 | By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
January 18, 2005
12:35 PM EST (17:35 GMT)
USAC star Mario Andretti, making only his sixth NASCAR start, beat Fred Lorenzen in the ninth Daytona 500 on Feb. 16, 1967. The race finished under caution -- and Andretti and Lorenzen were the only two cars left on the lead lap. A 1967 Ford Thunderbird two-door coupe with the 360-horsepower V8 engine retailed for $4,603, so Andretti could have picked up 10 T-Birds with the first-place check for $48,900 -- and still had enough money to buy 2,786 gallons of milk (which cost $1.03 a gallon in 1967).  |  | NASCAR ACCELERATION | |
| ALSO IN 1967 ... |
| • | Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler," is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life in prison (Jan. 18) |
| • | New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison claims he is going to solve the John F. Kennedy assassination and that it was planned in New Orleans (Feb. 19) |
| • | In Detroit, Mich., one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city -- 43 killed, 342 injured and 1,400 buildings burned (July 23) |
| • | Thurgood Marshall becomes the first black member of the U.S. Supreme Court (Oct. 2) |
| • | Silver Bridge over Ohio River in Point Pleasant, West Va., collapses - 46 dead. It has been linked to the so-called Mothman mystery (Dec. 15) |
Courtesy: Wikipedia
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In the early 1960s, Norman Stingley, a chemical engineer, accidentally created a plastic product that bounced uncontrollably. He offered it to Wham-O, which began producing Superballs made of Zectron in 1967 and sold more than 20 million of them. The first Super Bowl -- actually the AFL-NFL World Championship Game -- was won by the Green Bay Packers over the Kansas City Chiefs in Los Angeles on Jan. 15. No videotape of the NBC or CBS broadcast is known to exist of that game. If Andretti was to drive from his hometown of Nazareth, Pa., to Green Bay, Wis., the 938-mile trip would have taken about 19 hours in the family car -- or six hours and 23 minutes in the '67 Ford, if he were able to average his race-winning speed of 146.926 mph. In October, Chuck Yeager set a speed record of Mach 6.7 (4,534 mph) in the X-15 airplane. On Jan. 27, a launch pad fire during an Apollo 1 test killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. On Feb. 2, the American Basketball Association -- known for its red, white and blue basketballs, the 3-point shot and Doctor J. -- was created and would pass into history eight years later when the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets and San Antonio Spurs joined the NBA. On Feb. 14, Aretha Franklin records Respect. Two days later, Detroit declares Aretha Franklin Day. During five days of rioting in Detroit during July, 43 people are killed. On May 30, daredevil Evel Knievel jumped his motorcycle over 16 cars at Ascot Speedway in Gardena, Calif. The last NASCAR race at Ascot was won by Eddie Gray in 1961. The Beatles released Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on June 1. On Dec. 3, Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first heart transplant in South Africa. In 1983, Yes charted with Owner Of A Lonely Heart. On Jan. 15, the Rolling Stones appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine was published on Nov. 9, two years after Bob Dylan releases Like A Rolling Stone. Rolling stones from a landslide blocked Japan's Yamato River in 1967. Current drivers born in 1967:
• Jeff Burton (June 29)
• Tim Fedewa (May 9)
• Carl Long (Sept. 20)
• Steve Park (Aug. 23)
• David Starr (Oct. 11) → Click here for more Daytona Countdown. | |
