Pearson's love of racing ticket to making a living

David Pearson could be considered the ultimate "thinking man's racer." The winner of 105 races, Pearson was dubbed the Silver Fox for his ability to conserve his equipment and bide his time until the closing laps of the race.

Almost giving up on racing as a career, a chance opportunity to drive in the second World 600 resulted in a surprising victory, and by the time the 1961 season was done, Pearson had won three superspeedway races and rookie of the year honors.

He only ran for the championship three times, winning it in 1966, 1968 and 1969. But his fame grew exponentially when he landed with the Wood Brothers beginning in 1972.

Hall of Fame bio

The Silver Fox was the model of NASCAR efficiency during his career. With little exaggeration, when Pearson showed up at a race track, he won. His 105 Cup Series victories ranks second all time, and he amassed that figure in only 574 races -- a winning percentage of 18.29.

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Q: How did you get started in racing?

Pearson: Well, ever since I went to my first race -- and I climbed the fence over at Spartanburg -- and watched the race, watched Cotton Owens and a bunch of them from there. I said, 'Man, when I get that age, that's what I'm going to do.' I enjoyed running, watching the races, stuff like that, so I started out that way.

It was at a little short track in Woodruff, S.C., a few miles south of here. We'd run on Saturday afternoons. Back then, we didn't get purse money. We'd go up in the stands and pass the hat around and we'd split up what we got. The first time I run there, I got $13.

Q: How did you end up running in Grand National?

Pearson: I got to where I was running quite a bit around and over there on the asphalt at Greenville-Pickens. I ran on quite a bit of dirt tracks. In 1959, I won 30 out of 42 races. I was working at a service station at the same time. I had a friend who was on the police force. The year before that, he made up his mind to buy a car from Cotton Owens to run at the beach.

The next year, he rode a motorcycle. He was a city policeman. He'd go different places and he said, 'Jack Smith's wanting to buy a sports car and he's got an old dirt car he's wanting to sell.' He wanted me to go in with him. I said, 'Man, you know I don't have the money to buy that car.' And he said, 'A lot of people know you around here. We'll get you the money.'

Anyway, every day on his beat, he'd stop and ask people in the area for money to buy that car with, and he started getting quarters, 50 cents, change, and giving it to me. I didn't know where he got the money, and he forced me to buy that car. I still didn't have enough money to buy it, but the rest of it came from my dad. He loaned me the rest of it. It was a dirt car, but we repainted it, straightened the dents and all that stuff and carried it to Daytona. That's really how I got started.

Q: You were doing some roofing at that point?

Pearson: It was a friend of mine, and I was helping him do some roofing. I think he just wanted me there to ride around with him because I didn't do that much and he had done roofing, so I would keep the kettle hot. You know, the tar that goes on the roofs? So I'd do that, and he knew I was a racer. So when Ray Fox went to Charlotte without a driver, some of the guys who knew I had won a lot of races on dirt or whatever, Cotton Owens and Joe Littlejohn talked to him and asked him to let me give it a shot, that I'd do a good job for him.

Of course, Ray didn't know who I was and I didn't know who Ray was. Anyway, I was getting that old car ready to take to Charlotte for the 600, and they called him and asked if I wanted to drive the car for Ray Fox. That was a crackerjack car. That just tickled me to death. I just put everything down and said I'd go to Charlotte. I went up and talked him and tried the car out. I never will forget. I came back in and he asked me how the car handled. I said, 'To tell you the truth, I don't know how it's supposed to handle. I've never run this fast before in my life.'

Anyway, I got to run the car. They had 125-mile qualifying races, and they had Junior Johnson drive it in the 125-mile race and he finished third, I think it was, so I started third in the big race. So I led almost 400 miles of that 600-mile race and I ended up winning the race. That just fixed me right up, because Ray wanted me to run the car at Daytona in July. So I went down there, started fourth and won that race. And then I went on to Atlanta and won that one. The three big races and I won all of them. At that time, nobody had ever done that before.

Q: The Charlotte victory was even more impressive because you won despite having a flat tire on the final lap, correct?

Pearson: I had a flat tire when I came around for the white flag. At the time, we didn't have posi-traction rear ends, and it was the right rear that blowed. I was just creeping along, because the car would spin with the tire still on the rim. I would have been better had the tire just come off the rim instead of the tire flopping around in there. I was four or five laps ahead at the time and I know Fireball Roberts kept lapping me then, because I was just poking along. When I come off the fourth turn, I couldn't believe we were going to make it all the way around on that flat tire. (Continued)