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22 | The First Daytona 500 T he Daytona Beach Journal could not settle on one driver as the most likely to win the first Daytona 500. Photos of three favorites splashed across more than half of the front page: Cotton Owens, Fireball Roberts, and Lee Petty. These three NASCAR stalwarts had the pedigree for a victory. Owens had won the 1957 Beach race; Roberts was a big star; and Lee Petty was the 1958 champion. Bernard Kahn, sports editor for the Daytona newspaper, reported that according to the pit chatter, a number of different cars had a chance of winning: Chevrolet , Thunderbird, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile.1 Reporter Greg Favre of the Atlantic Journal handicapped the field of cars in his Sunday morning article. “The betting guys—they’re picking Welborn for the most part with the T-­ Bird drivers, Wilson and Pistone, close in the running and Weatherly not far behind.”2 A number of the NASCAR stars, many of whom usually might have been considered favorites , had bad finishes in the 100-­ mile qualifier and were starting far back in the pack.3 As the cars lined up for the race, the sedan hardtops stretched out in a single line on the inside (the lane closest to the infield). Up front on the pole was the qualifier winner, Bob Welborn, in a 1959 Chevrolet. Behind Welborn was Fred Wilson in a T-­ Bird, followed by “Tiger” Tom Pistone in another T-­ Bird. Then came hard-­ driving Joe Weatherly in a 1959 Chevrolet , followed by Eduardo Dibos of Peru in a T-­ Bird. After Dibos, Beauchamp had the next T-­ Bird, but in between Dibos and Beauchamp were Cotton Owens, Tiny Lund, Lee Petty, Charley Griffith, and Rex White. Starting in the eleventh row, and having the eighth best time trial for a qualifier, Beauchamp was near the front, close enough to win. But he was overlooked, scarcely mentioned as a threat, and this even though he was driving a T-­ Bird, a car believed to have a chance. The journalists failed to recall his second-­ place finish at the 1957 February beach race, and they barely noticed his exploits in the Midwest. From the perspective of the journalists covering the race, he was a phantom. 120 | Chapter 22 Beauchamp lined up his NASCAR-­assigned number 73, an all-­white car rather than the familiar black-­and-­white color scheme of vehicles he often drove. He looked right at, and smiled at,Wilbur Rakestraw, who revved his convertible’s engine.The cars circled the track, two by two, and as they approached the starting line, with the grandstands on their right, the starter dropped the green flag. A vast flash of roaring metal charged ahead— the first Daytona 500 was underway. Fearful of the unknown track, most drivers were careful. Welborn, Pistone, and Weatherly took turns leading. Drivers led a few laps and then dropped out of first. One reason the lead kept changing was because of what was called the slipstream. Bob Welborn, after the 40-­ lap qualifier event (Lee Petty finished eighth and Beauchamp eleventh), described the difficulty he had getting away from Fred Wilson: “As long as he was behind me I was pulling him,” Welborn said. “Shucks, he could rest his engine while I did the work.”4 Tucked in behind another car, the following car glided along with less effort because the lead car bore the brunt of the air resistance. The car following could build extra speed and slingshot around the front car. This curious phenomenon, eventually known as the draft, was negligible on the smaller tracks, and thus unknown before competition at the new Daytona. A review of the press coverage at the time shows that many motor jockeys discovered thedraft simultaneously.5 Drivers alsodiscovered that the convertibles Bill France had paid so much to enter had no chance to win because they lacked the proper aerodynamics. Marvin Panch, driving a convertible, struggled to keep up: “It seemed every 20 laps the lead cars passed me.”6 By lap 20, the fifty-­ mile mark, Beauchamp had moved ahead of eleven convertibles and four sedans to ride in seventh place. Lee Petty was in eighth place somewhere behind Beauchamp. By lap 23, favorite Fireball Roberts had passed Beauchamp, as well as everyone else. Roberts, starting forty-­ sixth, drove a high line around the speedway, flying on the outside, passing car after car and setting a blistering pace, extending his lead far ahead of second...

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