On August 19, 1909, the first race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, now the home of the world’s most famous motor racing competition, the Indianapolis 500.

Built on 328 acres of farmland five miles northwest of Indianapolis, Indiana, the speedway was started by local businessmen as a
testing facility for Indiana’s growing automobile industry.

In that first five-mile race, 12,000 spectators watched Austrian
engineer Louis Schwitzer win with an average speed of 57.4 miles
per hour. The track’s surface of crushed rock and tar proved a
disaster, breaking up in a number of places and causing the deaths
of two drivers, two mechanics and two spectators.

The surface was soon replaced with 3.2 million paving bricks, laid
in a bed of sand and fixed with mortar. Dubbed “The Brickyard,”
the speedway reopened in December 1909.

Ray Harroun wheels his No. 32 Marmon Wasp racecar to
victory in the inaugural Indy 500.

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
International Speedway.

Lee Petty’s 1959 Oldsmobile 88 hardtop at the Richard Petty
Museum in Randleman North Carolina.

Darrell Lee Waltrip

Darrell Lee Waltrip is a motorsports analyst, author, former
national television broadcaster, and stock car driver. He
raced from 1972 to 2000 in the former NASCAR Winston
Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most
notably driving the No. 17 Chevrolet for Hendrick
Motorsports (below).

From left: Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Gordon in the Fox Sports booth.

WELCOME, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR team owner Richard Childress is auctioning off one of racing legend Dale Earnhardt’s cars to raise
money for coronavirus relief efforts.

The Charlotte Observer reports that this is the first time Childress
has sold or given away an original Earnhardt car from his personal collection.

A news release Thursday from Richard Childress Racing officials
doesn’t specify which of Earnhardt’s trademark No. 3 race cars is
up for auction.

Childress tweeted Friday that parting with one of his cars is “a
small sacrifice” for him to make.

Earnhardt died in a crash during the last lap of the Daytona 500
at Daytona International Speedway in 2001.

The eBay site for the auction doesn’t list a deadline for bidding
on items.

Richard Childress (below) Racing is based in Welcome, North
Carolina.

Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. ( April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001)

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.