The Exhaust Circuit

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. --- One of the neat things about being here for the 50th anniversary of the Daytona 500 is all the former winners who have made a stop on The Exhaust Cirucit.

It was great to visit with Marvin Panch, who, at 81, remains the oldest living winner of the Daytona 500.

Panch, who, much to the chagrin of the bigwigs at Pontiac, won the 1961 Daytona 500 in a year-old Pontiac that was rotting away in Smokey Yunick's famed garage here at Daytona.

His earnings? ``When I won here it paid $21,050 and I had a 40 percent deal to drive for Smokey,'' Marvin said. (We're on a first-name basis with Marvin here at The Exhaust Circuit).

``After the race, Smokey said, `Anybody good enough to win the race is worth 50 percent,' '' Marvin recalled. ``But I'm very jealous. They make money now.''

So much so, they now pay 20 times what Marvin earned -- to finish last.

Then there was Pete Hamilton, the 1970 winner of the Daytona 500. Pete (We're on a first-name basis with him, too) holds a special place in The Exhaust Circuit as the only winner to hail from Massachusetts, Pete being a Needham boy, and all.

``For me, it's the place where I had the biggest race win that I ever had while driving Richard Petty's car here in 1970.''

We first met Pete last summer when the Speedway held a reunion of the 24 living winners of the Daytona 500. The one man who was not present then was Cale Yarborough.

We got to meet him Friday. What a gas that was for The Exhaust Circuit.

Still trim and fit and looking very spry for his age (he'll be 69 in March) , Cale was the one guy among the inactive 500 winners who looked like he could still climb behind the wheel and give these young whipper-snappers an honest-to-goodness thumpin'.

We're talking about a man who once played halfback on his high school football team, but first had to milk the cows before school, then plow the field after football practice, before working on his race car. Who knows what kind of ride football might've taken Cale on if he had not eschewed a football scholarship to Clemson University to pursuit a career in racing.

Legendary Clemson coach Frank Howard was so incensed with Cale's decision, he threw him off the team but not before admonishing him the warning, ``Boy, you're gonna starve.''

Of course that was before Cale went on to become Cale Yarborough.

And if you crossed Cale on the track, then be prepared to catch a beatin'. Boy, wouldn't it be great to see him cuff around one of today's snot-nosed stars?

Ahh, but we digress.

Seeing Cale sitting next to Dale Earnhardt Jr. during a panel discussion Friday at the Speedway _``Cale meet Dale; Dale meet Cale'' _ got our wheels turning: ``Wouldn't it be great if someone like Junior put Cale in one of his Nationwide Series cars, as a one-off deal?''

Talk about NASCAR getting back to its roots. If 72-year-old James Hylton was capable of coming back for a run at Daytona last year, then Cale would certainly whip up the masses if he were invited back to do more than just serve as a grand marshal.

So it tempted us to pose the question to Cale: ``Would you get back in a car if someone like Junior offered a ride?''

Cale pursed his lips. His jaw tightened. Then a Cheshire's cat smile creased his face.

``I just might,'' he said, laughing. ``I just might.''

We can only hope on The Exhaust Circuit.