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18 economist suntribune wheels thursday july u 2002 m 1 buy or lease a volkswagen were clearing out all models during this one day sale saturday july 13 open 9 am 5 pm all priced to sell drivers wanted greenbelt volkswagen 7997 kennedy road 9054772421 visit our web site wwwgreenbeltvwcom unionviiu markham by otto stein for wheelbase communications anyone who thinks contem porary stockcar racing is as good as it gets should turn off the hype and turn on their video recorder pop in that fuzzy old nascar high lights tape that came with the magazine subscription renewal put it on rewind let it wind alllllllllll the way back to say 1976 when you see the number 21 painted on the side of a race car fol lowed by the number 43 hit the stop button then hit play settle back pop open a cold one youre about to witness the thrill of stockcar racing at its fenderbending best start with the daytona 500 and watch david pearson as he takes the checkered flag with a smashed up front end while richard petty tries to push his wreck across the finish line for many this was the greatest daytona 500 in the history of stock car racing by two of the greatest drivers in history finishing onetwo they way they did 63 times in their careers the two had more shootouts than a bad western movie driving like they had a trunk full of moonshine and posse of revenue agents on their tails bumping and grinding through every turn running in the high groove or darting down low they were like two roosters fighting over the same hen house one thing is certain if it hadnt been for petty the guy with the big sun glasses and the wide cowboy hat david pearson would be considered the most successful winston cup driver of all time writers were asking me who was the best driver i ever raced against petty told stock car racing magazine in 1993 i told them david pearson david and i ran more first and seconds than anybody else and we raced together on dirt tracks superspeedways road cours es big tracks and little tracks it didnt make any difference you had to beat him every week in a career that spanned nearly three decades pearson accomplished just about everything there was to accomplish in stockcar racing he won three out of the four national championships that he com peted in a record that may never be matched and while pearson is second to petty in total wins he competed in only about half as many races as petty like petty pearson won the rookie of the year award he also became the first driver to take home the checkered flag at three of nascars big four tracks in the same year and while he won a single daytona 500 compared to petts seven victories pearson is one of only a handful of driv ers to have been victorious at all four majors in winston cup racing the daytona 500 winston 500 cocacola 600 and southern 500 the crowning touch came in december 1999 when sports illustrated named him driver of the century the panel of judges included profiles names like earnhardt petty and allison drivers who shaped stockcar racing and knew the best from the rest pearson was bom on december 22 1934 in whitney sc he was bitten by the racing bug as a kid and began driving at the age of 1 0 he quit school while in grade 10 to work in a local cotton mill so he could earn enough money to buy a car pearson won his first race at 1 7 driv ing a 1940 ford in a hobby race in woodruff sc the victory put 1 3 in his jeans but the money was secondary to the victory from that moment on the rest of his life would be spent in the fast lane for the next few years pearson cut his teeth at local dirt tracks but in 1 960 with donations from a fan club which recognized his driving skills he bought his own latemodel chevrolet race car and headed for daytona where he finished 18th that same year he raced in his first world 600 in charlotte nc and finished 10th but the silver fox as he had come to be known was still finetuning his skills a year later after winning three of four bigtrack races he was named nascar rookie of the year and his career was picking up speed in 1964 pearson won eight races while grabbing a dozen pole positions two years later he won the first of his three winston cup championships while taking the checkered flagl 5 times redline fever was running high pearson won 1 6 races in 1 968 and fin ished in the top five 36 times to win his second driving title but the best was yet to come pearson let everyone know that he was set to defend his title in 1 969 when he blistered the track at daytona at 1 90029 mph to grab the pole en route to this third championship it was the first time anyone had ever gone over 1 90 at daytona pearsons most memorable race the one most often replayed on nascar telecasts every year came on february 1 5 1 976 at the daytona 500 it marked the first time a daytona 500 was shown on live tv driving for the wood brothers pearson tangled with petty as they headed for the finish line both cars were spinning down the front straight away into the infield grass but pearson had enough presence of mind to stomp his clutch to keep the engine running and so was able to limp across the finish line for the win pearsons final season with the wood brothers came in 1979 competing in only five races he posted one pole position and one secondplace finish though he would return to racing on a parttime basis over the next couple of years the silver fox would not race a full schedule ever again otto stein specializes in clas sic cars as a writer with wheelbase communications a worldwide sup plier of automobile news reviews and features