Daytona Beach: Earliest racing days

By Staff Report | Saturday, January 9, 2021

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Before races took place at Daytona Beach, there was a precursor of qualifying events as drivers worked to set speed and time records. In 1904, Barney Oldfield ran the Measured Mile on Daytona Beach in 43 seconds, driving the No. 2 Winton Bullet.

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Consider this the "infield" at Daytona in the 1920s. Large crowds showed up as drivers attempted to set speed records on the sand.

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In the 1920s, a mechanic was also the pit crew, and one of his main jobs was to keep watch over extra tires, fuel and oil.

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Marketing was born about the same time as racing. This is a 1905 beach publicity photo arranged by the city of Daytona Beach to illustrate the width of the sands.

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Labor Day was a Daytona Beach event long before it was a Darlington Raceway tradition. Joe Littlejohn (No. 77) kicks up some sand as he keeps his 1938 Ford sedan ahead of Mickey Rhodes during the Labor Day stock-car race on the Daytona Beach Road Course. Littlejohn finished fourth in the event.

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Publicity stunts came along quickly, as well. In 1921, pilot Stuart Davies and stuntman Lynn Walker succeeded in establishing an auto-to-aeroplane transfer record of 80 mph, with the assistance of race car driver Ralph Mulford in his Paige 6-66 on Daytona Beach.

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Stock-car racing was gaining in popularity before World War II shut down nearly all forms of racing. Here Bill France Sr. leads the pack around the North Turn in this 1940 beach race. France ran fourth in the March race and won the July event.

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Joe Littlejohn (No. 7), in a 1939 Buick, leads Roy Hall's 1939 Ford off the North Turn of the Daytona Beach Road Course during a 160-mile stock-car race.

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Plenty of cars ended up in the palmetto bushes lining the Daytona Beach Road Course.

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The first NASCAR-sanctioned race was held on Daytona Beach in 1948 for modified-sportsman cars.

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Plenty of NASCAR fans -- and racers -- love dirt-track racing, which often involves slides. Here Paul Sanborn broadslides his Ford through the South Turn of the northernmost original Daytona Beach Road Course in 1947.

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The winner of the first-ever NASCAR sanctioned national points race was Red Byron, who was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in the Class of 2018.

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Car owner Raymond Parks, mechanic Red Vogt and driver Red Byron pose next to the Parks Modified '39 Ford stock car the team used to win the very first sanctioned NASCAR race.

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With the ocean in the background, Tim Flock crosses the start-finish line during one of the early races on the Daytona Beach Road Course.

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"Black Widows" came to the beach in 1957. As a part of factory involvement in NASCAR racing, Chevrolet launched an operation in Atlanta where cars were built and distributed to select drivers. These cars were black and white 1957 Chevys, coined "Black Widows." Drivers at the beginning of the season included Jack Smith (No. 47), Buck Baker, Speedy Thompson, Rex White and Frankie Schneider. The famous look was back for the 2016 Southern 500 throwback race with Jeremy Clements honoring the "Black Widow."

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The modern Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway hearken back to NASCAR's early years. Here, Modified Sportsman cars round a turn during 1953's Speedweeks.

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Junior Johnson was particularly aggressive Feb. 26, 1956, in Daytona, spinning his No. 55 car twice prior to barrel-rolling down the beach after catching the sand the wrong way with his front wheels.

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Junior Johnson's 1956 Pontiac rolled several times down the beach.

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Junior Johnson escaped uninjured as his Pontiac continued to roll.

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Junior Johnson eventually crawled out the back window of his wrecked No. 55 car.

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In the days prior to the building of Daytona International Speedway, racing was conducted on the actual sands of Daytona. Huge crowds lined the dunes where the cars roared down the beach straightaway; others were seated in the corner wooden bleachers and along the inside perimeter of the beach-road course.

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Paul Goldsmith drove Smokey Yunick's '58 Pontiac to victory in the final NASCAR stock car race on the sands of Daytona Beach.

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