Pearson, so the story goes, pushed his clutch to the floorboard and kept his engine running. When he stopped spinning, he let out the clutch and chugged across the finish line first.
Petty waved off his crew who ran onto the apron and tried to push his car. He knew that would be illegal. So he used the starter to move his car forward and across the finish line for second place.
Earnhardt Vs. EveryoneThen, along came a driver named Dale Earnhardt. Half the drivers were afraid of him, on and off the track. He was a rookie in 1979 and soon earned the nickname, "Intimidator."
Geoff Bodine became Earnhardt's biggest rival in the mid-'80s. The two exchanged more paint than a body shop. Bill France, NASCAR president, realized the situation and stopped the fracas. He ordered both drivers and their team owners to Daytona Beach for dinner.
They all took their seats for the meal. France outlined what the future would hold. He emphasized that none of his plans included a feud such as Allison and Petty. The sport had grown too large for that, he said. France apparently got his point across, because Earnhardt didn't go out of his way to run over Bodine after the dinner.
Earnhardt had squabbles with several drivers, but nothing that lasted more than a few races. He treated them all the same. He would run over anybody, including a hunting buddy named Terry Labonte at a place called Bristol.
Darrell Waltrip once accused Earnhardt of trying to kill him. It happened at Richmond in 1986. Waltrip passed Earnhardt for the lead with three laps to go. As the two headed into the third turn, Earnhardt clipped Waltrip's right rear, turning him headfirst into the guardrailing. It set up a chain-reaction that took out the top four drivers. Kyle Petty puttered home first, coming from fifth place.
"Earnhardt is not choosy," Waltrip said. "He will run over anybody. He tried to kill me."
NASCAR fined Earnhardt $5,000 and placed him on probation. Earnhardt filed an appeal and said it was a driver error. "If I was trying to wreck him, I wouldn't have wrecked myself, too," he said. NASCAR cut Earnhardt's fine to $3,000 and dropped his probation.
Yarborough vs. AllisonsCale Yarborough brawled some during his career. In 1979, while the final laps of the Daytona 500 were winding down, Donnie Allison led off the second turn on the final lap. Yarborough ran second, ducked under Allison, and the two kept getting lower and lower on the track. Yarborough was right on the edge of the grass with their cars approaching the third turn. He would go no farther. Rather, both cars locked together and sailed up the track and into the third-turn wall. They hit and rolled down the high banking onto the apron between Turns 3 and 4.
Bobby Allison finished the race, then drove to the location of the two battered machines. He climbed out of his car, and the fight began. Yarborough took on both Allisons. Everybody escaped injury in the fight, and it wasn't long until Yarborough and the Allisons tolerated each other again.
Yarborough also had problems with Darrell Waltrip. It never got beyond a verbal war, but it was Yarborough who nicknamed Waltrip "Jaws" after an encounter at Darlington. The nickname stuck.