1961 Daytona 500

1961 Daytona 500
Marvin Panch wins the third running of the Daytona 500 held on February 26, 1961. Noticeably absent from the race was both Lee Petty and his son Richard who were both injured in their respective qualifying races. Lee suffers life threatening injuries in his wreck and the innaugural winner of the Daytona 500 would never race the high banks of Daytona again. Fireball Roberts is the fastest qualifyer and is leading the field by a full lap when his engine lets go with just 13 laps to go. Marvin Panch inherits the lead and goes on to his only Daytona 500 victory.

Time of race: 3:20:32
Average Speed: 149.601 mph
Pole Speed: 155.709 mph
Cautions: none
Margin of Victory: 16 sec
Attendance: 51,287
Purse: $21,050

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• 1961
• Daytona
• 500

[adamchoj12]

the good old days

[Shanco4688]

ol Fireball was always balls to the wall......he the Earnhardt of Daytona back then...man I love watching these old races...wonder how ol' 5time or Jeffypoo Gordon could handle one of these cars?? These men back then....Major Brass....Major Brass

[99fsd250]

A number of years ago Marvin was able to locate the 60 Pontiac that he drove to the 61 Daytona 500 win. He purchased the car and it is now restored to as raced condition. The car travels to personal appearances with Marvin in an enclosed trailer with glass sides so that it can be viewed from outside of the trailer.

[Goodman8109]

The original "Cinderella" story of NASCAR. How cool is it that 50 years later another Cinderella wins in 2011.

[undercover227]

lol the 1959 footage was better than this

[hd150]

those guys had balls of steel!!!these guys were drivers for sure....

[Tryphon34]

@kingofrunescapepking sure...

[kingofrunescapepking]

@Tryphon34 haha no that was tnn who never noticed crashes... it took them like an hour to realize bonnet had flipped

[ItsSkaTV]

Are you gonna keep posting these. Cause these are cool

[Tryphon34]

thats sucks for fireball roberts