The Daytona 500: The Great American Race

The beginning of the NASCAR season is this week and the first event is the biggest of the year. The other sports, the big event is at the end of the season but not NASCAR. Every February around Valentine's Day NASCAR arrives in Florida two run what is called "The Great American Race." I don't like to compare events as the Super Bowl of ..., but "The Daytona 500" is the Super Bowl of NASCAR. This is a race where the greatest of drivers have won, but every competitor has a chance.

Before Daytona International Speedway was built in 1959, racing was done on the actual beaches of Daytona Beach, Florida.



After the cars were getting faster and faster and racing on the beach was getting more dangerous, a 2.5 mile track was built inland. At that time, only the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was as big an oval track.

Now some say that the popularity of NASCAR was fueled by what happened in The Daytona 500. It would take too long to recap all 50 runnings so I'll only mention some of the more well-known ones. To get a great insight on all 50 '500's, watch the 5-disc set of The Daytona 500. It has a 10 minute recap of every Daytona 500 race from the first in 1959 to last year's race.

1959 was the first Daytona 500 and there were many worries from the drivers and from NASCAR. No one had ever gone this fast (150 mph) in a stock car before and some were worried that any small mistake could bring possible fatal consequences. Astonishingly, there wasn't a single caution flag and ended up as one of the greatest and closest finishes in NASCAR history featuring one of the greats, Lee Petty.




The 1976 Daytona 500 featured the two winningest drivers in NASCAR history. Richard Petty, Lee's son, and David Pearson were laps ahead of the field and used the last half of the race to battle it out themselves. In one of the most crazy finishes in NASCAR history, two rivals battle to the bitter end.



The 1979 was the beginning of a new era in NASCAR history. This was the first race to be shown live and be shown flag-to-flag from beginning to end. This has been regarded as one of the greatest NASCAR races ever and NASCAR received many fans because of this race and specifically this finish. My father was at this race and said that it was one of the greatest finishes he ever saw.



Exactly 22 years after one of the greatest days of NASCAR, the sport experienced one of the worst when Dale Earnhardt, one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR was fatally injured on the last lap of the Daytona 500. Trying to block the rest of the field to allow his two owned cars which included his son fight it out for the win, Earnhardt got accidently tapped from behind and was turned into the wall dying on impact. The first video features the finish shown live and the second is a tribute to Earnhardt.






Because of his death, there have been tremendous advances on safety. The Head And Neck System (HANS) device prevents a driver's head from whipping forward in a high-impact crash. SAFER barriers were built in the turns of all NASCAR tracks that help absorb a car's impact into the wall. There are things I feel NASCAR should do something about. SAFER barriers should be placed around the entire track instead of in the turns and removing restrictor plates on the bigger and faster tracks that slow the cars and causes close racing and dangerous wrecks like Earnhardt's, but that's something for another time.

There have been 50 memorable chapters of "The Great American Race." Sunday will be another chapter and it should be no different than the previous races. The drama of the last few laps of the race. The danger of the close racing and the risk of crashing in any of the 500 miles. And the dedication of a driver and team of working for months before and dreaming throughout their entire lives about winning this race.

And if you think the recession has hurt NASCAR, it has, but it also created new opportunities. Two drivers, Jeremy Mayfield and Scott Riggs are driving for teams that were just formed with crew members who were laid off from, more successful teams. Many of these people have been working for nothing and both teams knew they were long shots to even make the race. Now that they have, the crew members are getting paid and they both have a chance to pull off the upset. If you have the drive and determination, you can win the greatest, richest, most prestigious auto race in the world. That's the epitomy of the "American Dream" and why it's called The Great American Race.