Relive the last lap of the 1979 Daytona 500. A race that saw Richard Petty win his sixth Great American Race, and the fight that launched stock car racing to new heights.
Ken was amazing. Call the wreck, helps the cameramen find third place Richard Petty, then calls the fight. This guy is a legend among all sportscasters.
Ken Squier truly transforms this...."the tempers...overflowing. Theyre angry... they know they have lost... and what a bitter defeat." ...chills...unbelievable.
RIP to the “Voice” for over 40 plus years and probably forever of NASCAR Ken. I am far from a NASCAR fan myself but growing up as a Teenager/Young Adult in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, it was a great pleasure to listen to Ken every year in mid/late February do his brilliant commentary at Daytona.
Frowny13 yeah, back when only 4 or 5 cars were on the lead lap? Did you notice how much time it took Richard and Darrell to pass Yarborough and Allison after they wrecked?
@@mr.intensity2685 Kinda funny because the Daytona 500 now is in the winter. WHEN DAYS DON'T LAST LONGER. And they're usually 3 hours. So you're saying you don't like seeing the stock cars under the lights banging agaisnt eachother at 200 mph?
@@joeschmo5021 At the very least though, there is plenty of footage from old day NASCAR, at that time it was about the skill and cars of each drivers, nowadays it's about getting lucky that someone will crash ahead and getting your win.
Rest in Peace Ken Squier. This moment right here helped put NASCAR on the map, but without Ken as the commentator or brokering the deal with CBS in the first place, NASCAR isn't where it is today.
I think if it were anyone else, it may not have been as special. As Ken Squier himself mentioned, Richard's 1978 season was not a good one, hardly befitting "The King". The fight was an unexpected touch, but it was really the drama of that whole moment; the great racing throughout, the crash between Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison, the fight, The King winning it all, and the photo finish between two racing legends, that's what made this race so special in a spontaneous, once-in-a-lifetime way.
It didn't stop there. The next race at Richmond was postponed due to the weather, so the next stop was Rockingham. On the 10th lap, Donnie & Cale collided again, taking Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip with them. NASCAR deemed this a racing incident and gave no penalties, but Richard & Darrell were both PO'd and weren't hesitant to say so in the media. When the tour got to Richmond, reporters were everywhere, just knowing that there was going to be a Part 3 to this. Nothing happened, Cale won, and pretty much had some words for the media for fanning the flames. Sadly, Donnie never recovered from this.
Ken Squier was so deliberate in his choice of words, and the cadence of his calls was so authoritative. I don't think you could ask for a better sports commentator, especially for auto racing, when TV sports broadcasting was still in its infancy.
So bizarre compared to today that you actually have to wait a while for the 3rd place car to come around today they all drive in one big bunch....restrictor plate I guess
When nascar was great when there was a king when men were men and knew what restroom to use. Richard Petty never be another one 7 time winner of the Daytona 500
@@decideousOutlaw2016 Well I mean...restrictor plate racing is definitely very different from the racing style before that yes. Nowadays NASCAR races on large speedways resemble a high speed game of chess, and accidents are more bound to happen because of it. But is that really a bad thing? Now that the cars are safer, it's easier to find the accidents more exciting to watch. and it's also easier to keep track of what position every driver is in.
@@Ostan-jw2bg real drivers don’t care about safety as much as they care about being the fastest. I would take this old school bare knuckle racing over the flashy pansy racing of today. I stopped watching the year they started the playoffs because they stopped rewarding the best driver of the season and rewarded the driver that was having a streak.
Now we have Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer, but it's hard to think of a more iconic duo than Ken Squier and David Hobbs (they also called CBS's F1 coverage in the 80s), they set the standard for auto racing coverage in the US!
THIS is the NASCAR I grew up loving. How I long for the return of real stock car racing, and not this formula nonsense we’re stuck with now, with it’s stage racing and overtimes and playoffs.
Like any sport marketing & sponsorship runs them. As far as today's nascar I love how the young drivers have saturated the sport. Also how they end the same as 1979. Where the last lap becomes a demolition derby. An act of contrition & attrition. Like the old saying goes. It ain't over until the fat lady sings. It is not over until it is over.
I gave up on NASCAR in 1998 when i Saw that false yellow flags were being used to bunch up the cars. This had gone on for at least 3 years when suddenly it all became clear to me. And that was it for me and the France Farce
guysmalley I remember how they had this on the radio, and stuff like '76 they only showed x number of laps befire they went to volleyball in the Bahamas and thencame back. 79 was the first time TV went green-to-checkered.
Wow, so many original comments about how it was real racing back then. I get it. NASCAR was admittedly a lot better back then than it is now, but at this point we're just beating a dead horse.
The best part is this was the first nascar race covered in its entirety live. there was thought that the fight tarnished the spectacle. When in reality it peaked interest. Just two ol southern boys mixing it up. Caught up in the moment of excitement. They could not have scripted it any better. Made it up for t.v. this was real.
February 18th, 1979, it's Dale Sr's. first Daytona 500 and he's a rookie. Precisely 23 years later he loses his life in a crash that looks like their's only a little further down the track and at a faster speed.
It’s crazy how Petty almost got caught. If you look at the start of this clip :07 you can see there is no one behind Petty, but obviously he slowed down to avoid the crash. Also if you look at the :43 mark you can’t even see Foyt in the screen and then he’s right on top of them :12 seconds later.
In the '60s and 70s, Richard was known for diving Mopars (except for 1969 when they ran Fords), but he started his career with the '57 Oldsmobile convertible. They switched to GM in the middle of '78, and while he won more races and a championship after that, this would be his only win driving an Oldsmobile.
Everyone was trying to get that aero advantage. And they wouldn't learn until the aero cars from GM in the 80s. You can still see their designs in the new cars of the bs era now!
Nice. Richard petty became the face of nascar. A congenial handsome man with an infectious smile & a cool demeanor. A marketing gem. Marketing wise Ford & g.m. could really not be bothered with factory teams. Chrysler became nascars virtue of choice by proxy & default. Ford & g.m. did not need nascar for marketing. Chrysler seized the opportunity. Sponsored factory teams. Like the Daytona charger & superbird whose unique style made the instantly identifiable yo this very day. In reality they were great marketing tools. Looking at the overall records they were really not domineering as much as is believed. Marketing? Richard petty was the recipient of Chryslers best engineering. Not taking any offense r.p. & d.e. are the greatest nascar drivers in history. Their personas are a marketing dream. like the intimidator. To this day his name still is synonymous with winning & marketing success. nascar will never let him die. To an extent r.p. has faded somewhat into obscurity. His records have been tied or exceeded. His popularity will one again rise when he dies. Sentiment & folklore. Nostalgia. Everyone loves to pay respect to the past. Like vinyl records. Young people born into the digital age. Vinyl has its own personality. A blast from the past. As far as d.e. everybody loves & never forgets the bad boy. Like how john dillinger. The greatest part of his legacy is the Ford model A. His letter to Henry Ford vowing his unfettered loyalty to the Ford V8 Is the stuff of a marketing dream. Money cannot buy this. So do not distane today's nascar. When today becomes the past we will look upon today's nascar & its drivers with a warm heart & endearment. Nice guys finish last. At least that is something a young man should never forget that is if you are talking about sex. Never forget that one guys. Ask your partner.
It has to be dolled up for safety and the engine. Are you saying after those things are done and give them All weather tires, so they only weather delays are for lightning and downpours, we're ready to go racing?
Back when there were real men and real stock cars in NASCAR. Now it's just not good anymore. I didn't watch the race yesterday not the same. It's a shame
@@jmit3491 Fair enough. At least they LOOKED like the cars they were based on back then. I just came here to reminisce this finish because I recently purchased a Donnie Allison autograph from 1979 and a Richard Petty autograph from 1990.
They could hit 210 on the straightaways of Daytona and Talladega, but they would normally run closer to 190-200. Restrictor plates came out in 1989, effectively destroying these speeds and limiting them to only 170-180 at Daytona and Talladega where the plates where used. When Cale and Donnie got into it, they where doing about 190-195.
Randal Savage No he won four more races and the championship in 79 and another Daytona 500 in 1981 and his last race in the firecracker 400 at Daytona in 84. I think all and all he won about 19 more races after that.
So many legends in this race... 1. Cale Yarborough 2. Donny Allison 3. Bobby Allison 4. Darrell waltrip 5. Richard Petty 6. A. J. Foyt 7. Dale Earnhardt Sr..... Help me out here folks....
We had a foot of snow that Sunday. The roads had not been plowed yet and all I wanted to do was go snowmobile riding. My dad and grandfather wanted to watch the race, so they won. No biggy, I love car racing. We had a few dirt tracks in my area, but this was asphalt. The local tracks were 1/4 mile and 5/8 mile, this was a 2.5 mile, high banks super speedway. The local tracks had cars that could run 100-125 miles per hour, but this was almost 200😳….holy smokes! The race was awesome, Richard Petty became a household name, but it was “The Fight” in the turn 3 grass was what sold it! We always expected fights at a hockey game or baseball game, but at a race…..WOW, and on national television, seen by millions across the country. Instant ratings boom for a sport that was thought to be a bad omen, unbeknownst to the powers that be, it wasn’t. In fact it was a magnet for more fans than any other sport at the time. NASCAR was now a coast to coast sport. Not just for the south, but from Maine to Miami to L.A. to Seattle and everywhere in between 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Nigel The blue class Productions He richard was the best that ever lived. Decent to the fans stayed out of trouble, I seen him win his first Daytona 500 in 1964 and watched him win many more. He was my hero when I was young. Sadly theys not many people no where today for kids to look up too anymore. They damn sure aint no john waynes robert mitchums anymore. Hope we keep the king for many more years.
Foyt would have won had he not backed off when the caution came out. The Indy Series' rule was that when it came out, you slowed down immediately. NASCAR didn't have that rule back then.
