NASCAR Star LeeRoy Yarbrough Tried to Kill His Mother Before Being Diagnosed With 'Chronic Brain Syndrome' – Photos of One of the Institutions Where He Spent His Final Years

He once stood among stock car racing's biggest winners, only to spend his final years in profound decline. Photos at the end of the article document the NASCAR star's rise to success, the rare Rolex he earned during his peak, and one of the institutions where he spent his final years.

Born in 1938, LeeRoy Yarbrough grew up around racing in Jacksonville, Florida. His father worked as a ditch digger and sold vegetables, while he became fascinated with automobiles.

At age 10, Yarbrough was already spending Saturday nights around the cars at Jacksonville Speedway. Two years later, he left school and put a Chrysler engine into a 1934 Ford coupe.

By his teens, racing had become central to his life, and his success eventually carried him far beyond Jacksonville's local tracks. Yarbrough entered NASCAR competition in 1960 and accumulated 14 victories across 198 starts through 1972, with 65 top-five and 92 top-ten finishes.

But nothing compared with 1969. Driving legendary driver Junior Johnson's Ford Torino Talladega, Yarbrough won seven Grand National races, including the Daytona 500, World 600, and Southern 500.

He subsequently experienced headaches and memory problems, and hospitalizations also became part of his life.

Those three victories made him the first driver to complete NASCAR's Triple Crown in a single season, and his winnings reached a then-record $188,609.

His Daytona victory also brought an unusual prize — Rolex presented Yarbrough with a "Paul Newman" reference 6239 chronograph, which Phillips later identified as the earliest known Rolex Daytona awarded to a Daytona race winner.

Yarbrough wore the watch while competing, including during his 1969 American 500 victory. Years later, after his racing career had ended and his circumstances had changed considerably, he pawned it in Jacksonville.

The years following his career-defining season unfolded very differently. In April 1970, Yarbrough was knocked unconscious during a tire test crash in Texas. Another major accident followed while he practiced for the Indianapolis 500 in May 1971, leaving him with serious burns.

He subsequently experienced headaches and memory problems, and hospitalizations also became part of his life. Johnson later described the extent of the change he witnessed in Yarbrough, recalling:

"He could remember everything from 1970 back — nothing forward. And it seemed like it just happened all at once. You'd go to dinner with him, and they'd put a plate of food in front of him, and he'd just sit, and look at it, until you said, 'LeeRoy, eat.' Then, he'd pick up his knife and fork."

There were competing explanations for Yarbrough's deterioration. His ex-wife, Gloria Yarbrough, attributed the pressure on his brain to alcohol rather than racing, while fellow racer Cale Yarborough believed the Texas crash had marked the beginning of the change.

Reports that Yarbrough had nearly died from Rocky Mountain spotted fever were also disputed by his ex-wife, who said he had suffered alcoholic seizures.

His racing career faltered as his health and personal life deteriorated. The couple divorced in 1973, and the famous stock car racer moved back to Jacksonville. He repeatedly entered hospitals, and doctors eventually found him incompetent to care for himself, leading him to live with his mother.

By the late 1970s, the contrast with his NASCAR fame was stark. Yarbrough could be seen walking through his West Jacksonville neighborhood collecting discarded soda bottles, which he recycled for money to buy beer at a nearby convenience store.

Then, on February 13, 1980, his decline took a violent turn. The racer and his mother were sitting at home watching television when his nephew, Terry Sweat, left to buy cigarettes for his grandmother. Upon returning, Sweat heard Yarbrough's mother screaming and discovered the NASCAR legend attacking her.

He forced his way into the house and struck his uncle over the head with a jelly jar, giving Yarbrough's mother an opportunity to escape. When a police officer subsequently arrived, the stock car racer knocked him over a fence.

Yarbrough later said he had no memory of trying to strangle his mother. Speaking to the Reverend Bill Baird, a race car chaplain, about the attempted murder charge, he insisted:

"They got me charged with trying to kill my own mother. I don't know why. I love my mother."

His memory problems were also apparent while he was jailed. When writer Pete Dexter visited him in the Duval County Jail that year, the former champion reportedly did not know where he was or how long he had been there.

Yarbrough was tried on an attempted murder charge but was found not guilty because he could not comprehend the consequences of his actions. His life thereafter became centered on institutional care.

While Yarbrough was at Northeast Florida State Hospital in Macclenny, west of Jacksonville, memories of his extraordinary 1969 season remained, while much of the decade that followed had effectively disappeared.

His sister, Evelyn Motel, revealed that "the last ten years of his life" were missing from his memory. She and her mother visited weekly and walked with him around the hospital grounds, but Motel said he could not reliably find his way back to his room by himself.

Yarbrough ultimately spent his last four years in various institutions and was diagnosed with "chronic brain syndrome." On December 7, 1984, he died at age 46 from a subdural hematoma after suffering a seizure, falling, and bleeding across his brain.

His final years stood far removed from 1969, when victories, trophies, record winnings, and even a rare Rolex accompanied his rise to the top of NASCAR.

The photos below capture both sides of his story — from his racing success and the Rolex he earned during his peak to Northeast Florida State Hospital, one of the institutions where Yarbrough lived as his memory and independence deteriorated during the closing chapter of his life.

LeeRoy Yarbrough at the Height of His NASCAR Career

The Rare Rolex That Marked Yarbrough's Racing Success

Inside One of the Hospitals Where Yarbrough Spent His Final Years