RacingOne Rewind: 1959 Daytona 500

RacingOne takes a look back at the inaugural Daytona 500 that ended in a photo finish between Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp. It was only three days later that Petty was officially declared the winner.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Johnny
• Beauchamp
• Lee
• Pety
• NASCAR
• Daytona
• 500

[hhunter55]

Johnny was my great uncle and i have heard to many stories on this race 1 of lee might of been a lap down of coarse you can tell in the pic who won but i am honored proud and love talking about him and the great american race.

[rammerjama]

The sponsor of that winning car was Newton- Chappell Cadillac Oldsmobile in Reidsville, NC the first and last race car my dad's brother ever sponsored, the car is located at the Petty museum and it's written on the restored car......

[Michelep65]

Johnny got ripped off... people swear to this day that he won and not Lee.

[RalphColmar]

Cool this is what was happening on the day I was born :-)

[joslin71]

my dad ran in this and the next 2 daytona 500's..great to see old footage

[altfactor]

It's my understanding that the initial Daytona "500" was broadcast by CBS (and the last time until 1979 that the race would air live in full on network television).

I'd love to see a kinescope or tape of it

An elderly acquaintance says Walter Cronkite (who raced sports cars on weekends in those days) and a former Indianapolis "500" champ from the 1940's (he doesn't remember the exact name) were the commentators.

[VA24541]

nice job