By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
February 14, 2005
08:51 AM EST (13:51 GMT)
Johnny Benson appeared to be ready to pull perhaps the greatest upset in Daytona 500 history on Feb. 20, 2000. Instead, his Cinderella story turned to ashes when Dale Jarrett was able to pass him on a restart with four laps to go in the 42nd Daytona 500, giving Jarrett his third Daytona 500 victory.  |  | NASCAR ACCELERATION | |
| ALSO IN 2000 ... |
| • | Dr. Harold Shipman in sentenced to life in prison for murder of at least 15 of his patients out of 365 suspected victims (Jan. 31) |
| • | The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing Civil Unions for same-sex couples (April 25) |
| • | During a set of the band Pearl Jam at the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, nine die and 26 are injured in the crowd (June 30) |
| • | Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic leaves office after widespread demonstrations throughout Serbia and the withdrawal of Russian support (Oct. 4) |
| • | Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first First Lady of the United States to win public office (Nov. 7) |
Courtesy: Wikipedia
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The Lincoln LS was Motor Trend's Car of the Year in 2000. A 2000 Lincoln LS V8 four-door sedan retailed for $34,690, so Jarrett could have purchased 36 Lincoln LS V8s with his first-place check for $1,277,975. In April, federal agents swooped into a Miami neighborhood, seized 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez from his relatives' home and flew him to Washington, D.C., to be with his Cuban father, ending one of the most publicized custody battles in American history. In November, high-priced lawyers swooped into South Florida to count hanging and dimpled chads as disputed votes held up the 2000 presidential election for nearly a month before the U.S. Supreme Court handed the victory to Republican challenger George W. Bush. If Jarrett had driven one of his Lincoln LS V8s from Hickory, N.C., to Tallahassee, Fla., to help count Florida's ballots, he could have made the 524-mile drive in almost 9 hours -- or 3 hours and 22 minutes at his race-winning average of 155.669 mph. Finland's Tarja Halonen, Russia's Vladimir Putin, Canada's Jean Chretien and Mexico's Vicente Fox were clear-cut winners in those countries' elections in 2000. In 1864, the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley sank in Charleston harbor after ramming the union blockade ship Housatanic. On Aug. 8, the Hunley was raised to the surface after 136 years. In 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward, a traveling salesman who felt rural Americans needed greater access to quality products, founded Montgomery Ward. On Dec. 28, Montgomery Ward went out of business. On Feb. 17, Microsoft launched Windows 2000 and Windows ME. On April 3, Microsoft was ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws. In March, AMD and Intel each released one gigahertz chips. The last new Peanuts comic strip was published on Feb. 13, one day after creator Charles Schulz passed away at 77. Charles Chips were once delivered in one gallon cans. On Jan. 10, America Online agreed to buy Time-Warner for $162 billion, the largest corporate merger in history. If Jarrett had used the winnings to buy AOL shares on Feb. 22 at $51.13 a share, his $1,277,975 would be worth about $448,400 today. Survivor and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire were the two highest-rated shows on television in 2000. One required feats of skill and endurance, the other required feats of memorization, but in each case, the goal was $1 million. A coal sludge spill of more than 250 million gallons gushed into streams and rivers in Martin County, Ky., on Oct. 11. Massey Energy, the parent company of Martin County Coal, reportedly spent at least $46 million in cleanup and another $3.25 million in damages and penalties to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Feb. 29 was a leap day, the last in a turn of the century year until Feb. 29, 2400. There will be 146,096 days between the two dates. → Click here for more Daytona Countdown. | 
