"Daytona 500" - remembering the glory days

June 29, 2011

Garth Brooks "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House" 1990 (click to listen)

What was once among the personal highlights of each year for me diminished into a challenge to focus on and during some years, impossible to stay awake to watch. About the only thing that would get me excited about the "Daytona 500" like I used to be, would be if Tony Stewart won the race. Unfortunately that has not happened yet.

This was Tony Stewart's thirteenth "Daytona 500" start and although he looked like a potential winner any number of times, victory in the "Great American Race" has yet to come to my former Indy car favorite. He was even leading on lap 199, in the 2008 race, but the Penske duo of Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch were too much for Stewart, as he was left alone without a drafting partner. As talented behind the wheel as he is, even Tony Stewart could not beat the aero forces which dominate at Daytona International Speedway.

I wonder if Tony Stewart will have to wait for his "Daytona 500" victory as long as Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt did to get their only win in NASCAR's premier event. It took my back in the day NASCAR hero David Pearson fifteen tries before he finally won the "Great American Race" and he had to survive the legendary crash with his arch rival Richard Petty to finally get it done in 1976.Waltrip did not win until his seventeenth attempt in 1989. Dale Earnhardt did not win until his twentieth attempt in 1998. Buddy Baker did not win the "Daytona 500" until his eighteenth attempt in 1980. Bobby Allison did not win the big race until his fifteenth try in 1978 and then he won two more times over the next ten years.

Perhaps Tony Stewart can take some solace from the experiences of those NASCAR legends before him who all had to work very hard to win the "Daytona 500."

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For other drivers, victory in the "Daytona 500" came much sooner than it has yet to occur for Tony Stewart. 2011 winner Trevor Bayne not only won NASCAR's biggest race in his first try but also in only his second Cup start. What a shocker huh? I think a lot of people enjoyed seeing a fresh new face in the winner's circle at the number one event of the season. Throughout its 53 year history, the "Great American Race" has had a list of surprise winners such as Tiny Lund (1963), Pete Hamilton (1970), Benny Parsons (1975), Derrike Cope (1990), Ernie Irvan (1991), Michael Waltrip (2001) and Ward Burton (2002).

Of course Lee Petty won in his first "Daytona 500" start because he was the winner of the inaugural running in 1959. Guess what -- Trevor Bayne is the only racer, other than Lee Petty, to win the "Daytona 500" in his rookie run. Not only that, but the kid from Knoxville turned twenty on February 19, one day before his Daytona victory, making him the youngest "Daytona 500" winner in the 53 year history of the event. The previous youngest winner of the "Great American Race" was Jeff Gordon, who was 25 when he won his first of three "Daytona 500" victories in 1997.

In the case of Benny Parsons and certainly Ernie Irvan, they both grew from their unexpected triumph in stock car racing's biggest event to enjoy other NASCAR success. Even Hamilton, Cope, Waltrip and Burton won other events. In Waltrip's case, he won a second "Daytona 500" two years later. So it's not like any of those drivers were not legitimate winners, but they obviously don't belong in the same category as Lee Petty, Junior Johnson, Fireball Roberts, Richard Petty, Fred Lorenzen, Cale Yarborough, Lee Roy Yarbrough, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, Davey Allison, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson; all racers who symbolize NASCAR greatness.

Therefore it will be a point of interest to see how young Trevor Bayne's career develops. Will he become a contender -- then a regular winner -- or even a NASCAR legend? Will he become just another racer who had a single day in the sunshine in his sport's biggest show? That will be an interesting story to watch.     

There were some moments during the 2011 "Daytona 500" when I thought Tony Stewart might steal a win. The previous day he came on strong at the very end of the race to win his fourth consecutive Nationwide series race during Daytona Speedweeks.

When the field was coming round for the start of the final "green-white-checker" on lap 207, Mike Joy announced on the Fox telecast that Trevor Bayne was being told by his Wood Brothers crew to watch his fuel for fear of running out. Lining up alongside race leader Bayne, in second place, was Tony Stewart, with no reported fuel concerns. Mark Martin's Go Daddy car 5 was sitting on the rear bumper of Tony's number 14 Chevrolet. During the previous green - white - checker, the Stewart and Martin duo moved through the pack quickly and easily. I was hopeful the Stewart - Martin pairing could do the same thing over the final two laps of racing.

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I was wired after drinking two pots of strong Starbucks Italian roast and for the first time in several years, I focused intently on the entire race. Not once did I even consider a nap. That has not been the case on other recent "Daytona 500" race days.

I momentarily thought to myself Tony Stewart is going to pull out a 'Daytona 500' victory at last and he is going to do so in a race in which he has not led a single lap. There were a record 22 different race leaders and also a record 74 lead changes in this year's race but Tony Stewart did not lead the 53rd "Daytona 500" because unfortunately when the green flag was waved, Stewart and his drafting partner Martin went backwards and Tony ended up thirteenth, 3.8 seconds behind winner Bayne. Maybe next February will be Tony Stewart's turn to win the main event at Daytona International Speedway. He has three wins in the July Cup race at Daytona but the big race has not come to him yet.

Tony Stewart told the media at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in 2005, after he won the first of his two "Brickyard 400" victories, that if he accomplished nothing else in his career, winning in NASCAR at IMS would be enough. Come on Tony. If you don't win both the "Indianapolis 500" and the "Daytona 500," your racing "bio" is going to look incomplete.

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I watched the "Daytona 500" live for the first time on February 26, 1967, when my boyhood pal Dave Willmuth and I attended the first closed circuit telecast of the race, at the Indiana National Guard armory on Pennsylvania Street downtown. The fuzzy, black and white broadcast was projected on a large temporary screen and the volume was not very loud.

In those days, I was a huge supporter of the motorsports endeavors of Ford Motor Company. My preference for Ford racing cars came as a result of Ford and Team Lotus joining up for the 1963 "Indianapolis 500" with Jim Clark at the wheel of the number 92 Lotus Powered by Ford. In 1965, Jim Clark's Lotus Powered by Ford conquered the "Indianapolis 500" and by 1967, Ford essentially owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- or so we thought. There were only a select few who were aware of the magnificent day glow red STP turbine car which Andy Granatelli would bring to IMS in May with Parnelli Jones at the wheel - but that's story for another day.

Ford took first place honors in the 24 Hours of Le Mans the previous June, beating Ferrari in a direct confrontation. A brand new three liter Ford V8 Formula One engine was being constructed by Cosworth Engineering in England. Team Lotus was building the new Lotus 49 for the new Ford and the car was to be driven by Jim Clark and Graham Hill in Grand Prix competition. The might of Ford Motor Company was spreading throughout worldwide motor racing. 

Their involvement with the "Indianapolis 500" led to my favoring Fords in NASCAR. When I showed up at the armory, I did not have a particular favorite driver in the fifty car starting field for the 1967 "Daytona 500" but I wanted one of the full fledged Ford factory supported drivers Fred Lorenzen (1965 "Daytona 500" winner), A.J. Foyt, Darel Deiringer, Cale Yarborough, Dick Hutcherson and Mario Andretti to take the race from Chrysler, which had scored the 1966 win with Richard Petty's Plymouth. Failing that, any one of the twelve other drivers, entered in less prominent Fords or Mercurys, winning would be preferable to a Dodge or Plymouth taking victory.  

Chrysler Corporation had a powerful lineup to try to deny the six Ford factory entries and the 10 Fords and two Mercurys entered by lesser funded teams, headed by 1964 and 1966 "Daytona 500" champion Richard Petty. Lee Roy Yarbrough (Dodge), former "Indianapolis 500" competitor Paul Goldsmith (Plymouth), Buddy Baker (Dodge), 1963 "Daytona 500" winner Tiny Lund (Plymouth), Jim Paschal (Plymouth), USAC stock car ace Don White (Dodge), 1966 NASCAR champion David Pearson (Dodge), Charlie Glotzbach (Dodge), James Hylton (Dodge), Gordon Johncock (Plymouth), Bobby Isaac (Dodge), Ramo Stott (Plymouth), Neil Castles (Plymouth), Jim Hurtibise (Plymouth), Jerry Grant (Plymouth) and G.C. Spencer (Plymouth) completed the Chrysler lineup. The Mopar briagde at the 1967 "Daytona 500" was very strong indeed.

The battle between Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation in NASCAR in 1967 was a full scale "out in the open" fight for supremacy that started publicly in 1963. Although they weren't spending as much on racing in 1967 as Ford and Chrysler, General Motors was still handing out free parts and smaller amounts of monetary support under the table to some of those crews running the fourteen GM cars in the race. NASCAR hero and long time legend Curtis Turner qualified a new Chevrolet Chevelle, built and entered by legendary Smokey Yunick, on pole for the 1967 "Daytona 500" with a lap at a spectacular 180.831 mph. The one lap track record at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was only 166.328 mph, set by Mario Andretti in qualifications for the 1966 "Indianapolis 500." The remaining Chevrolets and Pontiacs in the 1967 "Daytona 500" field were entered by smaller racing operations.

One of the things that separates the contemporary "Daytona 500," from those classic runnings of the "Great American Race" in earlier years, is that in 1967 and for several years after, the starting field was a collection of racers from every facet of international motorsport. In the 1967 Daytona starting field was a group of Indy car and USAC racers from north of the Mason Dixon who came to Daytona in February to make money in the winter before their regular racing activities commenced for another year. Today the "Daytona 500" is just another Sprint Cup race in terms of the competition with the usual "start and park bottom feeders" showing up just as they do at every one of the other stops on schedule. In my opinion, that seriously reduces the glamour from what it was in the earlier years of the race.

A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti, the leading full time Indy car racers of the day, were at Daytona International Speedway in first class rides, ready to compete with the NASCAR regulars for the big pay out. In addition to A.J. and Mario, Gordon Johncock, Jim Hurtibise, Jerry Grant and up and coming USAC racer Gary Bettenhausen, came to Daytona to do battle. Innes Ireland, from Scotland, who won the 1961 Grand Prix of the United States at Watkins Glen that brought Colin Chapman's Team Lotus their first World Championship Formula One victory, was in the field too.

According to the excellent racing stats website www.racing-reference.info, there were 94,250 fans at Daytona International Speedway on February 26, 1967 for the ninth "Daytona 500."

Back in Indianapolis, it was not an easy task following the race on the portable screen at one end of the armory. Since the telecast was in black and white, it was difficult to actually understand what was going on in the race, especially since I could barely hear the race commentary.

Curtis Turner grabbed the lead at the start of the 1967 "Daytona 500" in the immaculate black and gold Smokey Yunick Chevelle. The Yunick entry received a lot of pre race media attention. Yunick owned and built the 1961 "Daytona 500" winning Pontiac for Marvin Panch and one year later, won again with Fireball Roberts. There was excitement over Smokey's new Chevy with the flamboyant Turner at the wheel. Curtis Turner was one of the all time most colorful heroes in NASCAR history.

Lee Roy Yarbrough, who won the first of the two 100 mile qualifying races, which they now call "Gatorade Duels," two days earlier, took the lead on lap two in his semi - factory backed Dodge Charger entered by Jon Thorne. Two laps later, A.J. Foyt, driving the Banjo Matthews prepared Ford Fairlane, grabbed the lead and over the next twenty laps, A.J., Yarbrough and Buddy Baker's Ray Fox Dodge took turns running in first place.

Mario Andretti charged to the lead, from twelfth starting position, in the number 11 Holman - Moody Ford on lap 23. Andretti remained in the lead until the first series of pit stops. By lap 55, Mario was in front again. David Pearson, driving a Dodge Charger for Cotton Owens, was the leading challenger to Andretti's car 11 through the middle part of the race. Pearson's engine failed after 159 laps and after that, only one serious challenger remained for Mario. Holman-Moody Ford stable mate Fred Lorenzen tried to give chase but Andretti was too fast and led Lorenzen to the checkered flag. Years later, Andretti would reveal his Daytona winning secret. He had the Holman - Moody crew set up his Fairlane extra loose, in similar fashion to what Clint Brawner did with Mario's Dean Van Lines Special for Indy car races.

Andretti's car 11 ran at the front of the race for 112 of 200 laps and the checkered flag was thrown for Mario under caution. I was hooked! How cool I thought as I left the armory. I could not wait for 1968 and the next "Daytona 500."

Ford had come through to win NASCAR's biggest race, with their midsize Fairlane model, a neat looking fastback. Chrysler Corporation, Richard Petty and company had been soundly defeated. I also thought it was pretty neat to have an Indy car driver steal NASCAR's biggest event the way Mario Andretti did so effectively. It did not matter to me that Richard Petty would go on to win a record 27 NASCAR Grand National series victories in 1967 on his way to the second of seven NASCAR championships. Ford won the "Daytona 500" and to my way of thinking in 1967, that was the only thing that mattered in NASCAR.

As a footnote to the 1967 NASCAR season, Jim Clark accepted an invitation from NASCAR and Ford Motor Company to participate in the "American 500" at the one mile oval in Rockingham, North Carolina, on October 29. Clark only qualified 24th in his number 66 Ford Fairlane. The "Flying Scot" raced to move into fourth place at one point in the race, but retired after 144 laps with engine failure.

Among many NASCAR traditionalists in that day, there was the notion the "Southern 500" at Darlington, on Labor Day weekend, was the primary event each season. For us racing fans who were able to look beyond the boundaries of Dixie however, the only stock car race that counted was the "Daytona 500."

It should be noted however, NASCAR has never been my primary thing. I am an open wheel guy. The "Indy 500" comes first with me. After that, the other Indy car races and Formula One are my primary focus of attention the rest of the season. So my notion that Daytona Speedweeks eclipsed everything else in NASCAR in 1967 might be a biased judgment. Certainly in contemporary NASCAR, the battle for the Sprint Cup is many times more important than the "Daytona 500." In the 1960s however, there were only a handful of competitors who were able to compete in every NASCAR Grand National event. Daytona Speedweeks was the event which drew a larger and more diverse entry than the other races on the schedule.

Think about what I have presented in regard to the 1967 "Daytona 500" and how much it differs from the personality of recent editions of the "Great American Race." In 1967, it was about Ford versus Chrysler with some Chevrolets and Pontiacs thrown in for good measure. There weren't fan favorite drivers, at least in the same context that Richard Petty became a hero when the 1960s gave way to the seventies, and the way Bill Elliott was idolized in the 1980s. The fanatic worship Dale Earnhardt would generate in the 1990s was unthinkable in 1967. It wasn't about the race drivers nearly as much as the cars in the earlier days of NASCAR. Fireball Roberts was probably NASCAR's most visible racing star when he died in July 1964 (from burns suffered in a fiery crash in the 600 mile NASCAR race at Charlotte) and Fred Lorenzen was the prototype for today's NASCAR media friendly drivers; the "golden boy" from Elmhurst, Illinois. Other drivers were well known during the NASCAR's early years; Lee Petty, Curtis Turner, Buck Baker, Tim Flock, Herb Thomas, Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson were all famous racing personalities in their prime. There was nothing like the hero worship that followed the Earnhardts Sr. and Junior however. It was mostly about fast cars in those days.

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During NASCAR's current era, the on track racing has taken a backseat with a majority of the fans in favor of the respective popularity of their preferred drivers. As great a champion is Jimmie Johnson is after winning five consecutive NASCAR Cup championships, that phenomenol streak of success has had anegative impact on NASCAR popularity. No matter that Johnson may yet prove to be the greatest NASCAR champion of all time and he and his crew chief Chad Knauss form a brilliant partnership, most fans would prefer to see someone else win -- most notably Dale Earnhardt Jr. Unfortunately given Earnhardt Jr.'s performances to date, seeing Dale Jr, win a Sprint Cup title seems highly unlikely.

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For stock car racing fans in 1967, it was which car a NASCAR fan was driving on the highway and how that model was performing on the race track. In 2011, the cars look the same and that has become even more so since NASCAR introduced the Car of Tomorrow a few years ago. They paste decals on the front of the cars which distinguish Chevrolets from Fords from Toyotas from Dodges. Otherwise, it would be impossible to tell whether a driver was racing a Chevy, Ford, Dodge or Toyota. While I am referring to those decals, does it seem as ridiculous to you as it does to me that they paste decals of grills and headlights on NASCAR race cars?  We all know the Cup cars of today are not stock. I mean when was the last time you drove a car with a carburetor?

At that time of the 1967 "Daytona 500," I was not getting along well with my mom and dad, who themselves were not getting along with each other either. My girl friend Susie, who I adored, had broken up with me a few weeks earlier. Most of my pleasure at the time came from whatever whiskey I could scrounge. I was not working. I was miserable. It was not a good time to be Bob Jennings. Getting to watch the 1967 "Daytona 500" gave me something else to think about besides all my twenty year old troubles.

One year later, on February 25, 1968, the tenth running of the "Daytona 500" was set to begin.

My life was going a lot better than one year earlier and I was even more excited about the 1968 "Daytona 500" than I had been in 1967. That same girl friend Susie and I were on the verge of getting back together. I was working full time at a life insurance company, wearing the latest in traditional college fashion (the only time I came close to looking like a hippie was in 1971 when I let my hair grow long after moving to Port Huron, Michigan and that only lasted 1 1/2 years) and I was driving a silver 1964 Ford Falcon convertible. It was nice little auto; nothing too great but not bad.

Not only that, but I had a delicious eighteen year old blond, that I worked with, who worshipped me. God that girl had a body; large perfect breasts, gorgeous legs, long blond hair, tall with a decent face. She was hot! Debbie was mine whenever I wanted. Nice! She liked me a lot.

I dumped Debbie for my girlfriend Susie a few months later. Susie ended up making me mostly miserable and heartbroken for much of the next two years. I was a dumbass, but at the time of the 1968 "Daytona 500," I was just getting back with Susie and had Debbie to keep me company whenever I wanted. I loved Susie. I lusted for Debbie. She was the proverbial blond bombshell in every way you can think of. What a body! We went to see Cream at Clowes Hall and the Dustin Hoffman classic "The Graduate" at the movies. My hands were all over Debbie at both of those shows.

The Beatles recorded and released "Lady Madonna." Life was good. The rot that set in and led to their breakup late in 1969 was not apparent yet. The Beatles were still riding on the success of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," which was released the previous June.

Fred Lorenzen, was Ford's number one NASCAR driver. Lorenzen and Richard Petty were the most high profile drivers on the circuit. The Illinois native retired suddenly in Spring 1967. Taking Lorenzen's place was one of Chrysler's leading competitors David Pearson. I liked having Pearson in a Ford and he became my NASCAR favorite immediately.

Ford Motor Company pulled out all the stops and produced the new fastback Torino and its sister model the Mercury Cyclone. The Torino and Cyclone looked like they had been designed with Daytona International Speedway in mind. Chrysler wasn't going to make it easy however. The new Plymouth Fury and Dodge Charger, although not as sleek as the Fords, still looked racy. The 1968 models at Daytona in February 1968 were stock cars built for racing and they were faster than the year before. Cale Yarborough qualified the Wood Brothers Mercury Cyclone at 189.222 mph, which represented an 8.6 mile per hour jump from Curtis Turner's track record for the 1967 "Daytona 500." Think about this. Cale Yarborough qualified 2.6 miles per hour faster for the 1968 "Daytona 500" than Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified for pole for this year's Daytona 500."  

"She's real fine my 409." In the 1960s, bigger was better as far as cubic inches engine displacement. There was the Pontiac 389 c.i.d. and the Ford 390 V8. Then came Ford's 406 and the Chevy 409. Chrysler introduced the 413 followed by the 426 hemi in 1964 and Ford matched that with their 427. Chevrolet also had a 427 V8. The engine was a rocket but it blew up easily and General Motors pulled back on that project for a while. I am sure I am missing some of the big bore Detroit iron of the day. Some of you younger readers are wondering what I am referring to. No doubt you are more excited about your smart phone or the new Apple IPad, but your fathers (maybe your grandfathers) were into bigger is better under the hood of their dream car in the 1960s.  

Huge V8 engines were designed and built with competition in mind, whether it was the local quarter mile drag strip or the 31 degree high banks at Daytona International Speedway. Ford was still working on the powerful new Boss 429 V8 when the 50 car field got the green flag to start the 1968 "Daytona 500."  

The ever growing cast iron V8 monsters coming out of Detroit were a big part of the appeal of the "Daytona 500" in those days. When Ford showed up at Daytona in February 1963 with the new fastback Galaxie, thereby breaking the moratorium among the big three auto makers to not directly engage in racing, the entire motoring world took notice of Daytona Speedweeks. Ford whipped the competition so badly, the defending "Daytona 500" winner Fireball Roberts, who was NASCAR's biggest star at the time, abandoned his 1963 Pontiac and signed up a few weeks after the Fords scored a sweep of the top five positions, led by surprise winner Tiny Lund, with Fred Lorenzen, Ned Jarrett, Nelson Stacy and Dan Gurney following the winning Wood Brother number 21 to the checkered flag in their respective Fords.

The 1968 Daytona closed circuit telecast was moved from the Indiana National Guard armory to the Murat Theater so a larger crowd could be accommodated. Dave Willmuth did not go. I think he had to work.

For 1968, Ford Motor Company decided to split its factory entry among Ford Torinos and Mercury Cyclones like Chrysler was doing with Dodge and Plymouth. The Holman Moody entry was comprised of David Pearson's Ford, Mario Andretti's Mercury and Donnie Allison's Torino. Cale Yarborough, who was on pole in the Wood Brothers Mercury, was putting his focus on NASCAR. Yarborough raced in the  "Indianapolis 500" in 1966 and 1967. In 1967, Cale became a proven NASCAR winner and decided to compete full time in stock cars again. Lee Roy Yarbrough replaced Darel Deiringer in Junior Johnson's Mercury Cyclone and Bobby Allison took Dick Hutcherson's seat in the Bondy Long Ford Torino. A.J. Foyt's Ford was entered by Banjo Matthews and Tiny Lund's Bud Moore Mercury filled out the official Ford Motor Company entry.

Richard Petty, coming off his all time record 27 win season and a second NASCAR Grand National title, led the Chrysler attack in his sky blue Plymouth. For the "Daytona 500," a black vinyl roof with a texture like a golf ball was fastened to Petty's number 43 because, like a golf ball traveling through the air, his crew thought it would make the car more aerodynamic. Makes sense to me I guess, although if I recall, the vinyl came loose during the race.

Al Unser, who finished second in the 1967 "Indianapolis 500," came to Daytona in the Cotton Owens Dodge. When I think about it now, more than 43 years later, I find it intriguing that Owens, a former NASCAR driver and leader of the 1966 championship team, picked Al Unser over a number of stock car regulars for the most important race of each year. In early 1968, Al was on the rise, ready to start winning, and a few seasons later would prove to be a formidable competitor in USAC stock car competition.  I had mixed emotions about Al Unser running for the enemy. Unser was quickly becomming one of my favorites and I would have preferred that he was in a Ford or Mercury. Al had a good run however and ended up being the highest finishing Chrysler in the race with a fourth place.

Much to my delight, the 1968 "Daytona 500" was even more of a Ford triumph than the previous February. Fords and Mercurys led 175 of 200 laps. My guy Pearson only ended up fifth, one lap behind the winner. That was slightly disappointing but it was compensated by the Ford Motor Company overhaul. The second half of the race saw a torrid battle between Cale Yarborough and Lee Roy Yarbrough; the Wood Brothers Mercury versus Junior Johnson's Cyclone. With four laps to go, Cale passed Lee Roy and won the race to the checkered flag by one second. Bobby Allison completed the Ford Motor Company sweep with a third place finish. Al Unser's fourth place Dodge was the only other car to finish on the lead lap.

Despite the much heralded signing of Richard Petty for 1969, Ford's prospects for a third straight "Daytona 500" win received a major setback when NASCAR banned the brand new Boss 429 V8 during 1969 Daytona Speedweeks because Ford had not yet manufactured enough of the new engines for passenger cars. Ford teams, all running Torinos this time, had to make a quick switch to the old 427 V8. Charlie Glotzbach's Cotton Owens Dodge nearly returned the "Daytona 500" to Chrysler when he took the lead on lap 178. Lee Roy Yarbrough used the slingshot to pass Glotzbach on the final corner on lap 200, in Junior Johnson's Torino, to save the day for Ford fans. My friend Guy Nadeau and I were cheering at the top of our lungs. Guy had just purchased a brand new Ford Mustang Mach I and we were riding around Indiana like a couple testosterone crazed dogs who only recently discovered there was an opposite sex. Guy was five years older than me but his fire was burning as hot as anyone I ever knew.    

For me, the 1960s were the glory years for the "Daytona 500." In those days, the auto manufacturers were more than partners with the major racing teams like they are today. Chevrolet is Rick Hendrick's major benefactor in terms of technology and development, but it's Lowes, GO Daddy, Amp, the National Guard, AARP and Kobalt Tools who put up the major money it takes to run four Cup cars. During the 1960s, the cars entered by the Wood Brothers, Holman Moody, Junior Johnson, Banjo Matthews and Bondy Long were bankrolled by Ford Motor Company. Likewise the Petty Plymouths and the Cotton Owens and Ray Fox Dodges were paid for by Chrysler Corporation. The auto makers were more like corporate sugar daddies than sponsors.   

By 1970, Ford was tiring of spending so much on racing. The big shots in Dearborn decided they had reaped suitable rewards from motorsport and the new government Environmental Protection Agency was pushing for less horsepower and also less polution; what might be called the infancy of the green movement. Ford sold their Indy car engine program to A.J. Foyt. In Formula One, the Cosworth Ford DFV engine was being offered to any Grand Prix team that wanted to purchase it. Ford Motor Company still backed teams in NASCAR but with a heavily reduced budget from 1969. The Ford factory lineup included three time (1966, 1968, 1969) NASCAR champion David Pearson in a Holman Moody Ford, Lee Roy Yarbrough in Junior Johnson's Ford, A.J. Foyt in Jack Bowsher's Ford, Donnie Allison in Banjo Matthews' Ford and Cale Yarborough in the Wood Brothers Mercury. The 1970 Torino did not feature good aerodynamics and the teams raced 1969 models. The 1970 Ford Torino was a major disappointment to not only NASCAR racers but also the U.S. car buying public; an ugly car and that is being kind. 

On the other hand, Chrysler brought Richard Petty back from Ford's grasp and gave him the brand new, winged Plymouth Super Bird. Only Petty and his young teammate Pete Hamilton had the Super Bird however. The rest of the Chrysler contingent, most of them in 1969 Dodges, included Buddy Baker, Bobby Isaac, Charlie Glotzbach, Bobby Allison and Tiny Lund.

The cutback in support by Ford and Chrysler resulted in fewer cars coming to Daytona and only 40 cars started the 1970 "Daytona 500."

Despite running a year old Wood Brothers Mercury, Cale Yarborough raised the speed even higher with a pole qualifying lap at 194.015 mph. Yarborough looked like the pace setter and led 26 of the first 31 laps before his engine blew. Richard Petty only lasted seven laps before his Mopar 426 hemi failed. My man Pearson, who had qualified second fastest, took the lead for the first time on lap 68. As the race progressed, Pearson either led or ran at the front and I started to think he was going to win.  

The Holman Moody number 17 led 82 of the final 133 laps and as the race entered the final stages, Pearson's only competitor was Pete Hamilton who was driving the second Petty Super Bird. When he made his final pit stop on lap 175, the Holman Moody crew only gave Pearson two fresh tires. Hamilton pitted on the same lap and the Petty team gave Pete new tires all around. Although Pearson won the race out of the pits, the Holman Moody crew made a major mistake. 

That decided the race and though Pearson tried for all he was worth to hold off the charging Hamilton, the Plymouth had better tires and pulled ahead on lap 192. David gave everything his car had but the Super Bird was too much for car 17. Coming off turn four on the final lap, Pearson nearly lost it in an effort to get past. Hamilton came to the checkered flag two car lengths ahead of my man. I left the Murat very disappointed and drove home in defeat. Not only had David Pearson missed winning the "Daytona 500" when victory looked close at hand, Ford had lost the race to Chrysler for the first time since 1966. I wasn't feeling well anyway and was catching the flu. I ended up in bed for the following two days and stayed home from work.  

The winged Plymouth Super Birds and Dodge Daytonas were banned by NASCAR the previous summer after Buddy Baker and Bobby Isaac both exceeded 200 mph at Talladega. Smaller engines were mandated. The era of 400 plus cubic inch V8 engines was over in NASCAR when Bill France Sr. changed rules to allow a maximum of 305 cubic inch engines for 1971. Not much later, the older France turned the operation of NASCAR over to son Bill Jr. so he could focus on Daytona International Speedway and the family's new 2.6 mile tri-oval in Talladega, Alabama, in what was, for all intents and purposes, the birth of Injternational Speedway Corporation.  

By 1971, the factory era was nearly over. Ford's NASCAR budget was cut by 75 percent and they were only supporting David Pearson's Holman Moody 1969 Mercury, Lee Roy Yarbrough's Junior Johnson Mercury, Donnie Allison's Banjo Matthews Mercury and the Wood Brothers Mercury 21, now driven by A.J. Foyt. Cale Yarborough, at the urging of Firestone, joined the Indy car series, then sanctioned by USAC, as a full time driver. Cale was in the 1971 "Daytona 500" however, driving a Plymouth entered by Ray Fox.

Chrysler cut back on racing too. The only team receiving full support was Petty Enterprises. The Petty team entered Richard Petty in a Plymouth and Buddy Baker in a Dodge. There was a strong supporting cast of 1971 model Plymouths and Dodges in the 40 car field. Bobby Isaac (K & K Dodge), Pete Hamilton (Cotton Owens Dodge), Fred Lorenzen (back from retirement) in an STP sponsored Plymouth prepared by Ray Nichels, Cale Yarborough (Ray Fox Plymouth) and Bobby Allison, in his own Dodge, were all getting money from Chrysler but nowhere near what the Petty team was getting. 

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The economy was stagnant in late 1970 and early 1971. Nearly 104,000 attended the 1970 "Daytona 500," an event record to that time. The crowd dropped to 80,000 for the 1971 race perhaps due in part to the rule changes for 1971. Not only that, but the smaller engines resulted in slower speeds. A.J. Foyt placed the Wood Brothers Mercury on pole with a lap at 182.744 mph, over eleven miles slower than the track record set by Cale Yarborough the previous February.   

1971 was the final year of the closed circuit theater production of the "Daytona 500" and it was the first time the race was telecast in color. I was hoping once again that David Pearson would be able to win the "Daytona 500." Pearson won the second 125 mile qualifying race three days before the big race, but on Sunday February 14, although he led six laps, ran near the front for most of the race and finished fourth, the number 17 Holman Moody Mercury was not fast enough to hold off A.J. Foyt's Wood Brothers Mercury.  

Richard Petty's Plymouth ran at or near the front all day too. The race came down to the final 50 laps, with Petty, Foyt, Donnie Allison and Buddy Baker battling for victory. Foyt appeared to have the quickest car when he pitted on lap 161. Allison was leading when he crashed the Banjo Matthews Mercury 27. In the midst of controversy, the two Petty entries of Richard Petty and Buddy Baker were able to stretch their respective fuel supplies and at the finish, Richard had a ten second lead on Buddy for his third "Daytona 500" victory. After the race, the Wood Brothers reported that a rag was found in their Mercury's gas tank which had led to Foyt having to pit earlier than his competition. That likely cost A.J. victory. 

A few months later, Ford officially pulled its support from NASCAR and Chrysler followed with its own withdrawal at the end of the 1971 season. This brought a close to the most interesting chapter in NASCAR history in my opinion. It's been written that Bill France Sr. wanted the factories out of stock car racing because it was easier for NASCAR to control the sport since independent racing teams were far less powerful opponents than Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation or giant General Motors. Some observers claim France cut the engine size from 429 cubic inches to 305 in a direct move to drive the factories away.

Of course, Ford and GM would all return to NASCAR by the mid 1980s but never to the extent they participated in the 1960s. In the sixties, NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway would be the auto maker's personal playground and the well worn phrase "win on Sunday sell on Monday" became an auto industry cliché. 

Bill France found new partners as he built his NASCAR empire. Tobacco advertisement was banned on television beginning in 1971 and France's son Bill Jr. found a willing patron in R.J. Reynolds, who signed on as series sponsor to advertise its Winston brand of cigarettes. However while purses grew with contingency money and points fund payouts, the quality of competition suffered in NASCAR for a number of years following the factory pullout.      

The transition from direct support by the auto manufacturers to tobacco money did not come easy for NASCAR. I remember some of the fields of cars racing at Michigan International Speedway in the mid 1970s. I lived an hour from MIS in Battle Creek (oh my God what a dump that place was in the early to mid 1970s) and was able to catch some of the NASCAR shows. There were always quite a few cars cars racing on the same track as the legends Petty, Pearson, Cale, the Allison brothers and Buddy Baker that looked like they were built in somebody's backyard. 

STP replaced the money the Petty family had been receiving from Chrysler and the sky blue number 43 Plymouth became half sky blue and half day glow red. The Wood Brothers Mercury carried the name Purolator, an oil filter manufacturer, on its car but retained the traditional white and maroon paint scheme with gold numbers. Junior Johnson began racing Chevrolets after Ford withdrew. Junior's cars carried an array of different sponsors throughout the 1970s; Coca Cola, Carling beer, Busch beer, Holly Farms poultry products and First National City Travelers Checks.

Unfortunately many of the leading racing teams of the 1960s were sidelined when the factories withdrew their support. Holman Moody stopped entering cars in NASCAR after Ford pulled out to concentrate on building engines only. Also ceasing racing operations within a few seasons were Cotton Owens and Ray Fox, both long time NASCAR competitors.

I did not even get to see the 1972 race. I moved to Port Huron, Michigan in March 1971. By February 20, 1972, when the "Daytona 500" got under way, I was having dinner at my girl friend Nancy's grand parents' home. Nancy was my next love after Susie and I was mad about her. Nancy and I dated casually for a few months before passion finally took over on a highway in southern Ontario, about an hour from Port Huron, on a wintry January Saturday night, in my 1969 Ford Mustang.

For the next six months, Nancy and I blazed a fiery trail across Michigan and Indiana. It was great. Nancy was hot and I could not get enough. Later in the summer, she broke my heart like almost every woman I ever really cared for. On February 20 however, we grabbed every opportunity we had. She was awesome and in retrospect 39 years later, so glorious was my physical relationship with Nancy that it was worth the hurt I experienced when she cheated on me a few months later -- but that is another story for another time.

There was no closed circuit telecast of the race and I got to hear bits and pieces of the Motor Racing Network broadcast. I did not know who had won until later that evening however. I wasn't surprised to learn that A.J. Foyt, in the Wood Brothers Mercury, had dominated the race, leading 167 laps. Foyt would have probably won the previous year had he not suffered from poor fuel mileage in the later stages of the 1971 race. My NASCAR guy David Pearson missed the 1972 "Daytona 500" completely.

My favorite "Daytona 500" races came in 1976 when David Pearson finally won over Richard Petty and then again in 1985 and 1987 when "Awesome Bill (Elliott) from Dawsonville" kicked ass in his Coors Melling Ford Thunderbird. Those three races rank with my favorite auto racing moments. Those were my personal favorites but every "Daytona 500" was a classic, no matter how shallow the quality of the field, until NASCAR implemented carburetor restrictor plates in 1988.  

Before the restrictor plate, every running of the "Daytona 500" was a contest to see who had the fastest car in the most important race of the year. The performance factor was even apparent in those years during the 1970s and through 1983, before Ford decided to come back full force to challenge General Motors in NASCAR. The depth of competition was not as strong after the factories pulled out. However throughout those years, the battle at Daytona was how to beat the fastest car and driver. Sometimes it was David Pearson's Wood Brothers Mercury, Bobby Allison's Gatorade car, Buddy Baker in a variety of cars or Cale Yarborough's Harry Ranier Hardees Pontiacs and Chevrolets. Many times the fastest cars did not win and Richard Petty figured out a way to grab another "Daytona 500" victory. The battle was still about speed and performance however.

After the plates were introduced, the race became an exercise in aero management and little else. Sure there were some fast race cars in the "Daytona 500" which stood out after plates were introduced in 1988. Kenny Schrader had a few Speedweeks in Rick Hendrick's Folgers Chevy when he had the fastest car in the garage area. Dale Earnhardt as often as not had a fast RCR GM Goodwrench car number 3. Dale Jarrett's Robert Yates Fords were strong several times. Tony Stewart has experienced any number of Februarys when his Joe Gibbs Home Depot Pontiacs, Chevrolets and Toyotas were the class of the field leading up to the "Daytona 500" and many times looked like he was finally going to win the big race.    

The cars are running half the horsepower at Daytona International Speedway they have at all the other tracks except Talladega. There isn't enough pure speed for a car to pass another. That forces a driver to hope he has someone directly behind him when it counts. A multi-car train of NASCAR machines is even better. A race car can be leading one lap and riding in 25th place the next and it all depends on who and how many cars he has running around him.         

Naturally when you have 25 or 30 cars running within inches of each other at approximately the same speed, there is potential for trouble. They call it the "big one" and it is naturally assumed every "Daytona 500" will have one or more. It's ridiculous. Fans and media joke about the "big one" like hockey fans delight in the bloody brawls that characterize their sport. The NASCAR drivers however do not find it funny. You can sense they are holding their breath throughout the ten days they are on track in February in Daytona and I have not heard any of NASCAR's primary competitors complain about Speedweeks being over when the race is completed.      

I noticed the change the restrictor plates brought to the "Daytona 500" when I attended the race for the only time on February 14, 1988. I was disappointed to be honest and realized things would not be the same again.

Given the fact that I had to travel from suburban Chicago, where I was working at a client site, on Thursday night, to my apartment in Indianapolis and then leave for Daytona the following afternoon, it was a grind. I stopped Friday night in Chattanooga and was exhausted. I slept in a motel until checkout time and then drove to Daytona Beach arriving about 11 pm Saturday night.   

My wonderful friend John Dailey was waiting for me with a bunch of his close buddies and business associates and although John was sick when I arrived, I also think he was disappointed that I did not arrive sooner. I had driven over 1100 miles to get to the race in two days and had been on the highway eighteen very boring, tedious hours so I tried to make John understand my predicament.  

After eleven hours of driving from Chattanooga, I was beat. I went to the hotel bar and had a couple drinks to wind down. We stayed in a Holiday Inn across Volusia Boulevard from Daytona International Speedway. I slept in a room with some guy I had never seen before. John's group included some wealthy guys, like Frank Lawrence, a southern car dealer of some renown and a bunch of other guys who made the trip each February for Daytona Speedweeks. Frank Lawrence and one of his friends flew down from Alabama, earlier in the week, with Bobby Allison.   

The next morning I took a look around. What struck me most was that although the weather was gorgeous, the grass was dull brown, just like Indiana in February when it wasn't covered with snow, and the palm trees were not blooming. The temperatures were warm but nothing was growing in February in Daytona Beach, Florida. It felt good to be outside but it was still winter. Nothing was growing and for whatever reason, that memory stuck with me.  

I accompanied John and his friends to Wags cafeteria, in a strip mall next to the Holiday Inn, for breakfast. There were some NASCAR show cars on display inside the mall. I particularly remember one of Harry Gant's Skoal Bandit Chevrolets and a Davey Allison Havoline Ford.  

I walked across the street by myself to Daytona International Speedway after breakfast. At that time, the huge grandstand and tower complex was still being built outside the tri-oval, in the area on either end of start finish line. There was green rye grass inside the tri-oval between the track and pit road but the infield was brown and barren. What struck me as odd was that the outside grandstands at the end of the tri-oval off turn four were unpainted; raw lumber with splinters. My first thought was to compare Daytona International Speedway to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Even in 1988, several years before IMS was renovated to host Formula One, "Indy" was more impressive.

Another surprise was a dog racing track on Volusia Boulevard in front of Daytona International Speedway. I don't like making dogs race. I am a true dog lover and the more I think about it, the more i dislike that. It's not as bad as dog fighting but it doesn't seem right to me.

My "Daytona 500" ticket was located about twenty rows up, although shortly after the halfway point of the 1988 "Daytona 500," John Dailey traded seats with me and I moved up to the top row, directly above my seat. Richard Petty's terrifying crash happened in front of me on lap 104. It was scary. I had my Nikon FE2 cameras with me and I still am pissed off at myself for freezing the way I did when Petty flipped end over end in what seemed like a never ending sequence of violence.   

I admit it. I was scared for several seconds because the crash seemed to last forever. It was one of the most frightening times I can recall while being at a race. Petty's blue and day glow red STP Pontiac number 43 flipped so many times, I thought the car was going to catapault the safety fence and land on top of me. I actually tried to duck as low as I could in the mass of people around me and many of them were doing the same thing. A guy sitting four seats away from me was hit by debris from Petty's car and was taken to a first aid station for cuts and bleeding.      

I was disappointed that Bill Elliott's Coors Melling Ford Thunderbird number 9 was not running very competitively. Elliott was coming off his second "Daytona 500" victory in three years the previous February. Bill ended up finishing twelfth, on the lead lap which was much lower than I had hoped on my long drive south. "Awesome Bill" would go on to win the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup championship but for me, his two "Daytona 500" wins in 1985 and 1987 were more notable accomplishments.  

The Chevrolets, Oldsmobiles and Buicks were much quicker at Daytona Speedweeks in 1988 than the Fords. For 1986, Chevrolet added a fastback to their boxy Monte Carlo sheet metal and that car was one of the ugliest racing machines I can think of. Darrell Waltrip ran strong in Rick Hendrick's Tide Chevy and led 69 laps, but in the new style restrictor plate racing, having a fast car means little and he found himself in the wrong place at the end of the race and finished eleventh.

It was Bobby Allison's day however. Allison was driving the Stavola Brothers Miller High Life Buick, painted in gold. Bobby led seventy laps and was close to the front for most of the race. At the finish, he beat son Davey's Harry Ranier Havoline Ford Thunderbird by two car lengths to the checkered flag. That added a touch of history to what I thought was a rather mediocre contest, with the exception of Richard Petty's crash. 

There were 26 lead changes among twelve drivers: Bobby Allison (70), Darrell Waltrip (69), Kenny Schrader (14), Sterling Marlin (13), Neil Bonnett (9), Phil Parsons (9), Lake Speed (5), Rusty Wallace (4), Davey Allison (2), Terry Labonte (2), Dale Earnhardt (2) and Harry Gant (1). I probably need to look at a video of the 1988 "Daytona 500" to remember exactly how the race unfolded. See that is the big thing about restrictor plate racing. It is difficult to tell who is fast and who is going along for the ride. I guess that is because nobody is faster than anyone else and that for me is the big problem.   

After the race, I accompanied John Dailey and company to Gene's Steak House. It was a nice place on a highway in the country, a few miles from Daytona International Speedway. The winners of the race pool among the ten of us (or however many there were) paid the tab, which had to be several hundred dollars anyway. That night, we all got drunk and when I woke up, I had a hangover.

The next morning we all gathered for breakfast, said our goodbyes and headed in different directions. I had to be back at the client site, in suburban Chicago by noon on Wednesday. I had nearly two days driving before I would make it to my apartment in Indianapolis. I remember it was raining hard when I drove by Jacksonville. Later that afternoon, I called work from an outside pay phone, by a Stuckeys, near the Georgia Florida border, with the wind blowing so hard, I could not hear what the secretary at my company was saying. That was a lonely feeling.    

I made the mistake of taking the long way around Atlanta. There are two ways to bypass Atlanta. One way is about twenty miles. The other way runs by the airport and seems like one hundred miles. I finally stopped south of Nashville, about ten pm Monday night. I was sick of my own company by then and dropped into the bed at a motel. The following morning, I slept until ten am and lazily watched one of the network morning talk shows that featured Senator Al Gore and his wife Tipper as guests. Gore was making a come from behind run for president. It was his first foray into national politics. Tipper (now the former Mrs. Gore) had started a campaign against sexual content in the lyrics on rock music records.   

I dragged myself back to my car and headed north. I reached my apartment by mid afternoon Tuesday. I had to get packed to head back to Chicago the following morning but was tired and although I tried to watch a VCR recording I made of the CBS telecast of the 1988 "Daytona 500." I thought about all the trouble I went to in order to see the "Daytona 500" in person and decided I liked the "Great American Race" better on TV from my living room and that would probably be my only trip to Daytona. I haven't thought about going back since. The TV coverage from Daytona is superb and watching on TV is good enough for me. You still get a buzz from Speedweeks all the way to Indianapolis.      

So my love affair with Daytona came to an end but I still look forward to February and all the racing going on during Speedweeks. I think the importance of winning the "Daytona 500" now pales in comparison to winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup. For that matter, even making the Chase for the Cup is probably a bigger deal than winning Daytona in February. There is a media push for the winner for a few days after the race; appearing on the morning network talk shows and all that. By the following weekend and the next race on the schedule however, you hardly hear the "Daytona 500" mentioned again until the following February. When was the last time you heard much about Trevor Bayne? 

I watched the Truck series race Friday night and enjoyed seeing Michael Waltrip win. I followed up the truck race with the excellent presentation commemorating the tenth anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death. Saturday afternoon, I watched the second half of the Nationwide series event and hoped Tony Stewart's spectacular victory would be an omen for the following day.

On Saturday evening February 19, the night before the 53rd "Daytona 500," I was looking at the starting lineup on the Internet. The thought came to me that one major positive about the race was that essentially any one of 35 - 36 cars could win. That notion made me feel anticipation for the following day.        

The thing I liked best about racing at Daytona this February was that it was faster than it had been in years. Although cars were only capable of running in the mid 180 mph range by themselves, they were running ten to fifteen miles an hour faster when they were hooked up with another car. Therefore even though the cars weren't really faster, the new pavement that covered the 2.5 mile tri-oval added a new dynamic. The cars ran fastest in a two car formation. It was good to see cars running in excess of 200 mph again at Daytona.    

At the same time, I thought it was ridiculous the way the drivers in the two car packs communicated during the race. It made the competition seem almost superficial. At least they were going faster after years of continuous, boring 30 car processions where the winner more often than not found himself in that position by good fortune instead of strong performance. That alone made the race more enjoyable to watch. 

Kurt Busch led the first lap of the race in Roger Penske's yellow Shell Pennzoil Dodge. Kevin Harvick led lap two. Busch was back in front on lap three before A.J. Allmendinger took over the top spot. That was the start of a continuous exchange for the lead which resulted in 74 lead changes among twenty two different drivers; both race records. For the record, here is the list of race leaders in the "Daytona 500" on February 20, 2011: Ryan Newman (37), Clint Bowyer (31), Kurt Busch (19), Martin Truex (17), Paul Menard (11), Jamie McMurray (11), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (9), Brad Keselowski (9), Regan Smith (7), David Ragan (7), Robby Gordon (7), Denny Hamlin (7), Trevor Bayne (6), Juan Montoya (5), Jeff Burton (5), Kevin Harvick (5), A.J. Allmendinger (4), Kyle Busch (3), Dave Blaney (3), Bobby Labonte (2), Terry Labonte (2) and Jeff Gordon (1). As we have come to realize however, in the restrictor plate era, running at the front of the "Daytona 500" provides little insight into the story of competition.          

Since the debut of the restrictor plate in the "Daytona 500" in 1988, not a lot matters in the race until the last lap. There were eight extra laps added to the race in the form of the green white checker, another NASCAR gimmick that I do not like. How high you run on the white flag lap often has little to do with where you finish. Tony Stewart ran second on the final restart and ended up thirteenth. I like a lot of the show business ideas Randy Bernard is bringing to Indy car racing but I hope he doesn't add green white checkers to the mix. Given the fuel conservation that was going on in the closing laps of the 94th "Indianapolis 500," there is no telling what the order of finish would have been, although it's pretty certain winner Dario Franchitti would not have made it because his Target Ganassi car 10 would have run out of fuel.    

Young Trevor Bayne won the race by somehow managing to hold the lead over the final six laps of competition. In the restrictor plate era, that is an impressive accomplishment. Bayne held off Carl Edwards, Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch and a host of others and he did so after receiving radio messages to go easy on his fuel, which was running out. Bayne did a good job.

It was hard to classify the strongest competitors in this race. Other than Bayne's successful siege at the end of the race, I could not determine that any one car and driver had an absolute edge on the field. In the 95th "Indianapolis 500," when he passed Helio Castroneves for the lead on the backstretch on the first lap, before the yellow lights flashed on for Davey Hamilton's crash coming out of turn two, it was obvious Dario Franchitti was the fastest driver on track. It wasn't necessarily a dominating win, although Franchitti led 155 laps in last May's "Indy 500," but it was a decisive victory and the only factor that could have beaten Dario would have been an empty fuel tank, which came close to occurring. I will say this however. I sense the strength that Franchitti had in the 94th "Indianapolis 500" could have easily translated into complete dominance had Dario desired. The Scot is an intelligent guy and I believed he judged the competition and drove his red Target car only as fast as he needed to and that probably resulted in having just enough fuel to finish the race without a pit stop. 

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Clint Bowyer's Cheerios/Hamburger Helper RCR Chevy was fast much of the day and caught my attention at various times in the race. Going through my notes, I see Bowyer's name jotted down several times. It flashed across my mind a few times that Bowyer's yellow Childress number 33 looked like a winner.   

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Unfortunately Bowyer was involved in a crash with three laps left in regulation (200 laps) along with two other strong contenders Ryan Newman and Regan Smith. Newman's thirty seven laps in the lead was race high and Bowyer's 31 laps in front were second best. Smith led nine laps and ran at the front all day. Smith and Kurt Busch were a formidable duo throughout the race. Kurt Busch's 2011 "Daytona 500" run was a lot like the performance by Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman. There were a number of occasions during the race when I thought to myself that Busch was running like a potential winner.      

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Paul Menard was another driver who ran near the front for much of the race. Menard, the new addition to the Richard Childress team, was easy to spot in the cosmic yellow Menard racing colors. Menard is starting to look like a racer on the rise in NASCAR. That probably isn't good news for Indy car fans. I miss having dad John Menard in Indy car racing. An "Indianapolis 500" without the Menard race cars, always looking so sharp, somehow lacks color. It seems like John Menard lost interest after 2003 and folded his team, sponsoring Mark Taylor's Panther entry in the 2004 "Indianapolis 500" instead. In 2008 and 2009, Menard funded Ed Carpenter's Vision Racing entry. I wish the eccentric Wisconsin hardware billionaire would return to the "Indianapolis 500." His son Paul is looking more like a NASCAR competitor but he will probably need his dad's money to continue his career. 

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Another racer who made the storylines of a lot of 2011 "Daytona 500" coverage was David Ragan, low man on the Roush Fenway four car totem pole. Ragan replaced Mark Martin in Jack Roush's number 6 Ford starting in 2007. He has yet to score that first Cup victory. On lap 197, Ragan had the brown UPS Ford in the lead but he jumped the flag on a restart and had to relinquish the race lead to Trevor Bayne on lap 203, when he was black flagged by NASCAR.     

To be realistic, how can any one driver dominate a race where drivers are forced to use another car or several others to advance? Therefore even though much of the 53rd "Daytona 500" was covered by two cars rather than a group of 25, the challenge was to find someone to fight the aero forces because there was not enough horsepower to pass by running alone.      

So many of the potential contenders experienced problems. Kyle Busch brought out the first of sixteen caution flags when he and Michael Waltrip got together on lap six. Kyle recovered and led three laps during the race and ended up finishing eighth. Kyle Busch is the most dynamic NASCAR racer in this era. Only 26, the younger Busch brother regularly races and wins in all three major NASCAR series; the Sprint Cup cars, the Nationwide series and the Camping World Truck series. If Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the most popular NASCAR personality, Kyle Busch is the most unpopular. Kyle reminds me a lot of a modern day stock car version of A.J. Foyt, at the same age in the early 1960s. 

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Kevin Harvick looked like a strong threat going into the "Daytona 500." I think Harvick, who beat Mark Martin to the checkered flag in the 2007 "Daytona 500" by inches, is one of the finest race drivers in NASCAR. There were several pundits who even put forth the proposition the four Richard Childress Chevrolets, driven by Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton and Paul Menard, were the fastest cars in the 43 car Daytona field. Harvick lost an engine after only 22 laps, which had to send a chill up the other three RCR crew chiefs with cars still running.  

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Harvick's RCR teammate Jeff Burton made it to lap 92 before his Chevy V8 let go. Both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were taken out of contention early, when they were involved in a thirteen car "big one" on lap 30, which also involved Hendrick teammate Mark Martin. Johnson and Gordon were each able to continue in the race, after hasty repairs were made to cars 48 and 24. It was a futile task for each driver however. Johnson finished 27th, 19 laps off race winner Trevor Bayne's pace. Gordon was 28th, thirty five laps behind.    

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In the pre race scuttlebutt which takes place before a huge event, like the "Daytona 500," there was a lot of talk about who was most likely to win the race. For instance, among the Fox Sports broadcast crew, Larry McReynolds picked Tony Stewart as his choice to win. Darrell Waltrip selected Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip, but admitted it was a sentimental choice. Mike Joy predicted Kurt Busch would be the winner. Jeff Hammond chose Kevin Harvick as the most likely winner. There wasn't much talk about any of the Ford drivers however.   

There were eleven Fords in the 43 car "Daytona 500" field, compared to seventeen Chevrolets, eleven Toyotas and four Dodges. The four car Roush Fenway stable of 2009 "Daytona 500" winner Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and David Ragan drew some attention but there did not seem to be a lot of attention focused on any of those four. Trevor Bayne was commended for a promising performance during Speedweeks but was not a likely pick to win. Who would have thought Fords would end up finishing one - two - three in the "Daytona 500," with Carl Edwards and David Gilliland following race winner Bayne to the checkered flag.

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To summarize the 53rd running of the "Daytona 500," although the usual mad scramble for the best aerodynamics determined the winner, rather than the fastest combination of man and machine, as it should be, there were some interesting twists. There were higher speeds, which was the component I most enjoyed, even if those speeds came with foolish banter between the drivers, at racing speeds. To the general public however, the big buzz was generated by a kid, one day past his twentieth birthday, who brought the first NASCAR Cup victory to the longest running team in the series for the first time since 2001.  

A lot was made of the fact that Bayne's Wood Brothers number 21 Ford was painted in the same colors as Fords and Mercurys which carried the other four winners for the team in the "Great American Race." That is not exactly true. The cars driven by Tiny Lund (1963), Cale Yarborough (1968), A.J. Foyt (1972) and David Pearson (1976) had white bodies and maroon roofs while Bayne's car was painted in Motorcraft white and red. Like the earlier Wood Brothers "Daytona 500" winners however, Bayne's car also carried the famous gold 21 on the sides.    

In the days following the 2011 "Daytona 500," Trevor Bayne made the rounds of the television talk shows and did the usual media tour in much the same way all recent "Indianapolis 500" and Daytona winners do. The Cinderella story came to an abrupt end on February 27, when Bayne crashed on lap 49 of the "Subway Fresh Fit 500" at Phoenix International Raceway.