Myth: Nice guys finish last. Gentleman Ned Jarrett laid a historic beating on the NASCAR Grand National field at Darlington in 1965, winning by 14 laps. Here on video are his memories of that dominating performance.
This couldn’t possibly happen in NASCAR today. The fields are far too deep with top-quality equipment, and the competition is too closely stage-managed, to allow one competitor to skunk a race by such a huge margin. But at Darlington Raceway on September 6, 1965, Ned Jarrett lapped the entire field 14 times—19.25 miles—to take the Southern 500, one of the premier events on the Grand National schedule. To this day, it remains the most lopsided race win in NASCAR history, and the record will very likely stand forever.
By the time of his Southern 500 victory, Jarrett’s stellar career was winding down. He’d won the 1961 Grand National championship in convincing fashion, and he repeated as champion in 1965. But the death of his friend Fireball Roberts, in part, prompted Jarrett to retire from the driver’s seat the following season at age 34. A second NASCAR career would eventually follow for Jarrett as one of the sport’s most beloved broadcast personalities, and in 2011 he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
In this beautifully done video courtesy of Ford Performance, Jarrett modestly explains how all the stars somehow aligned one day to provide NASCAR’s most dominant victory. Enjoy the clip.
It would never happen now. The choreographer with the yellow flag would throw a yellow every time he got half a lap in front.
Here in Oz with our version of Nascar it was so obvious that it turned off competitors and spectators alike.
thats when racing was racing……now nascar is more like wwf …….and i’m not alone on this issue alot of people are turned off.
You would think the folks at Ford would show the correct car that Jarrett won in. The video , other than still shots, shows Ned in a 1964 Galaxie. He won in a 1965 model.