On February 15, 1998, after 20 years of trying, racing great
Dale Earnhardt Sr. finally won his first Daytona 500, the
National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR)
season opener and an event dubbed the “Super Bowl of
stock car racing.”

Following his victory, crews from competing teams lined the
pit road at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona
Beach, Florida, to congratulate Earnhardt, who drove his car
onto the grass and did several celebratory doughnuts, or
circles (below).

Bernard John Dowling Irwin
(June 24, 1830 – December 15, 1917)

U.S. Army assistant surgeon Bernard John Dowling "J.D." Irwin
rescued a kidnapped boy and 60 soldiers encircled by legendary
Apache warrior Cochise on this day in history, Feb. 13, 1861.

Irwin’s heroic volunteer effort under dire circumstances in the
Arizona Territory has gone down in American military lore as
the first Congressional Medal of Honor action.

It took place before the award even existed.

The Cochise Stronghold in Arizona.

Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004)

As the 40th president of the United States, the former movie star
was called the “Great Communicator” for his ability to get through
to ordinary Americans and give them hope and optimism for their
own future and that of their country.

But before his years of Hollywood stardom, and long before
Washington, Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911,
in Tampico, a small town in northwestern Illinois.

First Emmy Awards Marker outside the Hollywood Athletic
Club. 

The first Emmy Awards ceremony, which was televised, was held
on January 25, 1949 at the Hollywood Athletic Club (below). The a
wards recognize excellence in television, which in the 1940s was
a novel medium and only 4,000 homes in Los Angeles had televisions.      
 

The awards were hosted by Walter O’Keefe who substituted for
Rudy Vallée when he had to leave town at the last minute.
   

Most Outstanding Television Personality: Twenty-year-old Shirley Dinsdale and her puppet sidekick “Judy Splinters” (below) for
‘The Judy Splinters Show.’   

(From left) Mary Ann Ganser (died 1970), Betty Weiss,
Marge Ganser (died 1996) and Mary Weiss of The
Shangri-Las pose for a portrait Circa 1964.

Mary Weiss, the lead singer of 1960s pop group The Shangri-Las,
has died at the age of 75.

The female group rose to stardom with a run of hit songs about
teenage love and tragedy, including “Remember (Walking In The
Sand)” and “Leader Of The Pack”, which was later inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s singles category.

Mary vanished from the music scene for decades, returning in
2007 to record her first solo album with Norton Records.

The announcement of her death, made on Friday, did not disclose
the cause.

In 2019, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland,
Ohio honored the Shangri-Las’ "Leader of the Pack",
on which Weiss sang lead, in its Singles category.