Cale Yarborough Obituary

Cale Yarborough died at the McLeod Hospice House in Florence, South Carolina on December 31, 2023. He was 84. Yarborough was married to Betty Jo Thigpen from 1961 and they had three daughters (Julie, Kelley, and B.J.).

Cale Yarborough’s 83 wins tie him with Jimmie Johnson for sixth on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series winner’s list behind Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip.

In 1986, Cale Yarborough won his final career pole at the Firecracker 400 and had five Top 10 finishes. In 1972, Yarborough became the first Republican elected to the Florence County Council since Reconstruction.

After retiring, Cale Yarborough owned Cale Yarborough Motorsports and several successful agricultural businesses as well as being a rancher and farmer himself on his ranch at his home in Florence, South Carolina.

Cale Yarborough was a three-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year Award (1977, 1978, 1979). Yarborough won a career-high and modern-era record 14 poles in 1980.

In 1962, Cale Yarborough ran eight races for Buesink, Don Harrison, and Wildcat Williams, earning his first top ten at the Daytona 500 Qualifying Race when he finished tenth.