as a young kid, yaroborough attended the southern 500 as a spectator without a ticket, by 1958, he was able to be competing in the grand national circuit, in 1965, he was involved in a wreck by sam mcquagg, yaroborough's car sailed over the guardrail after tangling with mcquagg's car, yaroborough tried to make a pass with mcquagg, but their tenders touched yaroborugh's car went airborne, the car came to rest against a telephone pole outside the track, yaroborough, who was uninjured, said "i knew i was in trouble when i saw the grass, because i knew there ain't no grass on the racetrack",