The Darlington Raceway in upstate South Carolina is considered one of NASCAR’s most challenging tracks. It’s shaped like an egg and has earned the moniker ‘the track too tough to tame’. That applied to everyone except David Pearson, who won 10 races and took 12 poles at Darlington. These records will likely never be challenged, let alone broken. Pearson’s ability to get around the track was almost instinctive. In fact, he made it look easy.

David Pearson was born on December 22,’34 in Whitney, SC–a textile town near Spartanburg. Like most of the locals, his parents worked in the local cotton mill and did their best to provide. David dropped out of school after the 10th grade to work in the mill, but soon quit that life as well–he was drawn to racing cars and began running at short tracks in the Carolinas. He ran his first race on 9/19/52 in Woodruff South Carolina. Within a few years, he won his first championship at the Greenville/Pickens Speedway in’59.

Pearson never really sought much more than this local fame and success, but a couple of his friends and some fans had loftier ambitions”they began raising money to buy a car to compete in the NASCAR Grand National series (which was the forerunner to today’s Sprint Cup series). With the financial backing from friends and family, David began racing a limited schedule on the Grand National circuit and was named the’60 rookie of the year. In’61, he became the first driver to win on 3 of 4 superspeedways in the same year (Charlotte, Daytona, Atlanta). Success beget sponsors, whos dollars allowed him to afford better cars and crew. This brought about championships”he won three Grand National titles in’66,’68 and’69.

During the 70’s, Pearson specialized in superspeedway racing. Through the end of the’70s, Pearson won 43 races. In addition to his mastery of Darlington, he posted remarkable numbers all over the circuit. He is one of two men to have won more than 100 races, and his 105 is second only to The King Richard Petty’s 200 wins. Hes also second on career poles (113) to Petty. Head to head, however, he has a slight edge over NASCARs legendary King: in races where he and Petty finished 1-2, Pearson won 33 to Petty’s 30. His 11 consecutive poles at Charlotte is a feat that will likely never be matched. Another record that may never be broken is his’.29% winning percentage, as well as his record of starting from the pole in 20% of the races he ran.

In March, 2000, SC Highway 221 through Spartanburg County was renamed David Pearson Boulevard in his honor. He lives in Spartanburg to this day. Pearson still takes to the track occasionally–he and current NASCAR driver Carl Edwards were the first to race on the newly repaved Darlington Raceway last Spring. And he’s still known as ‘The Silver Fox’, a nickname given to him for his prematurely gray hair.

Ross Everett is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports and an expert on World Cup soccer betting. He has written extensively on sports betting, horse racing, travel, and fencing. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pair of racing wombats.