On Feb. 19, the Daytona 500 will be, once again, the first non-exhibition, points-paying race of the NASCAR Cup Series season. The 2023 season also marks the sanctioning body’s 75th year.
Suffice it to say the Daytona 500 is widely anticipated – as it is every season. It’s not only the first but also the most significant race of any year. As the cliché goes, it is the Super Bowl of NASCAR.
Most race fans have become so accustomed to the Daytona 500 being the first race of the season it’s likely they are not aware that, for several years, that was not the case.
For example, the first Daytona 500 was held in 1959. It was conducted on a 2.5-mile, high-banked track the likes of which had never been seen. It was the culmination of Bill France Sr.’s decade-long dream.
But it was not the first event of the year.
It was the third.
The fact is, 24 years passed until the Daytona 500 was, indeed, the first race of the season.
If France, the founder of NASCAR, had his way, the first Daytona 500 would have been held in 1955. That was the first target date for the end of construction.
But, as it often is with large, unfamiliar projects such as the building of a mammoth speedway, France ran into several roadblocks.
Politics, tight money markets, construction, referendum delays and even intrusion from the Civil Aeronautics Board – the speedway was located near the city airport, after all – postponed the grand opening by years.
But by 1958, all hurdles had been cleared. France presented to the world Daytona International Speedway. He did so with great delight if only to thumb his nose at his detractors, such as newspapers that called his track “a pipe dream” and “France’s Folly.”
France invited team owners, drivers and manufacturer representatives to tour the track in its final stages of construction.
They came away awestruck. Some even felt a tinge of fear. But they all agreed on one question: How were competitors going to tackle that monster?
They got their answer on Feb. 20, 1959.
Again, it was not the first race of the season.
The first was a 50-mile event on Nov. 9, 1958, at the 0.333-mile Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, NC.
Why the first race of 1959 was held in 1958 isn’t abundantly clear – at least to me. But it’s likely it has something to do with NASCAR’s bloated season schedules.
The sanctioning body staged races virtually everywhere, from small North Carolina…
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