| Lee Roy Yarbrough was one of the best | | | | battle with Buddy Baker. Then he won the Southern |
| superspeedway drivers in the 60's. He competed in | | | | 500 in the final 4 laps and the Charlotte's World 600, |
| 198 races from 1960-1972. Lee Roy was from the | | | | lapping the whole pack at least twice. He was on a |
| rough side of Jacksonville, FL and a high school | | | | rampage! |
| drop-out. He realized his need for speed early. By the | | | | If the Winston Million program had been in place back |
| age of 12, he had built his first roadster, a '34 Ford | | | | then, he would have won it. By the end of the |
| Coupe. | | | | season, he had won 7 times and was named |
| He won his first dirt track event at Jacksonville | | | | American Driver of the Year. He set a record for |
| Speedway at the age of 19. Anything with wheels | | | | consecutive wins on a super speedway in a single |
| caught his attention from drag racing to stockcars | | | | season. The '69 season behind him, Lee Roy's |
| and everything in between. Lee Roy thrived on | | | | performance began to drop. Just as fast as he rose |
| competition. His NASCAR career began in the | | | | to the top, he began a downward spiral. A couple of |
| Sportsman division in which he ran 11 races. He soon | | | | bad wrecks in the early 70's left him with some |
| hungered for more powerful racing and entered the | | | | serious injuries and memory problems. After a period |
| modified class, winning 83 times over three seasons. | | | | of recovery, Lee Roy tried for a comeback in 1972 |
| In 1967 Lee Roy hooked up with Junior Johnson's | | | | at Martinsville. This was to be his last time driving a |
| team and it was a match made in heaven. "Lee Roy | | | | racecar; he wrecked on lap 109. He began to |
| had the most raw talent I've ever seen." said Junior. | | | | frequent the local hospital for treatment of memory |
| 1969 was the best season for Lee Roy when he | | | | lapses and violent behavior. In the mid-1970's he was |
| won seven races and had 21 top ten finishes. He | | | | institutionalized for alcoholism and in 1984, died after |
| won the Daytona 500 by a car length after a late | | | | sustaining a head injury from a fall. |