Danica Sue Patrick is a race car driver, currently competing in the Indy Car series and
the NASCAR Nationwide series, as well as a model and advertising spokeswoman. She was named the Rookie of the Year for both the 2005 Indianapolis and the 2005 Indy Car season. With her win in the 2008 Indy Japan 300, Patrick became the first woman to win an Indy Car race. Patrick currently drives the #7 GoDaddy.com Honda/Dallara for the Andretti Auto Sport team. In 2010, Patrick began racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, driving the #7( below) GoDaddy.com for JR Motorsports part-time.

Danica placed 3rd in the 2009 Indianapolis 500, which was both a personal best for
her at the track and the highest finish by a woman in the event’s history. In 2011 in
the NASCAR Nationwide Series Patrick became the first woman to lead a lap at
Daytona International Speedway. She had her best career finish of 4th in the
NASCAR Nationwide Series on March 5th, 2011 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
by doing this, she set a record for the best finish by a woman in a NASCAR top
circuit race

Donica with her trophy for the 2008 Indy Japan win

Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired world champion race car driver, one of
the most successful in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers
to win races in Formula One, Indy Car, World Sports car Championship and
NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney). He also won races in midget cars,
sprint cars, and drag racing. Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits
and was the only person to be named U.S. Driver of the Year in three decades
(1967, 1978, and 1984). He was inducted into the International Motorsports   
Hall of Fame in 2001, the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996, in 2001 the 
International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the U.S.National Sprint Car Hall of Fame  
in 1996, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990, and the Hoosier Auto   
Racing Hall of Fame in 1970. 

The 1959 First Annual 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes held at
Daytona (now known as the 1959 inaugural Daytona 500) was the second
race of the 1959 NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) season. It was
held in front of 41,921 spectators and was the first race held at the 2.5-mile
(4.0 kilometer) Daytona International Speedway.The winner of the race was 
Lee Petty (shown above) driving the #42 car,a 1959 Oldsmobile. He is the  
father of Richard Petty,“The King”, who become NASCAR’s all-time winner.

A photo of a spin out on the track

Dale Earnhardt died in a last-lap crash of “the Super Bowl of NASCAR”,
the Daytona 500. Hours later, at a press conference, NASCAR President
Mike Hilton made the formal announcement to the world saying, "This is
undoubtedly one of the toughest announcements that I’ve ever personally
had to make. But…after the accident in Turn 4 at the end of the Daytona
500, we’ve lost Dale Earnhardt”.

Earnhardt had notable success in the Winston Cup Series, now called the
Sprint Cup Series, winning seventy-six races, including one Daytona 500
victory in 1998. Earnhardt’s seven championships are tied for most all-time
with Richard Petty. Dale Earnhardt as been inducted in numerous halls of
fame, including the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010.

James Byron Dean is a cultural icon, best thought of as being like the
title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause (1955), in which
he starred as a troubled  teenager, Jim Stark. The other two roles that
made him a star were as Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955), and the farmer, 
Jett Rink, in Giant (1956). Dean’s continued popularity rests on his work
in only these three films, all leading roles. His premature death in car 
crash in 1955 helped establish his legendary status. He was only 24.

James Dean was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award for 
Best Actor and remains the only actor to have had two posthumous acting
nominations. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Dean the 18th best
male movie star on their AFI 100 Years…100 Stars list.

James Dean behind the wheel of his Porsche 550 Spyder, the car
he died in