Lee Petty No. 42 and Johnny Beauchamp No. 73 battle on the last lap
of the 1959 Daytona 500.

The 1959 First 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes at Daytona
(now known as the 1959 Inaugural Daytona 500) was the second race
of the 1959 NASCAR Grand National Series season. It was held on
February 22, 1959, in front of 41,921 spectators. It was the first race
held at the 2.5-mile Daytona. The race lasted 3:41:22, with an average
speed of 135.521 mph.

It took NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. three days to decide the winner
the following Wednesday. In the end, with the help of photographs and
newsreel footage, Petty was officially declared the winner.

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

Lee Petty was one of the pioneers of
NASCAR and one of its first superstars.
He is also the father of Richard Petty,
who went on to become one of the
most successful stock car racing
drivers of all time.

The original NASCAR logo.