The 30’s . . . .

April 4, 1933 -- William Clay France, past president of NASCAR, is born in Washington, D.C.

March 3, 1936 -- Tiny Lund, who came from Iowa in the '50s to become one of NASCAR's biggest stars in several different series, is born in Harlan, Iowa. He's best-known for winning the 1963 Daytona 500.

March 8, 1936 -- Bill France, who operates a local gas station, finishes fifth in the first stock car race ever held in Daytona Beach, Fla. It's on a course that includes a southbound leg of Highway A1A, then northbound along the beach south of the city.

The 40’s . . . .

Jan. 24, 1940 -- NASCAR founder and long-time president Bill France Sr. was declared the National Stock Car champion in 1940

Jan. 25, 1941 -- Elzie Wylie (Buddy) Baker, the first man to drive a stock car more than 200 miles per hour and a 19-time NASCAR Winston Cup winner (including three Coca-Cola World 600s, three Winston 500s, a Daytona 500, Mountain Dew Southern 500 and DieHard 500), is born in Florence, S.C.

Jan. 26, 1947 -- Red Byron, returning to stock car racing after an ill-fated attempt at AAA-sponsored Indy-car racing, wins the season-opening 160-mile race on the highway/beach course in Daytona Beach, Fla. Two years later, he would emerge as NASCAR's first Winston Cup champion.

Feb. 21, 1948 -- NASCAR is incorporated.

Feb. 27, 1949 -- An experimental five-lap, 10-mile NASCAR Winston Cup race, won by Benny Georgeson of Ft. Laurderdale, is held at the 2-mile dirt Broward County Speedway in south Florida.

The 50’s . . . .

Feb. 4, 1950 -- Even though racing has been a February fixture in Daytona Beach for years, the first race of the first official "Speed Week" program is a 100-mile Modified race on the 4.17-mile highway/beach course. Gober Sosebee wins it ahead of Fireball Roberts and Red Cummings.

April 2, 1950 -- Tim Flock, who will win two NASCAR Winston Cup championships and 39 more races, gets career victory No. 1 at the 3/4-mile dirt Charlotte (N.C.) Speedway.

April 8, 1951 -- NASCAR Winston Cup makes its debut on the West Coast, as Marshall Teague wins a 100-mile race on a half-mile dirt track at Gardena, Calif.

Jan. 20, 1952 -- Tim Flock wins a 200-lap, 100-mile dirt track race at West Palm Beach, Fla., a victory that kick-starts him toward the 1952 NASCAR Winston Cup championship.

Jan. 28, 1958 -- David Green, the 1994 NASCAR Busch Grand National champion and runnerup for 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup rookie of the year, is born in Owensboro, Ky.

Feb. 10, 1952 -- Joie Ray is the first African-American to start a NASCAR-sanctioned race. Driving a Henry J, he starts 25th and finishes 51st on the beach/highway course in Daytona Beach.

March 30, 1952 -- Only one of the eight Hudson Hornets that start the 200-lap, 125-mile race finish at North Wilkesboro (N.C.), but that was the one of race-winner Herb Thomas. He started on the pole and led all 200 laps in beating Fonty Flock by a full lap.

Feb. 14, 1953 -- A field of 136 entries starts the NASCAR Modified/Sportsman race on the beach/road course in Daytona Beach, Fla. It remains the largest starting field in NASCAR history.

April 5, 1953 -- Dick Passwater wins a 150-lap race on the 3/4-mile dirt Charlotte (N.C.) Speedway after most of the favorites fall out or make late-race pit stops. The 112.5-mile race sees a then-record six drivers swap the lead 18 times before Passwater leads the final three laps for his only career NASCAR Winston Cup victory.

March 26, 1955 -- Fonty Flock gives Chevrolet its first NASCAR Winston Cup victory in a 200-lap, 100-mile dirt-track race at Columbia (S.C.) Speedway

April 3, 1955 — Buck Baker defeats Dick Rathmann by three feet at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway in the closest NASCAR Winston Cup finish to that point.

Jan. 22, 1956 -- Chrysler drivers Buck Baker, Frank Mundy and Tim Flock give owner Carl Kiekhaefer a 1-2-3 finish in a 150-lap NASCAR Winston Cup dirt-track race at the 1-mile Arizona State Fairgrounds at Phoenix.

Feb. 6, 1956 -- Mel Larson is the first driver to use an on-board camera in a NASCAR race. Footage was used in Ford commercials

March 18, 1956 -- Driving a 1956 Mercury that speaks to the music of the time, Jim Paschal finishes fourth in a rain-shortened, 108-lap race at the half-mile dirt Wilson (N.C.) Speedway. The ``CU Later Alligator'' car finishes behind the Smokey Yunick-prepared Chevrolet of winner Herb Thomas and the Carl Kiekhaefer-owned Chryslers of teammates Buck Baker and Tim Flock

Feb. 17, 1957 -- Cotton Owens, in a Pontiac, becomes the first NASCAR Winston Cup driver to win with an average speed faster than 100 mph. He averages 101.541 in winning a 160-mile race on the Daytona Beach (Fla.) highway/beach course.

March 17, 1957 -- Ralph Moody starts fourth and leads the final 100 laps of a 200-lap race at Wilson (N.C.) Speedway, defeating second-place Buck Baker by two laps. It is the fifth and final victory as a driver for Moody, who will go on to earn even greater fame as a car owner with John Holman.

Feb. 23, 1958 -- Paul Goldsmith wins the final NASCAR race ever staged on the highway/beach course in Daytona Beach, Fla.

March 6, 1958 -- 4 days after being flagged third, Lee Petty is certified as winner of a 200-lap, 100-mi Concord, NC dirt-track race

Jan. 6, 1959 -- Officials at the brand-new Daytona International Speedway mail out entry blanks for the inaugural Daytona 500, a race that boasts a total purse of $67,760.

Jan. 9, 1959 -- Mark Martin, successful driver Winston Cup and Busch Series racing, is born in Batesville, Ark.

Jan. 13, 1959 -- Ernie Irvan, winner of the ‘91 Daytona 500 & 14 other major NASCAR events since 1990, is born in Salinas, Calif.

Feb. 1, 1959 -- Cars get on the brand-new 2.5-mile, high-banked Daytona International Speedway for the first time.

Feb. 7, 1959 -- Driving a Chevrolet convertible, Gene White is the first driver to qualify for a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race at the Daytona International Speedway

Feb. 20, 1959 -- Shorty Rollins wins the first stock car race at the new Daytona International Speedway, a 100-mile qualifying event for convertibles entered in the Daytona 500.

Feb. 22, 1959 -- The first Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway sees Lee Petty beat Johnny Beauchamp in a photo finish. It takes officials three days to determine the winner.

March 22, 1959 -- After having his apparent victory in the Daytona 500 overturned exactly a month earlier, Johnny Beauchamp gets his first NASCAR Winston Cup victory in a 100-lap race at the 1-mile dirt Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta

The 60’s . . . .

Jan. 31, 1960 -- Television finally discovers NASCAR as the CBS Sports Spectacular airs a two-hour live special on the two qualifying races for the upcoming Daytona 500.

Feb. 8, 1960 -- NASCAR enters drag racing by sanctioning a meet at the Flagler Airport in Flagler Beach, just north of Daytona

Feb. 28, 1960 -- Richard Petty gets the first of his record 200 career NASCAR Winston Cup victories. It's in a 200-lap, 100-mile race at the half-mile dirt Charlotte (N.C.) Fairgrounds Speedway.

March 4, 1961 -- Wendell Scott of Danville, Va. becomes the first African-American to join the NASCAR Winston Cup tour on a full-time basis. His debut at Piedmont Interstate Speedway in Spartanburg, S.C. with a 17th-place finish in a 1960 Chevrolet.

Feb. 24, 1963 -- Tiny Lund, who had helped rescue Marvin Panch from a burning car 11 days earlier, wins the Daytona 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race for the Wood brothers.

March 31, 1963 -- Fireball Roberts, in his first start for the potent Holman-Moody Ford team, leads the final eight laps to win the Southeastern 500 at the Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. He beats teammate Fred Lorenzen, the only other driver in the lead lap, after they renew an old feud by ramming each other during the middle of the race

Jan. 19, 1964 -- Defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion Joe Weatherly is killed during the Motor Trend 500 at the Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway

Jan. 17, 1965 -- Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. introduces its "Racesafe" fuel cell into NASCAR racing at Riverside, Calif. Race.

March 13, 1966 -- Only three of the 13 factory-backed cars finish the Peach Blossom 500 at the N.C. Motor Speedway at Rockingham, but they finish 1-2-8: the Plymouth of Paul Goldsmith, the Ford of Cale Yarborough and the Dodge of David Pearson. Independents Bobby Allison, Harold Smith and John Sears finish third, fourth and fifth.

Jan. 29, 1967 -- Sports car road racer Parnelli Jones wins the rain-delayed Motor Trend 500 at the Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway to snap the four-race RIR winning streak of fellow road racer Dan Gurney.

Feb. 26, 1967 -- Mario Andretti, who later will find fame and fortune in Indy-car and Formula One racing, wins the Daytona 500 in a No. 11 Ford prepared by Holman-Moody.

Feb. 25, 1968 -- Dave Marcis makes his NASCAR Winston Cup debut in the Daytona 500. He's the only active driver to have raced in the decade of the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s. (Later add the 2000’s to that!)

The 70’s . . . .

March 1, 1970 -- James Hylton gets the first of his two career victories, this one in a 500-lap, 271-mile race at the .542-mile Richmond (Va.) Fairgrounds Raceway.

March 24, 1970 -- Buddy Baker is the first stock car driver to run more than 200 miles per hour. He does it in a winged Dodge Daytona during tire tests at the Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Jan. 1, 1971-- NASCAR announces a 10 % reduction in all of its NASCAR Winston Cup race distances due to energy crisis.

Jan. 10, 1971 -- NASCAR's ``modern era'' of Winston Cup racing opens as Ray Elder wins the Motor Trend 500 at the Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway.

Jan. 11, 1972 -- NASCAR founder & president Bill France Sr. retires & passes family business control to his sons, Bill & Jim.

Jan. 18, 1972 -- STP executive Andy Grantelli announces his company's sponsorship deal with Richard Petty's No. 43 NASCAR Winston Cup team, an association that continues to this day.

March 12, 1972 -- Bobby Isaac, who had struggled on superspeedways since winning the 1970 NASCAR Winston Cup championship, beats Richard Petty by a full lap in the Carolina 500 at the N.C. Motor Speedway near Rockingham. It was his 37th career victory, but only his third on a superspeedway.

March 14, 1972 -- David Pearson wins the first race in NASCAR's new short-track Grand National East series. It's run at Jax Raceway in Jacksonville, Fla.

Jan. 21, 1973 -- Mark Donohue, who later will make his mark in Trans-Am and Can-Am racing, gets his only career NASCAR Winston Cup victory in the season-opening Winston Western 500 at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway.

March 25, 1973 -- In a stunning display of speed and handling, Cale Yarborough leads all 500 laps of the Southeastern 500 at the Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. Driving for owners Richard Howard and Junior Johnson, he laps the field within the first 100 laps and beats second-place Richard Petty by two laps and third-place Bobby Allison by five.

Jan. 16, 1975 -- Ricky Rudd outperforms his brother, Al, in a two-man test session at a Virginia short track to see which of them gets to try his hand at NASCAR Winston Cup racing.

Feb. 15, 1976 -- Three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion David Pearson wins the Daytona 500 after a spectacular last-lap, last-turn crash with Richard Petty.

March 21, 1976 -- Presidential candidate and former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter watches in person as David Pearson beats Benny Parsons in the Atlanta 500 at the Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway.

Jan. 12, 1978 -- Drivers, owners and NASCAR officials gather at The Plaza Hotel in New York City to kick off its 1978 season and introduce the "big-city" media to NASCAR stock car racing.

March 5, 1978 -- David Pearson wins the Carolina 500 at the N.C. Motor Speedway near Rockingham. It's his 100th career NASCAR Winston Cup victory, only the second driver besides Richard Petty to reach that level.

Jan. 14, 1979 -- Terry Labonte begins his NASCAR Winston Cup-record streak of 569 consecutive races when he starts the Winston Western 500 at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway

Feb. 11, 1979 -- Buddy Baker wins the inaugural Busch Clash at the Daytona International Speedway.

Feb. 18, 1979 -- The first live, start-to-finish TV coverage of a major NASCAR race sees Richard Petty win the Daytona 500 after Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison crash each other on the last lap.

March 11, 1979 -- After wrecking with Donnie Allison at Daytona Beach and Rockingham, N.C., Cale Yarborough stays out of trouble and wins the Richmond 400 at the Richmond (Va.) Fairgrounds Raceway.

The 80’s . . . .

March 9, 1980 -- Cale Yarborough wins the Carolina 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway near Rockingham in his backup car after destroying his primary car in practice. The event is postponed for a week by a snow storm.

Feb. 13, 1982 -- Dale Earnhardt wins the first NASCAR Busch Series race at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.

March 28, 1982 -- Diane Teel, a school bus driver from York County, Va., is the first female to qualify for a NASCAR Busch Series race. She starts 19th and finishes 10th in a 250-lapper at the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway

Jan. 23, 1983 -- The inaugural NASCAR Winston Cup Media Tour opens for writers, broadcasters and photographers at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The successful event continues each January.

Feb. 9, 1987 -- Bill Elliott sets an all-time Daytona International Speedway qualifying record with a lap of 210.364 mph in time trials for the Daytona 500.

March 27, 1988 -- Lake Speed upsets the favorites for his only career victory in the TranSouth 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Feb. 19, 1989 -- Darrell Waltrip gets 132.5 miles from his final tank of fuel to win the Daytona 500 in his 17th try. He beats Hendrick Motorsports teammate Ken Schrader, then Dale Earnhardt, Hendrick driver Geoff Bodine and Phil Parsons. Waltrip celebrates his victory with a modified version of the ``Ickey Shuffle.''

March 19, 1989 -- Midwestern short-track legend Dick Trickle finishes third behind Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt in a 500-mile NASCAR Winston Cup race at Atlanta International Motor Speedway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway). It remains Trickle's career-best NASCAR Winston Cup finish.

The 90’s . . . .

Jan. 2, 1992-- Anne France, wife of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. & mother of Bill & Jim France, dies in Ormond Beach, Fla.

March 7, 1993 -- Davey Allison, one of the sport's most popular drivers, gets the last of his 19 career victories, this one over Rusty Wallace and Alan Kulwicki at Richmond International Raceway.

March 10, 1994 -- Shawna Robinson becomes the first woman to win the pole for a major NASCAR touring event. It happens at a NASCAR Busch Series race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, near Hampton, Ga.

March 16, 1997 -- The NASCAR Busch Series runs a 300-miler at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, the first time the tour goes west of the Mississippi River. Jeff Green wins for the Diamond Ridge-owned team

April 1, 1993 -- Reigning NASCAR Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki and three other men are killed when their private plane crashes near Bristol, Tenn., arriving for the April 4 NASCAR Winston Cup race.

Feb. 12, 1994 -- Loy Allen becomes the first rookie in NASCAR's modern era to win the pole (190.158 mph) for the Daytona 500.

Jan. 7, 1995-- Chad Little was the first NASCAR Busch Series driver to come from a provisional starting position to win a superspeedway race. He did it after starting 42nd in the 1995 season-opening Goody's 300 at the Daytona International Speedway.

Feb. 5, 1995 -- Mike Skinner wins the first official NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Phoenix (Ariz.) Intl. Raceway.

Feb. 16, 1997 -- Chevrolet drivers Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven give Hendrick Motorsports an unprecedented 1-2-3 finish in the Daytona 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race at the Daytona International Speedway.

March 2, 1997 -- Rusty Wallace gets his 47th career NASCAR Winston Cup victory and his only one of 1997 in the Pontiac 400 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. But Wallace must wait until inspectors pore over his Ford's engine before the victory is certified the next morning.

March 23, 1997 -- Dale Jarrett, son of 1965 Mountain Dew Southern 500 winner Ned Jarrett, wins the TranSouth 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway to become only the second second-generation to win on NASCAR's first paved superspeedway. The others were father Buck Baker and son Buddy, who combined for five (Buck three, Buddy two) victories at the track.

March 29, 1997 -- At 55, Dick Trickle becomes the oldest winner in NASCAR Busch Series history by winning the Galaxy Foods 300-lap race at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

April 6, 1997 -- Jeff Burton gets his first career victory, and the first of three in 1997, in the inaugural Interstate Batteries 500 at the new Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth.