1964: Like father, like son

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Following in his father's footsteps, Richard Petty first found the way to Victory Lane at the sixth annual Daytona 500.

	Richard Petty

Petty, leading a parade of Plymouths, decimated the field in record-setting style, leading 184 laps, including the final 149. He lapped the second-place Plymouth of Jimmy Pardue by the halfway point of the race, clicking off lap after lap at better than 170 mph on a clear, chilly day under Petty blue skies.

Petty showed his dominance early, grabbing the lead on the second lap from pole-sitter Paul Goldsmith, who finished third in another Plymouth, and only giving it up during pit stops. His superiority was magnified by a high attrition rate, which included favorites Fireball Roberts, Fred Lorenzen and Bobby Johns.

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Sixteen cars were already out of the race by lap 50, including Roberts, the 1962 champ, who saw his Daytona jinx return when his transmission gave up after 13 laps, leaving him 37th of the 46 starters.

Johns, so close to winning in 1960, only completed 15 laps and was posted in 36th. Lorenzen, riding a streak of four consecutive top-10 finishes, lost his transmission on lap 49, placing him 31st.

1964 Daytona 500 Top 10  1. Richard Petty  2. Jimmy Pardue  3. Paul Goldsmith  4. Marvin Panch  5. Jim Paschal  6. Billy Wade  7. Darel Dieringer  8. Larry Frank  9. Junior Johnson  10. Dave MacDonald

Instead, drivers like Marvin Panch, Jim Paschal, Billy Wade and Darel Dieringer spent the day battling for position rather than the win, as Petty never showed signs of weakness.

Petty then celebrated in Victory Lane with his father, Lee, who won the first Daytona 500 in 1959.

There were only three caution flags, the most serious coming when Johnny Rutherford blew a tire, tagged the guardrail, then collected Ned Jarrett. Rutherford's car flipped upside down and skidded to a stop, wheels up. Neither driver was injured.

David Pearson was running second at one point early in the race when he blew a tire and spun. He skinned his stomach while trying to crawl under the dashboard during the slide.

This is one in a series of articles counting down to the 2003 Daytona 500.