On this day in 1959, Lee Petty defeats Johnny Beauchamp in a photo finish at
the just-opened Daytona International Speedway in Florida to win the first-ever Daytona 500. The race was so close that Beauchamp was initially named the
winner by William France, the owner of the track and head of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). However, Petty, who was
driving a hardtop Oldsmobile 88, challenged the results and three days later,
with the assistance of news photographs, he was officially named the champ.

There was speculation that France declared Beauchamp the winner in order to intentionally stir up controversy and generate publicity for his new race track.

Today, the 200-lap, 500-mile Daytona 500 is one of auto racing’s premiere
events and the first race of the NASCAR season. France, a gas station owner
and racing promoter, officially co-founded NASCAR in Daytona Beach in
1948.

Lee Arnold Petty (March 14, 1914 – April 5, 2000)

Johnny Beauchamp
(March 23, 1923 – April 17, 1981)

   
William Henry Getty France (September 26, 1909 – June 7, 1992)

Lee Petty’s 1959 Oldsmobile Super 88 in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

ROSS SIMPSON

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)

George Washington, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States,
served as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the
Revolutionary War, then was inaugurated as the first U.S. President
on April 30, 1789.

Washington’s legacy as a commander at Valley Forge, Yorktown, and
Boston was honored in 1917 when an asteroid was named after him:
the 886 Washingtonia asteroid.

General George Washington (left) and French military leader Marquis
de Lafayette at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777–78 (AP)

Washington praying at Valley Forge.

A reproduction of Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 oil painting ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware." (Associated Press)