Guest Post: Jim Smith

Daytona Beach is well known today as “THE WORLDS MOST FAMOUS BEACH” and the sport of auto racing has played a huge role in creating that image. There has been racing in the Daytona Beach area, on the beach since 1903, and on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway since 1959.

The first actual automobile race took place on Ormond Beach. It all started at the old Ormond Hotel when two auto manufacturers, Ransom E. Olds and Alexander Winton decided to race on the hard packed sand of Ormond Beach. They were both well known makers of “horseless carriages.

That first race took place on March 26, 1903, when Winton brought his “Bullet” and Olds his “Pirate” to see who was the fastest. They both averaged 57 mph and declared the race a tie. That was the beginning of the long history of speed record attempts at Daytona Beach and the spirit of competition among the many drivers seeking to break previous record attempts.

The first organized stock car race took place on Daytona Beach on March 8, 1936 and was sanctioned by the American Automobile Association (AAA).The racing took place on a 4.1 mile course that used the beach, with both North and South turns, that joined the beach to a two lane black top road to complete the circuit. Today, “The North Turn Restaurant” is located at site of the famous North Turn. Among the drivers in that first event was William (Big Bill) France Sr. who finished fifth in the race.

The stock car races began showing profits for the city after Bill France Sr. took over the promotion of the beach events in 1938. Stock car racing continued on the beach until 1958 when the last beach race to be run was won by Paul Goldsmith in a Pontiac prepared by the legendary Smokey Yunick.

It has been well documented that in December of 1947 Bill France Sr. and a group of friends and other racing people formed the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing at the Streamline Hotel located in Daytona Beach. The purpose was to create a sanctioning body that guaranteed purses and a consistent set of rules. From that meeting was created what we all know today as NASCAR.

Bill France Sr. was a dreamer and he had a knack for making those dreams come true. One of them was to build a high banked super speedway that would rival the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He knew the days of racing on the beach were coming to an end and he needed to make plans for a new race course. The population of the Daytona Beach area was growing and civilization was closing in on the old beach course. His dream came true with the building of the Daytona International Speedway.

Unlike most tracks that were shaped like an oval France’s track was shaped like a tri-oval with high banks. Bill was proud of the fact that a spectator could see the whole track and with the high banks he proclaimed that there was not a bad seat in the house. The first Daytona 500 was held in February of 1959 with approximately 42,000 spectators in attendance.