1959 Daytona 500

The 1959 First 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes at Daytona^[2] (now known as the 1959 Inaugural Daytona 500) was the second race of the 1959 NASCAR Grand National Series season. It was held on February 22, 1959, in front of 41,921 spectators.^[3] It was the first race held at the 2.5-mile (4.0 kilometer) Daytona International Speedway.^[4]

1959 Daytona 500

Race details[1]
Race 2 of 44 in the 1959 NASCAR Grand National Series
Lee Petty No. 42 and Johnny Beauchamp No. 73 battle on the last lap of the 1959 Daytona 500.
Date	February 22, 1959 (1959-02-22)
Official name	First 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes at Daytona
Location	Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.023 km)
Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (800 km)
Weather	Chilly with temperatures reaching up to 68 °F (20 °C); wind speeds up to 15 miles per hour (24 km/h)
Average speed	135.521 mph (218.100 km/h)
Attendance	41,921
Pole position
Driver	Bob Welborn
Time	140.121 mph (225.503 km/h)
Qualifying race winners
Duel 1 Winner	Bob Welborn, Shorty Rollins and Jack Smith
Most laps led
Driver	Jack Smith
Laps	57
Winner
No. 42	Lee Petty	Petty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network	Not televised

Program promoting the 1959 Daytona 500.

Background

Map of Daytona International Speedway, the track where the race was held.

Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida that was one of the first superspeedways to hold NASCAR races. The standard track at Daytona is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track also features two other layouts that utilize portions of the primary high speed tri-oval, such as a 3.56-mile (5.73 km) sports car course and a 2.95-mile (4.75 km) motorcycle course.^{[5][anachronism][better source needed]} The track's 180-acre (73 ha) infield includes the 29-acre (12 ha) Lake Lloyd. The speedway is currently owned and operated by the International Speedway Corporation.^[6]

The track was built by NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. to host racing that was being held at the former Daytona Beach Road Course and opened with the first Daytona 500 in 1959.^[7]

The Daytona 500 is regarded as the most important and prestigious race on the NASCAR calendar.^[8] It is also the series' first race of the year; this phenomenon is virtually unique in sports, which tend to have championships or other major events at the end of the season rather than the start. Since 1995, U.S. television ratings for the Daytona 500 have been the highest for any auto race of the year, surpassing the traditional leader, the Indianapolis 500 which in turn greatly surpasses the Daytona 500 in in-track attendance and international viewing. The 2006 Daytona 500 attracted the sixth largest average live global TV audience of any sporting event that year with 20 million viewers.^[9]

Race report

Qualifying

Cotton Owens had the fastest qualifying lap, at 143.198 miles per hour (230.455 km/h). The race had one qualifying race for Convertibles and one for the hardtop Grand National cars. Bob Welborn, winner of the 100-mile (160 km) Grand National qualifying race earlier in the week, started on the pole position.^[10] Shorty Rollins won the Convertible qualifying race and started second. Twenty of the 59 cars in the Daytona 500 were convertibles.^[11]

Race

There were no caution periods in the race; making it one of the few "perfect games" in NASCAR history, though it would occur in three of the first four Daytona 500s, as the Daytona 500 also went caution-free in both 1961 and 1962. This would be repeated ten years later with the 1969 running of the Motor Trend 500. Welborn led the early laps in the race but his race ended after 75 laps (of 200) with engine problems. Other leaders in the first 22 laps of the race were "Tiger" Tom Pistone and Joe Weatherly. Fireball Roberts took over the lead on lap 23, leading the next 20 laps before dropping out on lap 57 due to a broken fuel pump. When Roberts went to the pits on lap 43, Johnny Beauchamp, running in second place, became the leader. On lap 50, Pistone took over first place and Jack Smith moved into second; Beauchamp was third and Lee Petty was fifth. From lap 43 to 148 the race leaders were Pistone, Smith, and Beauchamp. Although Smith and Pistone led most of these laps, Beauchamp led a few times, for example records show he led on lap 110.^[12] There is print information about the details of the race, including the leaders of the race in five-lap intervals.^[13] Pistone and Jack Smith both had dropped out of contention by lap 149 and Beauchamp took over first place. 100 miles (160 km). Richard Petty also had to retire from the race with an engine problem and earned $100 ($1,045.21 when adjusted for inflation) for his 57th-place performance.

Lee Petty battled with Beauchamp during the final 30 laps of the race, and they were the only two drivers to finish on the lead lap. Petty took the lead with 3 laps left and led at the start of the final lap. Petty and Beauchamp drove side by side across the finish line at the end final lap for a photo finish. Beauchamp was declared the unofficial winner by NASCAR officials, and he drove to victory lane. Petty protested the results, saying "I had Beauchamp by a good two feet. In my own mind, I know I won."^[10] Beauchamp replied "I had him by two feet. I glanced over to Lee Petty's car as I crossed the finish line and I could see his headlight slightly back of my car. It was so close I didn't know how they would call it, but I thought I won."^[10] Early leader Fireball Roberts, who was standing by the finish line, said: "There's no doubt about it, Petty won."^[10] It took NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. three days to decide the winner the following Wednesday.^[10] In the end, with the help of photographs and newsreel footage, Petty was officially declared the winner.^[14]

The controversial finish helped the sport. The delayed results to determine the official winner kept NASCAR and the Daytona 500 on the front page of newspapers.

Official results

The race lasted 3:41:22, with an average speed of 135.521 mph (218.10 km/h).^[3]

Fin	St	#	Driver	Sponsor	Make	Laps	Led	Status
1	15	42	Lee Petty	Newton Chappell Motors	1959 Oldsmobile	200	38	running
2	21	73	Johnny Beauchamp		1959 Ford Thunderbird	200	30	running
3	17	18	Charley Griffith	Red Bank	1957 Pontiac	199	0	running
4	11	6	Cotton Owens	W.H. Watson Trucking	1958 Pontiac	199	0	running
5	7	48	Joe Weatherly	Wilson's Pure Oil Service	1959 Chevrolet	199	6	running
6	39	7	Jim Reed		1959 Chevrolet	196	0	running
7	41	47	Jack Smith	Bud Moore's Garage, Georgia Chevy Dealers	1959 Chevrolet	196	57	running
8	5	59	Tom Pistone	Rupert Safety Belt	1959 Ford Thunderbird	195	39	running
9	42	15	Tim Flock	Russ Bramblet Ford	1959 Ford Thunderbird	193	0	running
10	31	1	Speedy Thompson		1957 Chevrolet	193	0	running
11	59	8	Johnny Allen		1957 Chevrolet	192	0	running
12	35	38	Raul Cilloniz		1959 Ford Thunderbird	192	0	running
13	43	41	Curtis Turner	Delta Auto Sales	1959 Ford Thunderbird	189	0	running
14	33	11	Junior Johnson	Champion Garage	1957 Ford	189	0	running
15	25	29	Dick Freeman	Ruebush Brothers	1959 Chevrolet	188	0	running
16	16	77	Joe Lee Johnson	Honest Charley	1957 Chevrolet Convertible	187	0	running
17	4	98	Marvin Panch	McGee & Taylors	1958 Ford Convertible	185	0	running
18	10	25	Gene White		1957 Chevrolet Convertible	185	0	running
19	57	9	Roy Tyner		1957 Chevrolet	184	0	running
20	18	2	Jimmy Thompson		1957 Chevrolet	182	0	running
21	49	19	Herman Beam		1957 Chevrolet	182	0	running
22	14	92	Wilbur Rakestraw		1957 Ford Convertible	181	0	running
23	53	16	Jim McGuirk		1959 Pontiac	181	0	running
24	12	76	Larry Frank	Carolina Plating	1958 Ford Convertible	178	0	running
25	48	10	Elmo Langley	Cafe Burgundy	1957 Ford	175	0	running
26	19	4	Rex White	Idlewild Homes	1959 Chevrolet	174	0	engine
27	30	55	Ben Benz		1957 Chevrolet Convertible	169	0	running
28	27	71	Dick Joslin		1957 Dodge	167	0	piston
29	24	14	Ken Rush		1957 Mercury Convertible	163	0	engine
30	55	80	Bob Rose	Florida Dump Trucks	1957 Chevrolet	162	0	running
31	50	69	Harold Smith		1959 Studebaker	159	0	running
32	44	66	Dick Foley		1959 Chevrolet	157	0	running
33	28	32	Brownie King	City Motor	1958 Chevrolet Convertible	152	0	engine
34	8	21	Glen Wood	Wood Brothers	1958 Ford Convertible	149	0	clutch
35	47	83	Bob Pronger		1958 Ford	143	0	running
36	26	39	Billy Carden		1957 Mercury Convertible	140	0	running
37	23	81	Bernie Hentges		1959 DeSoto	138	0	engine
38	2	99	Shorty Rollins	Shorty's	1958 Ford Convertible	115	0	engine
39	22	82	Joe Eubanks		1958 Ford Convertible	95	0	transmission
40	13	88	Tiny Lund	Shook's Transfer	1959 Chevrolet	92	0	timing
41	1	49	Bob Welborn	Tuxedo Plumbing & Heating	1959 Chevrolet	75	9	engine
42	54	87	Buck Baker		1959 Chevrolet	75	0	timing
43	37	53	Ken Johnson		1957 Ford	67	0	push rod
44	58	74	L.D. Austin		1957 Chevrolet	65	0	generator
45	46	3	Fireball Roberts	Pontiac, America's No. 1 Car	1959 Pontiac	56	21	fuel pump
46	40	45	Paul Bass	McGee Edsel	1958 Ford Edsel Convertible	52	0	engine
47	29	72A	Bobby Johns		1957 Chevrolet	46	0	overheating
48	9	37	Eduardo Dibos	Peru	1959 Ford Thunderbird	44	0	suspension
49	36	50	Gober Sosebee	Cherokee Garage	1957 Chevrolet Convertible	44	0	transmission
50	20	89	Bob Said		1958 Chevrolet Convertible	42	0	transmission
51	51	95	Bob Duell		1959 Ford	38	0	distributor
52	32	36	Pete Kelly		1957 Chevrolet Convertible	34	0	engine
53	45	24	Bob Potter		1959 Chevrolet	33	0	timing
54	52	86	Carl Tyler		1957 Ford	29	0	overheating
55	34	33	George Green	City Motors	1957 Chevrolet Convertible	21	0	engine
56	3	64	Fritz Wilson	Museum of Speed	1959 Ford Thunderbird	15	0	piston
57	6	43	Richard Petty	Air Lift	1957 Oldsmobile Convertible	8	0	engine
58	38	79	Larry Odo		1957 Ford Convertible	3	0	engine
59	56	75	Ken Marriott		1958 Ford Convertible	1	0	engine

References

1. Weather information for the 1959 Daytona 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac.
2. Caraviello, David (February 16, 2008). "In 1959, first Daytona 500 changed city, sport forever". NASCAR. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010. Retrieved October 10, 2008.
3. Race results; Retrieved October 24, 2007.
4. Jan 7, Joe Menzer; ET, 2017 at 5:35p. "Classic photos from controversial first Daytona 500 in 1959". FOX Sports. Retrieved July 15, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
5. "Track facts". DaytonaInternationalSpeedway.com. Daytona International Speedway. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
6. "Lo'Aids". April 9, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
7. "The History of ISC". InternationalSpeedwayCorporation.com. International Speedway Corporation. June 14, 2015. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
8. What Makes Daytona Special. Daytona International Speedway. May 10, 2012. 2:51 minutes in. YouTube. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021.
9. "World's most watched TV sports events: 2006 Rank & Trends report". Initiative. January 19, 2007. Archived from the original on February 8, 2007. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
10. 1959: Petty's photo finish Archived August 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine; Mark Aumann, Turner Sports Interactive; January 9, 2003; Retrieved October 24, 2007.
11. Daytona 500 Anniversary – The 50th Run Archived September 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine; Stock Car Racing magazine; Benny Phillips; July 3, 2002; Retrieved February 21, 2008.
12. For more detailed discussion and sources, see John Havick, Ghosts of NASCAR, the Harlan Boys and the First Daytona 500, University of Iowa Press, 2013.
13. National Speed Sport News, March 4, 1959; see a fifty lap increment report, National Speed Sport News, February 23, 1959.
14. "Complete Daytona 500 winner history | NASCAR.com". Official Site Of NASCAR. Retrieved July 15, 2021.

External links

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