NASCAR 75: No. 32 in a series of 75 stories that helped define the first three quarters of a century of NASCAR.
ABC TV had joined the race in process and viewers witnessed one of the best finishes in the sport’s history.
They often were the two survivors at the front at the end of races, and their 63 one-two finishes built high drama for race fans even as they came to respect each other greatly because of their frequent bouts on track.The highlight of the Pearson-Petty theatrics occurred in the 1976 Daytona 500. It was the nation’s bicentennial year, and NASCAR planned to start the season with a bang. No one knew at the green flag how much of a memorable race it would be.
The contact sent both cars spinning into the outside wall. Petty’s car bounced off the wall and slid down the frontstretch onto the infield grass. Its front end was crumpled. ABC officials were ecstatic. The network also was scheduled to televise the Winter Olympics from Innsbruck, Austria, that afternoon but delayed switching to the slopes because of the Daytona drama.
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