The 1979 Daytona 500 had one of the most controversial endings, which made it one of the most infamous editions of The Great American Race. As Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison seemingly came to blows, the world of NASCAR was brought to a standstill. However, Allison recently confirmed that the whole narrative was a lie, as the two never came to blows, and it’s something that he has expressed his displeasure with before as well.

When the white flag fell on the 1979 Daytona 500, Donnie Allison was in the lead, with Cale Yarborough in a close P2. The latter made a late lunge to take the lead but made contact with his rival. The two cars were sent sliding into the wall and onto the grass to a standstill. Richard Petty emerged victorious as a result.

Donnie Allison criticizes Ken Squier as he clears up the 1979 Daytona 500

Donnie Allison was recently inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, along with Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus. The 84-year-old revealed the truth behind what went down that fateful afternoon at the Daytona International Speedway and even criticized the late Ken Squier for his reportage on the matter at the time. Yarborough did get into a fight, but it was not with Allison.

“You know, everybody says (the 1979 Daytona 500) is one of the most important races in NASCAR. It is the most important. You know, the whole eastern seaboard was snowed in so everybody watched that race. And how could you ask for anything better? Three of the guys that crashed in the first 29 laps, two of them ended up crashing on the last lap,” Allison said.

“Ken Squier so neatly spoke about “fought”. I never fought. I don’t care what that thing…I never touched the man and he never touched me. If he had, I would have probably kil**d him,” the 84-year-old NASCAR veteran added.

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Donnie Allison had been critical of how the matter was reported in the past as well. Earlier this month, in an interview on Sirius XM Radio, the legendary race car driver spoke about how the newspapers of the time completely misrepresented the incident and brought bad light upon him.

Who did Cale Yarborough exchange blows with?

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It turns out that Yarborough had got into a fight with Donnie Allison’s brother, Bobby Allison. Bobby had rushed to the scene of the crash to check on his brother and that is when things got heated. The newspapers at the time said that the Allison’s ganged up on the former Cup Series champion, which was not well received by the latest NASCAR Hall of Famer.

“All the reporters had the wrong idea. I saw a thing in the paper yesterday that stated that we ganged up on him. We didn’t gang up on him. I got out of the car after the wreck and we had a few choice words. And then Bobby showed up and Cale went over and I was standing 20, 25 feet away. And Cale hit Bobby through the window. I ran and grabbed Cale by the arm and I spun him around and said, “You wanna fight? I’m the guy you ought to be fighting with,” he said.

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Thankfully, things have been cleared up now but it is understandable why the journalists of the time made the mistake. Back then, a lot of what was written was hearsay and it wasn’t always reliable. But Donnie Allison made sure to set things straight at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.