NASCAR 75: One of a series of 75 stories that helped define the first three quarters of a century of NASCAR.
RacingOneGetty Images- The highlight of the David Pearson-Richard Petty rivalry of the 1970s occurred in the 1976 Daytona 500.
- ABC TV had joined the race in process and viewers witnessed one of the best finishes in the sport’s history.
- The network also was scheduled to televise the Winter Olympics from Innsbruck, Austria, that afternoon.
Richard Petty and David Pearson were the giants of NASCAR in the mid-1970s, two superb drivers who had used skill, cunning and heavy right feet to win dozens of races.
They often were the two survivors at the front at the end of races, and their 63 one-two finishes built high drama for race fans even as they came to respect each other greatly because of their frequent bouts on track.
The highlight of the Pearson-Petty theatrics occurred in the 1976 Daytona 500. It was the nation’s bicentennial year, and NASCAR planned to start the season with a bang. No one knew at the green flag how much of a memorable race it would be.
As happened so often then, the pretenders fell by the wayside, and the decision came down to Petty and Pearson with a few laps to go. Fans in the stands stood, and the ABC television audience—the network had joined the race in process—was in for one of the best finishes in the sport’s history.
Richard Petty (43) and David Pearson (21) spin out at Daytona on the last lap of the 1976 Daytona 500.
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The two drivers roared into the fourth turn on the final lap side by side, with the finish line in sight. Pearson barely had the lead. Petty clipped Pearson’s car as they came out of the turn.
The contact sent both cars spinning into the outside wall. Petty’s car bounced off the wall and slid down the frontstretch onto the infield grass. Its front end was crumpled.
Pearson, whose Mercury also was battered, also slid down the track. As his car slowed, he depressed the clutch to keep the engine alive. As Petty tried to restart his car (and as several of his team members raced across pit road to help), Pearson chugged across the finish line at about 30 miles per hour to win the race.
ABC officials were ecstatic. The network also was scheduled to televise the Winter Olympics from Innsbruck, Austria, that afternoon but delayed switching to the slopes because of the Daytona drama.
The last lap has been replayed many times over the years, and Petty has talked often about the fact that he, indeed, hit Pearson to start the crash. Both men agreed, however, that it was more of a competition accident than an intentional shove.
Pearson and Petty would battle on many other occasions, but none would compare to that February afternoon.
David Pearson limps to the finish line after wrecking with Richard Petty on the last lap.
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Keyword: How the 1976 Daytona 500 Drama Left Pearson, Petty and ABC TV Scrambling