Early heydey

Daytona Beach became the unofficial “birthplace of speed” in 1903 when two men argued over who had the fastest horseless carriage and decided things in a race on the white, hardpacked sand along the Atlantic Ocean.

Since then, the community of 72,000-plus in the heart of Florida’s Fun Coast region has become a motorsports mecca, with a long, storied history it shares with nearby Ormond Beach that is filled with thrills, glory and tragedy. to run on the beach until it moved to the speedway in 1961. The next year the venue hosted the inaugural running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance sports car race, which this year launched its hybrid era.

In 1961, during a pair of Daytona 500 qualifying races, both Lee Petty and his son, Richard Petty, were injured in separate accidents in which both went over the guardrail. Oddly, both incidents happened on Lap 37 of their respective races. Lee Petty suffered serious injuries in the second qualifying race, while Richard Petty suffered minor scrapes and a sprained ankle in the opener.

The next year, local star Glenn “Fireball” Roberts finally won a major event in his hometown when he captured his only Daytona 500.

The first shortened Daytona 500 came in 1965 when rain gave Fred Lorenzen the victory after 133 of the 200 laps.

Mario Andretti earned his only Daytona 500 win in 1967 and became the first open-wheel driver to do so. In 1972, A.J. Foyt joined Andretti in the winner’s club by dominating in a car fielded by Wood Brothers. Foyt won his only Daytona 500 by more than two laps.

Richard Petty became the first driver to win consecutive Daytona 500s in 1974, while David Pearson that July won a record third consecutive Firecracker 400.

In 1976, Pearson and Petty crashed battling for the lead coming out of the fourth turn on the last lap of the Daytona 500. When both cars came to a rest, they had still not crossed the start/finish line. Petty’s car wouldn’t start but Pearson dumped the clutch and kept the car in neutral to slowly cross the finish line to capture the only Daytona 500 of his career. The finish was the slowest under green flag conditions in race history.

Janet Guthrie in 1976 became the first female driver to compete in the Daytona 500, and finished 12th. Three years later, the race was televised live for the first time in event history by CBS Sports and Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison crashed on the final lap while battling for the lead. Yarborough and Allison then began to fight, and Allison’s brother, Bobby, joined the brawl.

Cale Yarborough in 1984 was the first driver to win the pole at Daytona at more than 200 mph (201.848). In July for the Firecracker 400, President Ronald Reagan was grand marshal and gave the command to start the engines. Reagan witnessed Richard Petty’s historic 200th NASCAR win and it marked the first time a sitting president attended a race.

The first restrictor-plate Daytona 500 was in 1988 when Bobby Allison held off his son, Davey, in the race’s only father-son, one-two finish. Allison became the oldest Daytona 500 winner, too, at 50 years, two months, 11 days.

Dale Earnhardt suffered one of the greatest upsets in Daytona 500 history in 1990 when he cut a tire in the third turn of the final lap and Derrike Cope stole the win. In 1998, in his 20th attempt, Earnhardt finally earned his first and only Daytona 500 victory.

Jr.. It was his first career Daytona victory and came 11 years to the day that his father got his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Daytona.