Decades of Historic Daytona 500s

When looking at the decades of history surrounding the Daytona 500, two names will consistently pop up – Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough.

Both Petty and Yarborough are the only two drivers to have won a Daytona 500 in three different decades and both Petty and Yarborough are among three drivers to have won back-to-back Daytona 500s.

For Petty, he has witnessed the growth and changes of Daytona International Speedway from the start. He competed in the inaugural Daytona 500 back in 1959 starting sixth and finishing 57th.

Overall, he has 32 Daytona 500 starts and a record seven Daytona 500 triumphs. He has also led the most Daytona 500 laps in his career (781) and has the longest span between his first and last Daytona 500 victory (17 years, 1964-81).

“It was awesome, I was a 21 year old kid coming through the tunnel, there was nothing in the infield,” Petty remembered about his first trip to Daytona. “It was just swamp. It looked like it was three miles down to the corner.

“There wasn’t nothing here but the race track. There was a tunnel and you came in and they had a couple of little buildings inside and enough seats for 20 or 25,000 people.”

With his patented slingshot pass, Yarborough earned his place in Daytona 500 folklore with four victories in 26 starts. He is tied with Buddy Baker for most pole positions (four) and became the first driver to officially qualify for the Daytona 500 at more than 200 mph in 1984.

Here’s a look back at some of the defining moments of the Daytona 500 through the decades:

1959 and 1960s: Three-wide finish prelude to Daytona 500 history

The first chapter in the history of the Daytona 500 got off to a roaring start with the wild three-wide finish of the inaugural “500-Mile International Sweepstakes” in 1959.
Lee Petty, Johnny Beauchamp and the lapped car of Joe Weatherly crossed the start/finish line to take the checkered flag. Beauchamp was initially flagged the winner, but after three days of reviewing film and still photos NASCAR determined that Petty was the winner.

The review of the finish ended up generating more publicity for the Daytona 500.

“That was the greatest thing that happened to the race track because if Lee Petty had won the race, it would’ve been reported on Monday. Tuesday, you would’ve not heard nothing about it,” Richard Petty said. “The way it was, it was in the news Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It put Daytona on the map.”

Other notable / defining Daytona 500 moments:

• Hometown hero Fireball Roberts’ win in the 1962 Daytona 500
• Tiny Lund’s 1963 win filling in for the injured Marvin Panch
• Richard Petty’s first win in 1964
• Mario Andretti’s 1967 victory for Holman-Moody
• Brian Naylor became the first foreign-born driver to compete the Daytona 500 when he raced in the 1961 Daytona. The England driver started 58th and finished 42nd driving a Ford
• Wendell Scott became the first African-American to compete in the Daytona 500 when he competed in the 1963 race. He started 41st and finished 26th.

1970s: Bad weather puts Daytona 500 on the map
During the 1970s, two Daytona 500s elevated the status of NASCAR’s signature event.

The first defining moment was the finish of the 1976 Daytona 500 between Richard Petty and David Pearson.

Exiting Turn 4 on the final lap, Petty had ducked low and passed Pearson but his car slightly drifted up the track and the two drivers touched and crashed. When both cars came to rest in the tri-oval grass, they still had not crossed the start/finish line.

Petty’s radiator was pushed back into the fan on the front of the engine and the car wouldn’t restart. But Pearson dumped the clutch and kept the car in neutral keeping it from stalling. Pearson straightened out his damaged machine and slowly crossed the start/finish line to capture the only Daytona 500 victory of his career.
The finish has become the iconic image of the Petty-Pearson rivalry.

“You can’t hardly be interviewed now without that race being brought up,” Pearson said.

“More people know about that race more than the seven I won,” Petty quipped.

The other significant Daytona 500 occurred in 1979 when CBS Sports broadcasted the entire Daytona 500 flag-to-flag on live television.

With a snowstorm keeping most of the nation inside their houses on that day, they were able to tune in on television and watch the final lap battle between Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison, who after beating and banging on each other finally crashed entering Turn 3.

While Richard Petty ended up winning the race, Yarborough and Allison began a heated debate that turned into a fist fight with Allison’s brother Bobby jumping into the fray.

Other notable / defining Daytona 500 moments:

• The first female driver to qualify for “The Great American Race.” Janet Guthrie started 39th and finished 12th driving a Chevrolet in the 1977 Daytona 500. She made her second and final Daytona 500 start in 1980.
• Richard Petty became the first driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500s in 1973-74
• Racing legend A.J. Foyt won his lone Daytona 500 in 1972.

1980s: The Grey Ghost and Awesome Bill in record fashion

The 1980s could be the decade of records.

In the 1980 Daytona 500, Buddy Baker captured his first win in “The Great American Race” on his 18 attempt and he did it in record fashion.
Driving the No. 28 silver and black Oldsmobile nicknamed “The Grey Ghost,” Baker won the Daytona 500 with a record average speed of 177.602, a record that still stands today.

“The first thing you do is you yell like somebody hears you,” Baker said of his emotions after taking the checkered flag. “You’re in a 750 horsepower car and you yell like a little boy and then you go, ‘Why’d you do that? There’s not one person on earth who heard that.’ But I did and that was worth it. Then you go down the back straightaway and you go, ‘Holy mackerel, where do you go from here?’ “

In 1987, the Daytona 500 qualifying record that still stands today was set by Dawsonville, Ga.’s Bill Elliott. Driving the No. 9 Coors Light Melling Racing Ford, Elliott toured the historic tri-oval in 42.783 seconds, 210.364 mph. It’s a record that will stands today as the fastest lap at Daytona in a stock car.

“Oh my god, you were out of control,” Elliott recalls of the record-setting lap. “I keep telling people that when I left pit road that day, I didn’t think I was coming back. I knew the car was good. I knew if I could hold it onto the floor, it would run well. We all didn’t realize it would run that well.”

Other notable / defining Daytona 500 moments:

• The race’s only father-son finish with Bobby Allison winning the 1988 Daytona 500 ahead of his son Davey, Darrell Waltrip finally wins the Daytona 500 on his 17 attempt in 1989
• Cale Yarbrough becomes the second driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500s in 1983-84.

1990s: Dale Earhnardt finally claims the coveted prize

The decade of the 1990s would finally see Dale Earnhardt win the Daytona 500.

But the decade started off the wrong way for Earnhardt as he blew a right rear tire on the final lap of the 1990 Daytona 500. After leading more than 150 laps in a dominant car, Earnhardt’s tire shredded in Turn 3 which opened the door for Derrike Cope to win the Daytona 500.

Cope’s win goes down as one of NASCAR’s greatest upsets. But at the moment Earnhardt’s tire blew, Cope was thinking he was going to win the Daytona 500, he thought he was about crash.

“To drive off into Turn 3 and see something happening to his right rear tire, you kind of thought we were probably going to wreck when the car turned sideways,” Cope remembered. “It really had the look of the Days of Thunder slow mo when the car turns sideways. It had that look to it. When I got to him, he just masterfully saved the race car. The car just turned it right and wiggled up the race track. Anybody else would have probably put that thing into the fence.”

In 1998, for Dale Earnhardt, there were no more flat tires, no more empty gas tanks and no more sea gulls. After 20 years of trying, Dale Earnhardt finally captured his most elusive race – the Daytona 500. Earnhardt led 107 laps of the 200-lap event including the final 61 as he won under caution.

He celebrated his victory with a long line of well wishers on pit road and then turned a couple of doughnuts in the tri-oval grass.

“The Daytona 500 is ours, we won it, we won it, we won it,” Earnhardt proclaimed in Gatorade Victory Lane.

Other notable / defining Daytona 500 moments:

• Sterling Marlin would become the third driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500s in 1994-95
• Jeff Gordon earns two of his three Daytona 500s in 1997 and 1999
• Dale Jarrett would capture the two of his three Daytona 500 triumphs in 1993 and 1996.

2000s: Harvick edges Martin in record fashion

The most memorable moment of the decade of the 2000s is the most recent Daytona 500 finish between Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin.

Harvick nipped Martin at the start/finish line to capture the 2007 Daytona 500 – the closest Daytona 500 finish since the advent of computer scoring.

Harvick, whose previous best finish in the Daytona 500 was fourth in 2003 and 2004, beat Martin by .020 seconds, the closest in Daytona 500 finish since the advent of computer scoring in 1993 and the ninth closest in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series overall.

The most popular Daytona 500 win of the decade is Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 2004 victory. In only his fifth Daytona 500 start, Earnhardt, Jr. held off Tony Stewart and Scott Wimmer to become the third son of a former Daytona 500 winner to capture the checkered flag at “The Great American Race.” The previous father-son winners were Lee and Richard Petty and Bobby and Davey Allison.

Earnhardt Jr. won with President George W. Bush in attendance and it was also the first year of the NEXTEL sponsorship of NASCAR’s premier series.

Other notable / defining Daytona 500 moments:

• Michael Waltrip’s two Daytona 500 victories in 2001 and 2003
• The crazy 2002 Daytona 500 finish that saw Ward Burton win after Sterling Marlin got out of his race car under red flag conditions to work on his fender.

Tickets for the 50th annual Daytona 500 and other DirecTV Speedweeks events are still available by calling 1-800-PITSHOP or by visiting www.racetickets.com