Richard Petty Dives Into the Significance of Daytona in the Birth of Superspeedways in NASCAR

When Lee Petty won the inaugural NASCAR race at the Daytona International Speedway in 1959 with a photo finish after defeating Johnny Beauchamp, the man who started it all for the Petty family had no idea how significant the speedway’s impact on the sport’s culture and popularity would be. For the first time, stock cars were allowed to reach speeds over 140 miles an hour for a 500-mile-long race on a track with 31-degree banking!

But Kyle Petty wasn’t the only one mesmerized by the feeling of the wind battering the windows as he flew down the straight faster than ever. His son, the legendary Richard Petty, got to experience just what a Super Speedway had to offer, even if his race was cut short the first time around Bill Francis’ masterpiece. Recalling his experience in 1959, The King had nothing but praise for the Great American Race.

Richard Petty shares how the Daytona 500 set a new precedent for NASCAR

Although Richard Petty’s time at the inaugural race was cut short, the feeling of adrenaline as he passed a car going 130 miles an hour just didn’t quit pestering him. Speaking on ‘Shift: NASCAR’s Evolution Through the Eyes of The King’, Richard Petty reflected on the eye-opening experience he had at the Daytona International Speedway. As a 21-year-old rookie on the track in 1959, The King was in the same boat as all his competitors, with no idea if the racing would be exciting. But when the stock cars began picking up speeds they had never managed before, Petty knew that superspeedways were the next big thing.

He shared, “At that time NASCAR was trying to get away from their roots, from the bootlegging and dirt tracks, they were trying to go to the next level, and Daytona started to send them to the next level. They went along and built those race tracks and expanded NASCAR in 1980 and got more sponsorships to look at them, like ‘Hey! These guys are all over the coast, it’s not just a southern sport anymore. That started a new era, the superspeedway era.”

After the success of the Daytona 500 and its ability to create memorable moments on every lap each year, the speedway fever quickly spread to upcoming tracks such as the Talladega Superspeedway. The two-mile or longer tarmac allowed the cars to reach limits previously unknown to the racers, with the fans gaining the most from the high-stakes, high-speed battles that ensued during super-speedway weekends.

Petty added, “They started to build super speedways because the crowds were starting to gain up, went from having fifteen to twenty thousand people to have eighty or hundred thousand people! They wanted to go to a big track to see a big race, see NASCAR guys, you know, coming in and seeing what they could do, it was just in a growing period”

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Before we knew it, the races in Daytona and Talladega became fan favorites and also led to the revelation of the iconic slip-streaming technique known as drafting!

How the Daytona International Speedway gave birth to drafting

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There’s no track quite like the Daytona International Speedway, not just in the history of the sport but also in the history of the world. You see, the history of speed and Daytona goes back way before the creation of the Speedway. Almost a century ago, mankind touched the blinding speed of 200 miles an hour for the first time with the Sunbeam 1000HP land-speed record car on the cement-like sand of Daytona Beach.

Taking inspiration from the land-speed racers, the beloved moonshiners-turned-stock-car racers took to the sandy mile on the beach to test the limits of their dream machines that had just come off the factory line. Unfortunately for beach lovers, when technology began to overpower nature, a purpose-built facility needed to be made.

When the time came for the racers to take on the challenge of breakneck speeds like never before, the drivers quickly found out that running behind the car in front made it easier to handle their car. It also made the car ahead leap forward, with the slipstream helping the two cars combine as one to cut through the air. While Richard Petty was still a novice and didn’t know what drafting was, the feeling behind another car was difficult to shake off for The King.

The No. 43 driver shared, “I didn’t know nothing about drafting or nothing else, but I knew something was happening. I pull out, just blow by them all. I said Man this is easy. I go through three and four, come off of four, and come back by me, I just made my move too quickly. We were geared to run 130 mph. All of a sudden I’m running 145.”

READ MORE: “It’s Like Going to the Moon”- Richard Petty Relives 1959’s First Daytona Rodeo as a 21-YO Rookie

It’s safe to say that Daytona has not only contributed to mankind’s pursuit of speed as a whole but also as a key pillar to NASCAR’s growing success and popularity in its golden era.