NASCAR’s biggest race would begin with a controversy in 1959 Big Bill France the creator of NASCAR would build a track to try and compete with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway thus the 2 and 1 half mile Daytona International Speedway was born and so was the Daytona 500 which ended with a three- wide finish between Lee Petty Johnny Bo champ and a lap car and Joe Weatherly crossing the line NASCAR would take 3 days to determine the winner before finding a photo that would prove it to be Lee Petty France would later admit that he knew all along that petty had gotten the win but wanted to drum up drama and excitement around his new Crown Jewel race
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However Johnny Beauchamp claimed that Lee Petty was actually a lap behind him, so by passing him at the line, he actually got his lap back
Insane
Dama was back in 1959 yup
It's crazy how technology has come a long way
This wouldn’t be the last time Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp would link up in history. In a race in 1961, Petty’s and Beauchamp’s bumpers would lock during a race and the two cars would drive over the guardrail and land outside the track. Beauchamp came out relatively unscathed but Petty spent several weeks in the hospital. Although, Petty would race partial seasons until 1964, this crash sent Petty into semi-retirement. Beauchamp pretty much left the NASCAR scene there afterwards.