Fantasy NASCAR Racing

Often called the birthplace of speed; the sands of Daytona saw a lot of racing.  Long before NASCAR invaded the hard packed sands of Daytona; drivers had been coming there to set straight line speed records.  Between 1905 and 1935, at least 13 organized events took place on the beach and 15 land speed records were set, including the 276.82mph record set in 1935 by Sir Malcolm Campbell.  Once speeds reached well over 200 mph, the Bonneville Salt Flats became the choice course since Daytona Beach was too narrow for the higher speeds.  Car racing had been going on on the beach since 1938.  The course was a four mile lap.  Two miles up the beach; then a hard u-turn onto highway A1A and two miles down the asphalt with another hard turn back onto the beach.  NASCAR officially started racing there after the formal creation of NASCAR; so the first 'official" race was held in July of 1949.  It was won by the previous years NASCAR Modified Champion Red Byron.  The series raced there every year through 1958 when Daytona International Speedway was open.  The race was always competitive with only two drivers managing to