1964 Daytona 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 8 of 62 in the 1964 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
 Track map of Daytona International Speedway showing mainly the speedway. | |||
| Date | February 23, 1964 | ||
| Location | Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.02 km) | ||
| Distance | 200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching up to 55 °F (13 °C); wind speeds approaching 13 miles per hour (21 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 154.334 miles per hour (248.376 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Paul Goldsmith | Ray Nichels | |
| Time | 174.91 miles per hour (281.49 km/h) | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | |
| Laps | 184 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 43 |
Richard Petty |
Petty Enterprises | |
The 1964 Daytona 500, the 6th running of the event, was held on February 23, 1964 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida over 200 laps on the 2.5 mile (4 km) asphalt tri-oval.
Summary
The race was won by Richard Petty who piloted a 1964 Plymouth. Petty drove his number 43 to victory in 3 hours and 14 minutes. There were three caution flags which slowed the race for 19 laps. A new Plymouth racing machine debuted in this race; NASCAR ordered the teams who had it to ordered to sandbag it during practice and qualifying due to their superiority.[2]
The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.
Bobby Marshman would retire from NASCAR Grand National Series racing after the conclusion of this event.[2] For some drivers, this would be their last Daytona 500 as the 1960s was an especially brutal era for NASCAR. Jimmy Pardue killed later in the year in a test crash. Billy Wade killed in a tire test in January 1965. Bobby Marshman killed in a test crash in late 1964 at Phoenix. Fireball Roberts died in July from injuries inflicted while racing at the 1964 World 600 and Joe Weatherly was killed at Riverside in early 1964.
Top ten finishers
- Richard Petty –#43
- Jimmy Pardue –#54
- Paul Goldsmith –#25
- Marvin Panch –#21
- Jim Paschal –#5
- Billy Wade –#1
- Darel Dieringer –#16
- Larry Frank –#29
- Junior Johnson –#3
- Dave MacDonald –#17
References
- ↑ "Weather of the 1964 Daytona 500". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2015-01-25.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "1964 Daytona 500". racing-reference.info. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
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