Lee Roy Yarbrough

Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough
Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough's official publicity photo (1969)
Born	(1938-09-17)September 17, 1938 Jacksonville, Florida
Died	December 7, 1984(1984-12-07) (aged 46)
Cause of death	Internal head injuries caused by fall
Achievements	1969 Daytona 500 Winner 1969 Southern 500 Winner 1969 World 600 Winner First driver to win NASCAR's "Triple Crown" (1969)
Awards	Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998)
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career
198 races run over 12 years
Best finish	15th (1964)
First race	1960 Atlanta 500 (Atlanta)
Last race	1972 Old Dominion 500 (Martinsville)
First win	1964 Savannah 200 (Savannah)
Last win	1970 National 500 National 500 (Charlotte)
Wins Top tens Poles 14 92 10
NASCAR Grand National East Series career
1 race run over 1 year
First race	1972 Greenville 200 (Greenville)
Last race	1972 Greenville 200 (Greenville)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
Statistics current as of December 18, 2012.

Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough (September 17, 1938 – December 7, 1984) was an American . His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, tallied 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211 ($1,106,236.73 when inflation is taken into account). During his entire career from 1960–1972, he competed in 198 races, scoring fourteen wins, 65 finishes in the top-five, 92 finishes in the top-ten, and ten pole positions. Yarbrough also competed in open-wheel racing, making 5 starts in the USAC Championship cars, including 3 Indianapolis 500s, with a best finish of 3rd at Trenton Speedway in 1970. His racing number was 98. When asked about his passion, Yarbrough described racing as "what I call my life."

Yarbrough was admitted to a mental institution on March 7, 1980 after trying to kill his mother by strangulation. All attempts to rehabilitate him (both in Florida or in North Carolina) failed and LeeRoy eventually died in 1984 after a fall. In 1990, he was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association's Hall of Fame at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. LeeRoy Yarbrough is not related to NASCAR champion Cale Yarborough.

Yarbrough grew up on the west side of Jacksonville, Florida, and developed an affinity for speed at an early age. When he was sixteen years-old, Yarbrough put together his first car, a 1934 Ford coupe with a Chrysler engine. When he was 19, Yarbrough found his way to a local dirt track. He won that race at Jacksonville Speedway in the spring of 1957.

Yarbrough started his racing career in NASCAR's lower tier Sportsman division. After winning 11 races, Yarbrough moved up to the more powerful Modifieds and won 83 features in a three-year span.

Yarbrough won two short-track races in the 1964 NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) season, the first year he competed in more than 14 races. Two years later, Yarbrough scored his first superspeedway win at Charlotte. Driving an unsponsored and lightly regarded Dodge Charger owned by Jon Thorne, Yarbrough dominated the race, leading for 450 of the 500 miles (800 km) in the October 16 National 500. Factory-backed rides followed. His Junior Johnson-owned Ford team started out poorly early in the 1968 season. LeeRoy rebounded and won at Atlanta and Trenton.