Cale Yarborough Quotes after Pepsi 400
8 July 1997
Transcription of NASCAR Winston Cup teleconference, held July 8, 1997: CALE YARBOROUGH (Car Owner #98 RCA Ford Thunderbird) - COMPARE AND CONTRAST YOUR FIRST VICTORY IN 1965 AS A DRIVER AND THE FIRST VICTORY AS A CAR OWNER - "Well, of course, my first win was a good win. I was lucky enough to go on and win a lot of races throughout my career. Winning this one Saturday was a long time coming and something that I've worked awful hard for and I think it was probably just a sweet a win as when I won my first one as a driver." AS SUCCESSFUL AS YOU HAVE BEEN IN BUSINESS WITH YOUR CAR DEALERSHIP AND ALL OF THE ADVERSITY AND ALL THE CLUTTER OF HIRING AND FIRING OF PEOPLE FOR YOUR RACE TEAM, DID YOU EVER GET TO THE POINT WHERE YOU WANTED TO GIVE UP? - "No I didn't. It got tough at times but I was bound and determined that I was going to see this thing through if at all possible. Thank goodness we did it." SO IF YOU HAD GONE OUT OF BUSINESS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BECAUSE OF LACK OF SPONSOR NOT FOR LACK OF WANT TO? - "Absolutely. I would not have gone out of business voluntarily. It would have been lack of sponsorship and me not being able to do it anymore. I'm just thankful that we could stay around long enough to do what I set out to do and I hope this is just one of many to come." WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND ON THAT LAST LAP AS YOU STOOD ON THE TRUCK? - "I'll be perfectly honest with you. It would have suited me fine if it had ended under caution. We wouldn't have had anything to be ashamed of if we had won that race under caution. We had pretty well dominated the race anyway. (As a driver) if you look up in your mirror and you see Dale Earnhardt sitting there on your bumper and nobody in the racing business is better than Dale Earnhardt. Especially after going 43 races without a win. He was pretty desperate. So, I would have taken under caution. But since it ended up like it did, I'm glad they went back green." WERE YOU AN NERVOUS AN OBSERVER AS YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN SITTING IN THE CAR? - "Man, I was a nervous wreck! My knees are still weak. I kind of slid down (off the hauler). I don't think I hit any steps coming down. I was anxious to get down there (to victory lane) with the boys." IS FINDING THE RIGHT COMBINATION OF PEOPLE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL TEAM? - "Absolutely. You can go through people and people and people but if they don't work together and they're not all working on the same page -- I really don't car how good they are, if they don't work together and have a team effort it won't work. That's what I've been working for all these years. To get the right chemistry and the right people and I think I finally found it." WAS TONY FURR A BIG ADDITION TO YOUR TEAM? - "No doubt about it. We've always had a good engine department. Tony 'Cola' (Santanicola) and Bob Fisher have always turned out good engines. We were just lacking the car end of it and Tony (Furr) has given us that." HAS NASCAR APPROACHED YOU ABOUT DOING A LEGEND SERIES WITH FOLKS LIKE YOU AND DAVID PEARSON AND RICHARD PETTY? - "I keep hearing rumors about that, but I don't know how close they are or how serious they are about it. If they're going to do it I wish they'd hurry up and do it before we get too old. I think it would be good. I think the fans would enjoy something like that." WHAT WAS YOUR WALK TO VICTORY LANE LIKE? - "Of course I was all the way down at the other end (of pit road). It was a pretty good ways down there. I walked down pit road. The drivers were coming in their cars as I was walking out. I think every one of them gave me a thumbs up. As I went down pit road, it was constant slapping on the back and congratulating. That felt good."
