Lee Petty winning the Daytona 500 in the first-ever photo
finish in the history of the sport.
On February 22, 1959, Lee Petty defeated 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.
However, Petty, who was driving a hardtop Oldsmobile 88,
challenged the results and three days later, with the help of
news photographs, he was officially named the champ.
Lee Arnold Petty (March 14, 1914 – April 5, 2000)
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