By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
January 19, 2005
03:05 PM EST (20:05 GMT)
Richard Petty survived a flat tire to win his second consecutive Daytona 500, mainly because Donnie Allison also had tire troubles. The 16th Daytona 500, run in the middle of the energy crisis, was actually the "Daytona 450" because the race was started on lap 21. With inflation running at 14 percent, long lines at the pump and Watergate dominating the headlines, there was little happiness in 1974, except for Happy Days, which premiered that year. However, there was one nonsensical response to all the despair: streaking.  |  | NASCAR ACCELERATION | |
| ALSO IN 1974 ... |
| • | After 84 days in space, the crew of the temporary American space station Skylab return to Earth (Feb. 8) |
| • | Ian Balls fails in his attempt to kidnap Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace in London (March 20) |
| • | Last Americans evacuated from Saigon (April 28) |
| • | The U.S. Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. This suit later leads to the break up of AT&T and the Bell System (Nov. 20) |
| • | A Boeing 727 carrying TWA Flight 514 crashes 25 miles northwest of Dulles International Airport during bad weather, killing all 92 people on-board (Dec. 1) |
Courtesy: Wikipedia
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Nearly every sporting event, public gathering or performance was fair game for those who liked to run in the nude. In March, more than 1,200 University of Colorado students led a mass streaking through the streets of Boulder, beating the previous records set in Athens, Ga.; College Park, Md.; and Columbia, S.C. The National Mandatory Speed Limit was enacted in 1974, setting the federal speed limit at 55 mph on all roads. If Petty had wanted to watch the streakers en masse, the 1,631-mile trip from Level Cross, N.C., to Boulder, Colo., would have taken 30 hours without breaking the law. However, at Petty's race-winning speed of 140.894 mph, he could have made it in 11 hours and 35 minutes. Undressing while driving a car is illegal in all 50 states. Ray Stevens yelled "Don't look, Ethel!" as his single The Streak hit No. 1 in May. The Environmental Protection Agency was phasing out leaded ethyl gasoline by 1974. The No. 1 song on Feb. 16 was Americans, by Byron MacGregor, a patriotic recitation of a commentary by Canadian Gordon Sinclair. Canadian Terry Jacks was No. 6 with Seasons In The Sun, a decidedly downbeat tale about a dying man. Gary Gygax and David Arneson published a new role-playing game called Dungeons & Dragons in January. By 2004, an estimated 20 million people had played D&D, purchasing over $1 billion in books and merchandise. In February, People magazine hit the newstands for the first time. In April, Atlanta's Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run off Los Angeles pitcher Al Downing at Fulton County Stadium, breaking Babe Ruth's record. Formal impeachment hearings began against President Nixon on May 9. The Supreme Court ruled that Nixon did not have the authority to withhold tapes on July 24. Three days later, Nixon was charged with obstruction of justice and announced to the country on Aug. 8 that the next day, he would become the first President to resign from office. One month later, New President Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed. On Feb. 4, the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst. On May 17, Los Angeles police raid SLA headquarters, killing six members of the group. Most OPEC nations ended the five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan on March 18. A total of 148 tornadoes hit 13 states on April 3, killing 315 people. It was the largest outbreak of tornadoes in history. Current drivers born in 1974:
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Oct. 10)
• Hank Parker Jr. (Oct. 7) → Click here for more Daytona Countdown. | 
