Size, scope of Daytona 500 have changed over years

Fifty years ago, drivers took their first look at the new Daytona International Speedway and wondered just what in the heck they had gotten themselves into.

In those days, most races were held on dirt bullrings of a mile or less. Darlington Raceway was considered a superspeedway. So the idea of doing 150 mph in the equipment of the day was unfathomable

"There have been other tracks that separated the men from the boys," driver Jimmy Thompson said after making his first practice laps on the 2.5-mile tri-oval. "This is the track that will separate the brave from the weak after the boys are gone."

50th Daytona 500

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• Flashback: Daytona '79

But it didn't take long for Daytona's reputation for exciting racing -- and close finishes -- to come to the forefront. The inaugural race wound up as a photo finish between Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp, except that NASCAR officials hadn't installed a finish-line camera.

According to NASCAR historian Buz McKim, Bill France went down to the start/finish line to see if he could determine a winner, but his view was blocked by the lapped car of Joe Weatherly as the cars came to the line three-wide. Beauchamp was declared the winner but Petty protested, forcing France to find as many photos and films of the final lap as he could get his hands on.

After three days, France announced his ruling: Petty was the winner. And from that point on, there has been a camera at the finish line.

The early days of the Daytona 500 were truly a proving ground for man and machine. Engines, chassis and tires were put under enormous stress at those speeds. Of the 59 cars which took the green flag for the first 500, only 31 were running at the finish. In 1960, Bobby Johns' rear window blew out while he was leading the race, handing the win to Junior Johnson.

Fireball Roberts was a perfect example. He dominated three consecutive races, but mechanical issues sidelined him in 1960 and 1961, just a few miles from the finish. But he was not to be denied in 1962, leading 144 laps for his only Daytona 500 victory.

Tiny Lund was without a ride in 1963 when fate intervened. When 1961 winner Marvin Panch crashed his Maserati sports car during practice, Lund was one of the people who pulled Panch from the burning car. From his hospital bed, Panch asked the Wood Brothers to consider Lund as his substitute. Lund went on to win the race, his first NASCAR victory.

It took Richard Petty six tries to get to Daytona's Victory Lane, but once he got there in 1964, he became a regular visitor. He missed the 1965 race when Chrysler's Hemi engine was declared illegal -- the year Fred Lorenzen was able to keep his wrecked car running when the race was called because of rain -- but came back to win in the rain in 1966.

Mario Andretti is best known for his USAC and Formula One championships, but his only NASCAR win came in the 1967 Daytona 500, when his Holman Moody Ford was nearly untouchable.

Two men with similar last names won the next two 500s in almost identical fashion. Cale Yarborough beat LeeRoy Yarbrough on a slingshot move late in the race in 1968, only to see Yarbrough do the same thing to Charlie Glotzbach on the last lap a year later.

By 1970, manufacturers were heavily involved in making the cars sleeker and more aerodynamic, and speeds climbed. In an effort to lure Petty back to Chrysler, designers used a wind tunnel and computer analysis to create a high-winged car that was the forerunner to the current NASCAR chassis design.

Cale Yarborough's pole-winning speed that year was a mind-boggling 194.015 mph, but Northeast star Pete Hamilton drove his Superbird to the victory.

NASCAR officials reined in the "aero cars" by the next season -- and with the economic climate of the day, manufacturers began to cut back their funding as only a few teams received factory backing. Competition also suffered, as two of the next four races were won by more than a lap.

The oil crisis figured into the 1974 race, as NASCAR decided to shorten the event by 10 percent. The race actually started on Lap 21 and Petty became the first driver to win back-to-back races.

Returning to the 500-mile distance the next year, David Pearson appeared to be on his way to his first Daytona 500 victory when he spun with a backmarker less than two laps from the finish. Benny Parsons was able to avoid the accident and went on to capture the victory.

However, Pearson received some measure of revenge a year later in what might be the greatest finish in NASCAR history. Pearson passed Petty on the backstretch to take the lead, but as Petty tried to return the favor in the final turn, the two touched and crashed heavily into the infield. As Petty futilely attempted to get his Dodge restarted, Pearson was able to get his battered Mercury to limp across the finish line first.

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"The Fight" in 1979 helped propel NASCAR due to a live national television audience.

With a national television audience watching live, the 1979 race featured a last-lap crash between leaders Donnie Allison and Yarborough, which resulted in a surprise victory for Petty, his sixth. When Bobby Allison stopped to check out the accident scene, the two Allisons and Yarborough wound up in a helmet-swinging fight in the muddy infield, a scene played countless times in highlights -- and perhaps the impetus for NASCAR's current success.

After years of frustration, Buddy Baker finally found Victory Lane in 1980, setting a record average speed at 177.602 mph. The next season, NASCAR downsized the chassis -- and Petty gambled on his last pit stop, taking on fuel only while the competition went for fresh tires, to win his seventh 500.

By 1983, the cars were close to breaking the 200 mph barrier. In fact, Yarborough's first qualifying lap that year was over 200 mph, but the car flipped on the second lap. He finally broke 200 mph for good the next year, qualifying at 201.848 mph. Yarborough used a backup car to make a last-lap pass of Buddy Baker to win in 1983, and did the same thing to Darrell Waltrip the next year.

Bill Elliott won two of the next three races in dominating fashion, winning from the pole in 1987. His qualifying lap of 210.364 mph still stands as the single-lap speed record, as NASCAR mandated restrictor plates for the next year's race -- as a result of Bobby Allison's terrifying crash at Talladega in the 1987 Winston 500 -- and every one since.

Two veteran drivers spent much of the decade trying to win the Daytona 500.

Darrell Waltrip finally took home the trophy in 1989 in his 17th attempt. But for Dale Earnhardt, it was year after year of frustration.

He certainly had the cars to do it, but luck was rarely on his side. In 1986, Earnhardt ran out of fuel with less than four laps remaining, handing the win to Geoffrey Bodine. In 1987, he lead with 11 laps remaining when he had to pit for fuel -- and when Bodine ran out of gas, it was Elliott who benefited.

But it was 1990 which epitomized Earnhardt's misfortune in the Daytona 500. Leading with less than a lap to go, Earnhardt ran over debris on the track and cut a tire, handing the victory to virtual unknown Derrike Cope. A year later, Ernie Irvan passed Earnhardt with six laps to go -- and when Earnhardt spun and collected Davey Allison and Kyle Petty on Lap 198, Irvan won.

Davey Allison etched his name in the record books in 1992, leading the final 102 laps. Then in 1993, it appeared Earnhardt might finally break the jinx. He was leading with two laps to go when Dale Jarrett was able to use the draft to shoot past the Intimidator for the win.

Sterling Marlin won the next two 500s, one on a fuel gamble, the other with old tires. Earnhardt had fresh rubber and was challenging Marlin for the lead in 1995, but had no drafting help in the closing laps. Earnhardt would once again finish second to Jarrett in 1996, his third runner-up finish in four races.

Upstart Jeff Gordon became the youngest driver ever to win the Daytona 500 in 1997, benefiting from a pair of multi-car accidents in the final 10 laps. Gordon passed Earnhardt for second place with 10 laps to go, a move that made the Intimidator's car push off the corner. Jarrett struck the No. 3 Chevrolet, which flipped and set off a chain-reaction crash.

Finally, after 20 years of trying, Earnhardt captured the prize which had eluded him for so long. Leading when Lake Speed and John Andretti crashed with two laps left, Earnhardt cruised to the checkered flag. Gordon won his second 500 in 1999, going down to the apron of the track to pull off a daring pass of Rusty Wallace

Jarrett won his third Daytona 500 in 2000, catching and passing Johnny Benson with four laps remaining.

The 2001 race saw another first-time winner -- Michael Waltrip -- but a last-lap crash took Earnhardt's life, the only instance in which there has been a fatality during the running of the Daytona 500.

Sterling Marlin nearly added a third Daytona 500 trophy to his collection in 2002, but during a red flag, he got out of his car and pulled on a damaged fender, which sent him to the back of the lead lap cars and handed the win to Ward Burton.

Waltrip walked to Victory Lane in a driving rain in 2003 as the race was shortened to 109 laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued the team's domination of the race, winning six years to the day after his father's only 500 victory.

The last three Daytona 500s have all been more than 500 miles, since they finished under NASCAR's green-white-checkered rule. Gordon held off Kurt Busch to win in 2005, Jimmie Johnson did the same to Casey Mears in 2006, and Kevin Harvick edged Mark Martin by little more than a fender in 2007 as a huge wreck occurred behind the leaders.

As the size and scope of the Daytona 500 have changed over the years, so has attendance and prize money. A crowd estimated at about 42,000 witnessed the first Daytona 500. At least 185,000 were in attendance for Harvick's win last February.

Lee Petty's share of the prize money in 1959 was $19,050. The total 2007 Daytona 500 purse was more than $15 million, with Harvick receiving a check for $1,510,469. In fact, Tony Stewart -- who finished last -- earned $334,931, or roughly what Dale Jarrett was paid for winning the 1996 race.