Pearson prevails in Bristol cliffhanger

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 19, 1967)

Sometimes, good fortune ends up finding you instead of you finding it. Ask David Pearson. Pearson, behind by two laps with nine miles remaining, inherited the lead after two front runners encountered late race mishaps and won the SOUTHEASTERN 500 at Bristol International Speedway. It was the first win of the year for the 32-year-old defending Grand National champion.

Cale Yarborough crossed the finish line seven seconds behind Pearson's Dodge. He had lost the lead when a tire was cut was six laps remaining. Third place went to Darel Dieringer, fourth to Neil Castles and fifth to Dick Hutcherson.

Hutcherson had led for 67 laps and was nursing a lap lead on Yarborough and two on Pearson. As he was cruising to victory, his engine blew on lap 482, sending him into the guardrail. As the yellow came out, Pearson was able to make up a lap on Yarborough, who took the lead with 18 laps to go.

Yarborough ran over some debris that popped a tire on his Wood Brothers Ford. He elected to try to finish the race running on the inner liner of the tire and led through lap 494 when Pearson made his decisive pass.

"I thought I was running second behind Hutcherson," Pearson said. "My crew had me second and Cale third. I went after him just in case. When I passed him so easy, I knew he had some kind of trouble."

Yarborough, who had only one Grand National victory to his credit at the time, sat on a stack of tires after the race.

"There wouldn't have been any question about it if my right front tire hadn't gone flat," he said. "David could have never passed me."

Point leader James Hylton experienced problems for the second race in a row. A dead battery felled his Dodge after 390 laps. He finished 14th.

Pearson averaged 75.937 mph in victory before an estimated crowd of 23,000 spectators.