David Pearson

American NASCAR driver known as 'The Silver Fox', won 105 Cup Series races and three championships during the 1960s and 1970s golden era.

David Gene Pearson was born on 22 December 1934 near Spartanburg, South Carolina, and bought his first car at 17, cutting his teeth on the state's thriving dirt-track circuit before catching the attention of car owners who moved him into big-league stock car racing. Pearson began his NASCAR premier series career in 1960, winning Rookie of the Year, and went on to win three Grand National Series championships, in 1966, 1968, and 1969 — coincidentally the only three seasons in which he competed in the entire schedule, having chosen to run a limited schedule for the remainder of his career. Pearson, nicknamed "the Silver Fox" for his calculated, cunning approach to racing, formed one of the greatest partnerships in NASCAR history with Wood Brothers Racing during the 1970s, driving the team's iconic No. 21 Ford to 11 of 18 wins in the 1973 season alone, and won the 1976 Daytona 500 as part of a NASCAR Triple Crown campaign. Pearson finished his career with 105 wins, second only to his great rival Richard Petty's 200, and the pair's celebrated rivalry, which produced 63 finishes where they placed first and second to each other, helped define stock car racing's golden era. Pearson was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame's second class in 2011, and died on 12 November 2018, at age 83, in his lifelong hometown of Spartanburg.

Strategic and calculating driver who excelled at superspeedways

One of NASCAR's greatest drivers, known as the 'Silver Fox'

• NASCAR Cup Series Champion 1966
• NASCAR Cup Series Champion 1968
• NASCAR Cup Series Champion 1969
• Daytona 500 Winner 1976
• Southern 500 Winner 1976
• World 600 Winner 1961
• World 600 Winner 1974
• NASCAR Most Popular Driver Award 1979
• NASCAR Winston Cup Series All-Time Wins Leader (105 wins, second all-time)
• NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee 2011