21 years after FOX cancelled the Daytona 500 because of The Simpsons FOX would go on to cancel the 2024 Coca-Cola 600 Only instead of the Simpsons they would do it for unknown reasons
These old races are sad, they show just how far nascar has fallen. I used to travel all over the south to watch races and now I wouldn't look out the window if they were in my front yard.
I was there in 1959 for the first Daytona 500. Also got to see one of the beach course races in 1956. My hero was Fireball Roberts, a Daytona hometown boy. His car was wrenched by the incomparable Smokey Yunick. The car was on display at the local Pontiac dealer on what was then Volusia Ave (now International speedway Blvd.) it was a close race, and they weren’t doing official photo finishes, but this event got the France’s to set up for photographing the finish. Lee Petty, the winner, wasn’t announced for three days until someone came up with a snapshot at the strategic moment. Lee Petty had one of the most spectacular and vicious crashes at Daytona in 1961. He and Johnny Beauchamp were neck and neck in a qualifying event and in the 31 degree banked East turn when Beauchamp’s car contacted Petty’s car causing both of them to crash through the guardrails and sail at almost tree height into the parking lot below the East turn. Petty was in Halifax Hospital for four months with a punctured lung, numerous fractured ribs and other injuries. Although he raced some after that, the crash effectively ended his career and he turned the team over to Richard, his son, who went on to win the Daytona 500 seven times. It was a great time.
That was a great race, I was an Earnhardt for years. I hate playoffs it should be race offs or drive offs. And NASCAR lost so much class when they say drivers start your engines, if there is a woman they can lady and gentlemen. Common NASCAR fix this noncense.
