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Post by chevyfan98 on Oct 9, 2018 17:34:52 GMT -5
Basic information: Full name: David Gene Pearson Born: December 22, 1934 Died: November 12, 2018
Hometown: Spartanburg, SC
Competition history: NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series (1960-1989) NASCAR Xfinity Series (1982-1983) NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (1972) NASCAR K&N Pro Series West (1978-1980) International Race of Champions (1974-1979)
Championships: 1966 NASCAR Grand National Series: #6 Southeastern Dodge Dealers Dodge (owner: Cotton Owens) 1968 NASCAR Grand National Series: #17 East Tennessee Motor Company Ford (owner: Holman-Moody Racing, crew chief: Jake Elder) 1969 NASCAR Grand National Series: #17 East Tennessee Motor Company Ford (owner: Holman-Moody Racing, crew chief: Dick Hutcherson)
Other statistics:
David Gene Pearson is a former American stock car racer from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Pearson began his NASCAR career in 1960 and ended his first season by winning the 1960 NASCAR Rookie of the Year award. He won three championships (1966, 1968, and 1969) in NASCAR's Grand National Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) despite only ever running the majority of the races four times in his career.
Pearson is widely considered the second greatest driver in NASCAR history, only behind Richard Petty, however there are some people who argue that Pearson was better as he normally didn't run the full schedule. The rivalry between the two of them defined the 1960s and 1970s in NASCAR.
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Post by Chad's Hair Plugs on Nov 12, 2018 21:19:42 GMT -5
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Post by JSPorts on Nov 12, 2018 21:34:31 GMT -5
One of the best drivers ever. He will be missed.
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Post by JSPorts on Nov 13, 2018 8:50:46 GMT -5
Pearson ranked 3rd all-time in win percentage (18.29%). Petty ranked 4th, at 16.89%. If you multiplied every driver's win percentage by Petty's number of starts, here's how many wins they would (theoretically) have:
1st: Herb Thomas, 248 wins
2nd: Tim Flock, 247 wins
3rd: David Pearson, 217 wins
4th: Richard Petty, 200 wins
5th: Fred Lorenzen, 195 wins
This isn't to say that they actually would've won that number of races, because Petty tailed off at the end of his career, winning 0 races over his final 8 seasons (227 starts), simply because his equipment wasn't as good and he was old. That probably would've happened to all of these guys, but they never ran a large enough sample at that age to really effect their win percentage. Petty's win percentage from 1960-1984 (his competitive years) was 21.57%, highest of anyone. In Pearson's competitive years (1961-1980), his win percentage was 20.79%, 2nd in that time period (behind only Petty.)
It's sort of crazy to think about drivers winning 20% or more of the races over a 20-year stretch. That would be like a driver having 140+ wins since 1998. In fact, in the Chase era, only two drivers even have a win percentage greater than 10% - Jimmie Johnson's 14.29% & Kyle Busch's 10.26%. The highest active driver in all-time win percentage is Jimmie Johnson at 13.52% (11th). Only 6 active drivers even rank in the top 40, the others being Kyle Busch (21st), Brad Keselowski (27th), Kevin Harvick (35th), Denny Hamlin (36th) & Matt Kenseth (40th).
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pimmy
New Member
Posts: 36 
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Post by pimmy on Nov 13, 2018 13:32:45 GMT -5
RIP, David. One of the true greats.
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