NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson dies at age 83

[pwaldo]

http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/st...earson-dies-83

David Pearson, a three-time champion in what is now NASCAR's Monster Energy Cup Series, died Monday at 83, the Wood Brothers Racing team confirmed to ESPN.

Inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in its second class in 2011, Pearson won 105 Cup races, second only to Richard Petty, Pearson's chief rival in the 1960s and 1970s. Between 1963 and 1977, the two finished first and second in 63 races, with Pearson winning 33 of them.

In 2016, Autoweek asked Petty who was the best he ever raced against, and Pearson was his response.

"Day in and day out, all different kind of tracks and all different kind of circumstances, he probably had more natural talent than anybody," Petty said. "He never tried anything hard [made everything look easy]. Cale Yarborough would get all intense; Bobby Allison would get all intense. But Pearson would be over there just smoking his cigarettes, saying, "Hey, whatever's next." I think our personalities were probably closer than any two drivers back then."

[race crazy]

extremely sad day-to many including myself Pearson was the best Nascar driver in history-his win percentage per amount of starts he made is rediculous