NASCAR HISTORY
1946
The first Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway sees Lee
Petty beat Johnny Beauchamp in a photo finish. It takes officials three
days to determine the winner.
1948
The National Association For Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) forms
on Dec. 14 in Daytona Beach, Fla. during a meeting of 35 men at the
Streamline Hotel. Bill France Sr. chairs the meeting and is elected
president following the association's incorporation on Feb. 21, 1948.
1950
NASCAR'S first NASCAR Winston Cup race on a paved track was the
inaugural Mountain Dew Southern 500 at South Carolina's Darlington
Raceway on Labor Day of 1950.
1951
NASCAR Winston Cup makes its debut on the West Coast, as
Marshall Teague wins a 100-mile race on a half-mile dirt track at
Gardena, Calif.
1953
A field of 148 entries starts the Modified/Sportsman race on the
highway/beach course in Daytona Beach, Fla. It remains the largest
starting field in NASCAR history.
1959
The first Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway sees Lee
Petty beat Johnny Beauchamp in a photo finish. It takes officials three
days to determine the winner.
1960
Cannonball Baker, the first NASCAR commissioner and a famous
long-distance racer, dies at age 78.
1964
Defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion Joe Weatherly is killed
during the Motor Trend 500 at the Riverside (Calif.) International
Raceway.
1965
Cale Yarborough, who will go on to become a three-time NASCAR
Winston Cup champion, gets the first of his 83 career victories in a
200-lap, 100-mile race at a half-mile dirt Valdosta (Ga.) Speedway.
1968
In one of the most dominating dirt-track performances in NASCAR
Winston Cup history, Richard Petty beats James Hylton by seven laps
in winning the Hillsborough 150 at the .9-mile Orange County
Speedway in Hillsborough, N.C.
1969
David Pearson clinches his third and final NASCAR Winston Cup
championship by finishing second to good friend Bobby Isaac in a
200-lap, 100-mile race at Jefferson, Ga.
1971
NASCAR's "modern era" of NASCAR Winston Cup racing opens as
Ray Elder wins the Motor Trend 500 at the Riverside (Calif.)
International Raceway.
1972
NASCAR founder and president Bill France Sr. retires and passes
control of the family business to his sons, Bill and Jim
1976
Cale Yarborough clinches the first of his three consecutive NASCAR
Winston Cup titles by simply starting the season-ending LA Times 500
at the Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway. David Pearson wins the race
ahead of Lennie Pond.
1977
Bobby Isaac, the 1970 NASCAR Winston Cup champion and 37-time
race winner, dies from a heart attack during a Saturday night Late
Model Sportsman race at the Hickory (N.C.) Speedway.
1979
Richard Petty wins his seventh and last NASCAR Winston Cup title
with a fifth-place finish in the season-ending LA Times 500 at the
Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway.
1980
Three-time champion and 105-time winner David Pearson gets his last
victory, at Darlington, S.C. in a Hoss Ellington-owned Chevrolet.
1984
President Ronald Reagan flies into Daytona Beach during the Pepsi
Firecracker 400 to see Richard Petty get his 200th and final NASCAR
Winston Cup victory at the Daytona International Speedway.
1985
Bill Elliott wins the Mountain Dew Southern 500 and collects the
Winston Million bonus from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Earlier in
the season he'd won the Daytona 500 and Winston 500.
1986
Rusty Wallace wins the last NASCAR Winston Cup race at Riverside
(Calif.) International Raceway, taking the Budweiser 400 ahead of Terry
Labonte and pole-sitter Ricky Rudd.
1987
Bill Elliott sets an all-time Daytona International Speedway qualifying
record with a lap of 210.364 in time trials for the Daytona 500.
1988
Alan Kulwicki gets his first NASCAR Winston Cup victory in the
DuraLube 500-K at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway, then gives
fans their first look at a "Polish (clockwise) victory lap."
1990
Michael Waltrip walks from what most NASCAR-watchers agree is the
most devastating crash in stock car racing history during a NASCAR
Busch Series race at Bristol, Tenn.
1992
Richard Petty makes his last start and Jeff Gordon his first the same
day Alan Kulwicki wins the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship by
finishing second to Bill Elliott in the Hooters 500 at the Atlanta Motor
Speedway at Hampton, Ga.
1993
Davey Allison, one of the sport's most popular drivers, gets the last of
his 19 career victories, this one over Rusty Wallace and Alan Kulwicki
at Richmond International Raceway.
1996
Davey Allison, one of the sport's most popular drivers, gets the last of
his 19 career victories, this one over Rusty Wallace and Alan Kulwicki
at Richmond International Raceway.
1998
NASCAR celebrates its 50th Anniversary Season
Email: nascar97@angelfire.com
