Countdown To Michigan: NASCAR Hall Of Famer David Pearson Dominated At MIS

If you watched any of the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony coverage on Monday, you know David Pearson is an absolute badass.

Of course, you may have realized that well before Monday. Pearson is considered by many to be the greatest driver in NASCAR history – which is exactly what Leonard Wood called him when introducing Pearson to the crowd.

Pearson is awesomely old-school, which means he excelled at Darlington, Daytona and Richmond. But guess what one of his very best tracks was?

Yep, Michigan International Speedway.

The Silver Fox won nine times at Michigan, more than any other track except for Darlington (10 wins). And his Michigan success came in 18 fewer starts than he had at Darlington.

Pearson won races at Michigan for both Holman-Moody and the Wood Brothers, although all but one of the victories was with the latter.

Anyway, since Pearson went to Victory Lane at Michigan more than any other driver in the track’s 42-year history, I figured I’d ask him about it for this series.

Opportunities to interview Pearson on Hall of Fame induction night were going to be few and far between, though. Would we find time to chat about his ties to Michigan?

At the very moment that thought was running through my head before Monday night’s ceremony, Pearson suddenly walked right by me in a back hallway of the Charlotte Convention Center.

I hesitated to charge him with my tape recorder and questions right then and there – the man commands immense respect, after all – but then was prodded by a colleague to not miss the opportunity.

By the time I turned around, though, Pearson had disappeared into the men’s room.

Darn it! Now what?

Should I try to catch him at another point in the evening? Or should I stand outside the bathroom and wait for him to come out?

Since I really wanted to hear his thoughts on Michigan, I waited. I stood outside the restroom, recorder at the ready and a bit embarrassed to be bathroom-stalking a 76-year-old man.

Who knows how long the elderly take in there, anyway?

After a couple minutes, though, Pearson emerged from the restroom and started to walk toward me. We’d never met, so I extended my hand.

He shook it. And his hand was wet. I withdrew my hand rather quickly, and he seemed to notice my surprise.

“Just finished washing my hands,” he explained in his South Carolina accent.

“Well, I guess I have some Hall of Fame germs now,” I joked.

I’m not sure he got the humor.

“Well, I told you I just washed ‘em!” he replied.

Anyway, once I mentioned Michigan, we were just fine. He seemed pleased to talk about his memories of the Irish Hills.

“Oh, I just liked it,” he said. “It was big, fast. What I liked about it was it was so smooth. I don’t know how it is now, but back then it was. It was wide enough where you could actually get in trouble and straighten it up before you ever hit the wall. It was a good track.”

We walked slowly down the corridor toward the ballroom where he would soon be officially inducted into the Hall. The man who once won seven times in nine Michigan races said MIS “was one of the best ones I’d run on.”

I asked Pearson where exactly Michigan ranked among the tracks where he excelled the most.

“Well, I won a lot of races there,” he said matter-of-factly. “But I won a lot just about everywhere I went.”

“Sure,” I replied. “That’s why you’re about to become a Hall of Famer.”

He nodded.

“It was good,” he said. “You know, I enjoyed it.”

With that, we shook hands again – by now his were dry – and off he went to the induction ceremony.