NASCAR can thank 1979 Daytona 500 for prominence

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Thirty years ago this weekend, the Daytona 500 went mainstream.

Although the first 500 took the green flag in February 1959, it wasn't until CBS televised the 1979 edition live flag-to-flag that the sport began its rise to national prominence.

Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough went at it in 1979 at Daytona. (Getty Images)

While most of the country, across the Northeast and Midwest, was locked in a brutal mid-February blizzard, televisions across the nation tuned into one of the wildest runnings of "The Great American Race."

Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison were battling for the lead on the final lap when they made contact on the backstretch, crashing first into each other and then the outside retaining wall.

As their cars slid to a rest in the infield, Richard Petty roared across the start-finish line to win the race but all eyes -- in the grandstands and at home -- were on the two battered cars sitting in a smoking heap.

Out popped Yarborough and Allison, fists flying with Donnie's brother Bobby jumping into the mix of the fight seen 'round the world.

And in an instant, NASCAR was on the map.

Now three decades later, that race remains the most talked about and debated 500 in history.

"It was a very unfair fight -- one Yarborough against two Allisons," Yarborough recalled. "We were friends the next day, and we've been friends ever since."

Petty, who would go on to score a seventh and final Daytona 500 victory in 1981, remembers the 1979 victory as one of the most bizarre in his illustrious career.

"The only thing I remember about the whole race was the last lap," said Petty. "I don't remember how we got there. I don't remember how bad I run or how good I run. I know we was getting our doors blown off by Donnie and Cale, because they made up some laps. We was racing for third. We come off the second corner, the lights came on. We didn't know anything and just as we got the car to go into the third corner, look down into the infield and there's the first and second car."

Although Bobby Allison came to his brother Donnie's aid after the on-track melee, it came as a bit of a surprise.

"He (Yarborough) got out of his car, I got out of mine, we had a few unpleasant words to say to each other and by that time Bobby showed up," Donnie said. "Bobby showed up, he wanted to know if I was all right, and did I want a ride back to the garage. I said, 'No I'm fine, I'll stay with my car.'

"Cale went over and kind of blamed everything on Bobby, said he'd been blocking all day and punched Bobby and I grabbed Cale and said, 'If you want to fight, I'm the guy you oughta be fighting with.' And Bobby got out, how he got out that fast I don't know, but he did. I saw that look before as a kid. I knew things were gonna be bad."

Even today's generation of NASCAR drivers looks back with fondness on that race, with the knowledge that the controversial finish and subsequent fisticuffs opened millions of people's eyes to the world of NASCAR.

"I just couldn't believe my eyes," said Mark Martin. "Not only that they had an accident on the last lap but then the fight breaks out. That was pretty cool, too. Everybody likes a good fight. And getting Bobby involved, that just added to the drama. It was just a really, I think that really opened it up from a regional —- I knew NASCAR racing was awesome, but a lot of the whole world didn't really know what I knew."

While the 50-year-old Martin watched things unfold live on his television set back home in Batesville, Ark., younger drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr. still know the importance of that winter day in NASCAR history.

"I had a beta tape of it that I watched in my dad's basement with his old beta VCR," Junior said. "I maybe first seen it in the late '80s. Big Bill [France] and those guys, probably were a little embarrassed by it, but I bet in the long run, 10 or 12 hours, they're thinking, 'Wow that's the greatest thing that could've happened to us.' If it happened down in the corner this year, NASCAR would probably shake their finger at you but they know that's good for ratings. They obviously would be glad it happened."

Time has passed but the legend of the race and its significance to the history of NASCAR has not. In fact, Petty winning the race and the sport generating national attention are the only things anyone really agrees on.

The fight is another matter.

"Down there? Bobby Allison. No question, Bobby Allison," said Donnie.

"I won the fight. No question," said Yarborough.