NASCAR: Top-Five Wildest Moments In Daytona 500 History
The Brawl Of All Brawls (1979)
The 1979 Daytona 500 was truly a spectacle like no other. Not only was it the first time that The Daytona 500 would be broadcasted live on television, it also ended with a huge last-lap crash and fight that would show new viewers just how intense and exciting the sport of NASCAR could be.
The incident occurred on the final lap of the race as Donnie Allison and Cale Yarbrough were battling for the lead and a chance to make history. Yarbrough finally got to Allison’s bumper and tried to make a swift dive to the inside, but Donnie quickly blocked Yarbrough. The quick block angered Yarbrough, who responded by landing a cheap shot to Allison’s car.
The drivers then slammed into each other a second time, causing both Allison and Yarbrough to lose control of their cars and hit the wall. This of course ended any chance they had of capturing the checkered flag that day as Richard Petty Blew past them and took the flag all for himself. The win was the sixth of his career in the Daytona 500 and the first time in over a year that he had won a race. Luckily for NASCAR, the excitement didn’t stop there!
In a moment that was later immortalized in NASCAR history, Allison and Yarbrough started to argue with each other about what had just happened on the track. The two drivers eventually came to blows and had a pretty vicious brawl in the infield. The fight was finally broken up a few minutes later by safety officials, but not before one of the drivers were able to get a few swings of a helmet in there.
Yarbrough and Allison were both fined $80,000 the next morning for their actions and still argue to this that they shouldn’t have been fined for the incident in the first place. Although NASCAR handed both drivers a hefty fine for their actions, the sport owes these drivers a debt of gratitude for what happened that day. Seriously, if those events didn’t unfold the way they did that fateful Sunday afternoon, then who knows where NASCAR would be right now.
More racing: The 20 Most Entertaining Confrontations In NASCAR History
NASCAR needed to show the world what they were all about and no two drivers did that any better than Cale Yarbrough and Donnie Allison. Sure, it may have just been a fight to these two drivers, but it was the fight that got world to pay attention to the sport that we all know and love and that’s what’s important here.
Do you agree with our list? Let us know in the comments below!