55 and Counting: Autoweek's Al Pearce Back for Yet Another Daytona 500

In this space last year, I questioned whether the 2023 Daytona 500 might have been my last. I wrote that after my 54th consecutive trip to Daytona Beach in February, dating to 1970. But time and tide wait for no man, so I reasonably wondered whether I’d make it to a 55th race as an 80-year-old-plus scribbler.

I did, but I’m making no promises about a 56th trip next year.

The eve of my 55th seems a good time to reflect on my first 54. Certainly not in importance since every Daytona 500—all 66 of them—has been important to someone. Rather, maybe my most vivid memories of the 54 I’ve seen, in chronological order:

1970: Pete Hamilton Wins It for Petty

It didn’t take long for me to show how little I knew about racing. When Richard Petty fell out early I told a media colleague that Petty would probably jerk Pete Hamilton from his Petty Enterprises-prepared Plymouth so he (Petty) could finish the race.

Instead, the King simply watched from the pits as his new and relatively unknown teammate got his first career victory in my first 500.

1976: The Crash Heard 'Round the (NASCAR) World

Future Hall of Fame superstars Petty and David Pearson were involved in the famous last-lap, Turn 4 crash as they approached the checkered flag just inches apart.

Despite heavy front-end damage, Pearson kept his Mercury running long enough to putter under the yellow and checkered flags at perhaps 20 mph. Petty’s battered Dodge needed a push from his crew to get there, and that illegal help cost him the final lap.

Refreshingly, neither publicly blamed the other for the famous “that’s racing” incident.

1979: The Most Important Daytona 500

Even today, veteran race-watchers say this one was the most important race in NASCAR history.

Owing to a convenient set of circumstances, this one exposed stock car racing to millions of unsuspecting Americans. You know the storyline: the first live, start-to-finish telecast by a major network (CBS); the last-lap, Donnie Allison-Cale Yarborough backstretch crash; their post-wreck fight (with Bobby Allison joining in) on the Turn 3 apron; and Petty blocking Darrell Waltrip to win.

With much of the country homebound by weather and nothing much else to do, millions watched racing for the first time and apparently liked what they saw;

1988: Richard Petty Rocks and Rolls

I’d already seen drivers die at Daytona Beach and I’d eventually see others, but I might have quit covering racing if I’d seen Petty killed.

One of my all-time sports favorites, Petty went upside down, airborne, and backward after contact from Phil Barkdoll exiting Turn 4 at lap 103. He flipped and tumbled and bounced along the frontstretch, got into the catchfence, went over and over an estimated eight time, and shed parts and pieces along the way. Then, after his car finally stopped on all fours, Brett Bodine plowed into it.

I still remember the almost palpable relief when Petty climbed out, relatively unharmed;

1988: Allison vs. Allison

Nobody could have known at the time that Bobby Allison’s victory over son Davey would be Bobby’s last.

Father and son raced clean and close right to the end, then playfully sprayed beer on each other in victory lane after their 1-2 finish. Five months later, Bobby’s 84-victory career (he insists it should be 85) ended with serious injuries in a first-lap crash at Pocono.

Because of the Pocono injuries, he says he has no memory of the day he beat his son.

1990: Derrike Cope Scores the Upset Win

I’d never seen a real Daytona 500 upset until unheralded journeyman Derrike Cope won this one. (Hamilton in 1970 was no real upset). Cope won only because Dale Earnhardt had a flat tire entering Turn 3 while leading on the last lap.

It was the first of Cope’s two career victories in 428 starts and the first top-five in his first 71 Cup starts. That day marked Earnhardt’s 12th consecutive loss—and maybe the most painful—in the race he most wanted to win.

1998: Dale Earnhardt Finally Gets the Job Done

I’d watched Earnhardt lose 19 consecutive 500s by the time God smiled on him. He’d lost so many 500s and under the most bizarre circumstances that he’d become something of a tragic figure within the media, the subject of countless stories about “high-speed heartbreak” and “Dale’s Daytona curse.”

So, you can understand why the press box and media center unprofessionally and uncharacteristically cheered when he beat Bobby Labonte under caution in 1998. A lasting memory is of his post-race ride down pit road as virtually every crewman from virtually every team stepped out to offer congratulations.

2001: Farewell to the Intimidator

Nobody seemed unduly concerned when Earnhardt crashed in Turn 4 on the last lap of this one. It didn’t look all that bad until Ken Schrader’s frantic waving for the nearby rescue team to hurry to the site.

Earnhardt’s death stunned the worldwide motorsports industry and spurred NASCAR to double down on safety. His death led to the HANS device as a mandatory piece of equipment, the development of SAFER barriers, improved medical and rescue procedures, and better cockpit protection.

Because of that tragedy, others have survived crashes that seemed far more serious;

2007: Kevin Harvick Adds to Mark Martin's Frustration

Mark Martin never won the 500, but he came agonizingly close in this one. He was leading off Turn 4, within sight of the checkered flag, when a half-dozen cars crashed just behind him.

Officials wanted to finish under green, so they held the yellow caution flag a few seconds until after the checkered. That delay gave Kevin Harvick just enough time to pass Martin and win by 0.02 seconds.

Martin didn’t publicly complain, but his plaintive call of “they waited too long to throw it” reflected his opinion of the call;

2011: Trevor Bayne Scores One for the Ages

Trevor Bayne’s victory might be considered surprising but not exactly an upset. True, it came in only his second career Cup start and his first at DIS, and he’d turned 20 just the day before. But Wood Brothers Racing already had four Daytona 500 trophies and Bayne had been fast throughout Speed Week.

Still, he led only the last six laps and got lucky when leader David Ragan was black-flagged for an illegal overtime restart. Bayne inherited the lead, blocked well over the final laps, and gave the Woods their 98th victory and fifth in the 500.