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.

     
   
According to a biographer, Billy Graham was considered "among
the most influential Christian leaders" of the 20th century.

The Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida, where
NASCAR was found.

NASCAR was founded by William France, Sr. on February 21,
1948 with the help of several other drivers of the time.

The original plans for NASCAR included three distinct
divisions: Modified, Roadster, and Strictly Stock.

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

Lt. Edward Henry (“Butch”) O’Hare took off from the aircraft
carrier Lexington in a raid against the Japanese position at
Rabaul and minutes later became America’s first WWII flying
ace, shooting down five enemy bombers.

    
President Franklin D. Roosevelt congratulates Lieutenant
(j.g.) Edward H. O’Hare, United States Navy, on being
presented the Medal of Honor (below) at the White
House, Washington, D.C., 21 April 1942.         
       

Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry O’Hare
(March 13, 1914 – November 26, 1943

O’Hare went missing in action on November 26, 1943, and
was declared dead a year later. His widow Rita received
her husband’s posthumous decorations, a Purple Heart
and the Navy Cross on November 26, 1944.       
 

       
CARLATA BRADLEY

From Cape Canaveral, Florida, John Herschel Glenn Jr. was
successfully launched into space aboard the Friendship 7
spacecraft on the first orbital flight by an American astronaut.

Glenn, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, was
among the seven men chosen by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration in 1959 to become America’s 
first astronauts.

President John F. Kennedy on the phone.

John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016)