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

The 1959 First Annual 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes at Daytona,
(now known as the inaugural Daytona 500) was the second race of the 1959
NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) 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. The race lasted 3:41:22, with an average
speed of 135.521 mph. In the end, with the help of photographs and newsreel
footage, Lee Petty, father of racing legend Richard Petty, was officially declared
the winner.

Johnny Beauchamp, front, and Lee Petty were neck and neck on the final
lap of the inaugural Daytona 500.

Mario Gabriele Andretti 

Anddretti is a retired Italian American 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 in Formula One, IndyCar, NASCAR and World Sportscar Championship 
(the other being Dan Gurney). Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World 
Championship, four IndyCar titles (three under USAC–sanctioning, one under 
one under CART), and IROC VI. To date, he remains the only driver ever to
win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One
World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver
to have won a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Formula One, and
and Indianapolis 500. He has a total of 109 career wins on major circuits.

William Herz became the first person to race a motorcycle over 200 miles
per hour. He was clocked at 210 mph at the Bonneville Speedway, an area
of the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah,