NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson Once Drove a Racecar Owned by a Man Who Would Put Most Hollywood Criminals to Shame

The late David Pearson is a NASCAR legend and a 3-time Winston Cup champion. His career spanned 27 years, from his debut in 1960 to his final race in 1986. Over the course of his career, he had raced for different teams and different manufacturers. Pearson enjoyed brief stints with Chevrolet, Dodge, Mercury, Ford, and Plymouth. However, a large portion of his career was with Pontiac, and there is an interesting story behind one of his Pontiac cars.

In the 1971 season, Pearson was racing for Nichels Engineering, in the #33 Pontiac GTO. At the time, Chris Vallo owned the car, and crew chief/mechanic Ray Nichels built it. Apparently, Vallo hired him and promised to invest millions of dollars into the team. During that 1971 season, Pearson drove the Pontiac in five races, and it was an absolute nightmare.

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How did David Pearson perform in that Pontiac?

This was because it failed to finish any race, owing to a variety of engine issues. Pearson finished 43rd at Talladega, 34th at Charlotte, 33rd at Michigan, 35th at Darlington, and 36th at North Carolina. Of course, Nichels was not too impressed with the results and sued Vallo for $7 million. The lawsuit was for allegedly failing to pay for contracted services, and five years later, Vallo pled guilty.

Vallo was charged with 17 different federal crimes, including income tax and bank fraud. In addition to that, he was also found guilty of possessing firearms. It didn’t affect David Pearson, because he moved onto the Bud Moore Engineering team for the 1972 season. He also had stints with Wood Brothers Racing and Donlavey Racing, winning six races that year for the former.

Since then, he had gone on to snatch several race wins in the Winston Cup Series. Unfortunately, he never quite managed to win another Cup Series championship aside from his 1966, 1968 and 1969 titles. Nevertheless, he was able to prove that he was still competitive until his final season in 1986.

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