February 22, 1959: The 1st Daytona 500

Lee Petty

February 22, 1959: The 1st Daytona 500 is run, at the new Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. The finish was so close, it takes 3 days of looking at photos of the finish to determine that Lee Petty defeated Johnny Beauchamp.

I had resisted adding auto racing events to this feature, because I don't like the event, and consider to not be a sport. I finally changed my mind, given how many people are interested.

Like the Indianapolis 500, the other big auto race in America, the race is 200 laps around the track, for a total of 500 miles. Since a 2016 renovation, the Speedway's grandstand has a seating capacity of 123,500. With infield seating, capacity rises to 167,785. That's still less than half of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, yet NASCAR calls the Daytona 500 "The Great American Race."

They also call it their "Super Bowl," and usually hold it within a couple of Sundays after the Super Bowl. This is in spite of the fact that, instead of ending the season, its "Super Bowl" starts the season.

(NASCAR, founded by Bill France Sr., who also got the Speedway built, stands for National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. I've long since forgotten who said it, but somebody said it should stand for Non-Athletic Spectacle Centered Around Rednecks.)

Lee Petty (1914-2000) was the founding father of NASCAR's greatest dynasty, which includes his son Richard (born 1937), the format's winningest driver, the driver with the most Daytona 500 wins with 7 (1964, 1966, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1979 and 1981), the 1st back-to-back winner of Daytona 500s (1973-74), and with 10 wins the driver with the most wins overall at that course; Richard's son Kyle (born 1960); and Kyle's son Adam (1980-2000), who was killed in a practice crash at New Hampshire Motor Speedway at age 19, just 37 days after his great-grandfather's death.

In addition to Lee and Richard Petty, father-and-son combinations Bobby and Davey Allison and Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Jr., and brother combination Darrell and Michael Waltrip have won the Daytona 500. In 1988, Bobby Allison became the oldest winner, age 50. In 2011, Trevor Bayne became the youngest winner, at 20.

In 2001, Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed in a crash near the end of the race, won by Michael Waltrip. It remains the only in-race tragedy in the 500's history.

In 1962, the 24 Hours of Daytona race was begun. A.J. Foyt remains the only driver to have won the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona.

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February 22, 1959 was a Sunday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 111-90 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Cincinnati Royals, 129-112 at the Cincinnati Gardens.

* The Syracuse Nationals beat the Detroit Pistons, 139-108 at the Onondaga County War Memorial (now the Upstate Medical University Arena) in Syracuse, New York. Former Piston George Yardley scored 33 points.

* And the St. Louis Hawks beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 120-106 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Bob Pettit of the Hawks led all scorers on the day with 34 points, and added 20 rebounds.

And the NHL's entire "Original Six" were in action:

* The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-1 at the old Madison Square Garden. Yes, it hosted an NBA game and an NHL game on the same day.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-1 at the Chicago Stadium. Ted Lindsay scored 3 goals for the Hawks.