The 1979 Daytona 500 ended with Cale Yarborough and the Allison brothers throwing punches on live television in front of six million viewers trapped inside by a massive snowstorm. Most people credit that fight for putting NASCAR on the map, and they might be absolutely spot on.
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Perfect Storm of Circumstances of That 1979 NASCAR Brawl
CBS broadcast the entire race live from start to finish for the first time in NASCAR history after network president Neal Pilson personally negotiated the deal away from ABC. The network expected two to three million viewers but got double that number.
A blizzard shut down the eastern United States from Georgia to Maine, leaving millions of bored Americans at home with only three TV channels to choose from. Nobody outside the Southeast typically watched stock car racing back then, but the weather gave NASCAR its first major national audience.
The Last Lap Wreck That Started It All
Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough ran half a lap ahead of third place Richard Petty entering the final lap. Coming down the backstretch, Yarborough attempted a slingshot pass on the inside. Allison moved down to block him, forcing Yarborough’s left side tires into the wet infield grass. Yarborough lost control and made contact with Allison’s car. The two drivers locked together and slammed into the outside wall in turn three before sliding to a stop in the infield grass.
Petty drove past the wreckage to win his sixth Daytona 500 by beating Darrell Waltrip by one car length. CBS cameras caught Petty’s crew climbing onto his car for the ride to victory lane while simultaneously showing the aftermath of the crash.
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All About The Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison Fight That Broke Out
Yarborough and Donnie Allison immediately got out of their cars and started arguing about who caused the wreck. Bobby Allison, running one lap down and finishing ninth, stopped his car at the crash site to check on his brother and offer him a ride back to the garage. That’s when everything went sideways.
Yarborough started yelling at Bobby, claiming he caused the wreck even though Bobby wasn’t involved in the crash at all. Bobby questioned Yarborough’s ancestry. Yarborough responded by hitting Bobby in the face with his helmet, cutting him and drawing blood. Bobby kept his helmet on but Donnie took his off and started swinging it at Yarborough. At one point, Bobby grabbed Yarborough’s leg and may have been biting his ankle while Donnie threw punches from above.
CBS broadcaster Ken Squier perfectly captured the moment: “And there’s a fight between Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison! The tempers overflowing; they’re angry. They know they have lost. And what a bitter defeat.”
Did It Actually Put NASCAR On The Map?
Yes, without question. Motorsports announcer Dick Berggren famously quipped, “Nobody knew it then, but that was the race that got everything going.” The combination of flag to flag live coverage, perfect timing with the snowstorm, and a genuine fist-fight between NASCAR stars created Monday morning water cooler talk across the entire country for the first time.
NASCAR president Bill France Jr. was asked if he would fine the drivers for fighting. He responded, saying, “Fine them? Fine them? Boy, I might give them all a bonus.” France understood the publicity value immediately.
All three drivers were actually fined $6,000 each, with the Allisons also placed on probation because NASCAR initially blamed them for the wreck. Bobby appealed the probation and won after new camera angles showed Yarborough made first contact. The combatants got their fine money back at $1,000 per race for five races by maintaining good behavior.
Yarborough initially called it “the worst thing I’ve ever seen in racing” but changed his tune years later, saying, “I think it made a lot of fans. People looked at that and said, ‘These boys are real people and they do real things.’ Looking back now, I think it’s one of the biggest things that ever happened in the sport.”
The 1979 Daytona 500 fight remains the most important moment in NASCAR history for expanding the sport beyond its Southeastern roots into a national phenomenon.
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