Celebrating NASCAR Day 2024 with a Look at NASCAR’s Milestone Moments

May 14, 2024

NASCAR Day takes place the third Friday of May each year. The racing community comes together to celebrate their love of cars as well as raise awareness for local charities and non-profits, and bring some positivity to the community! The NASCAR foundation aims to help support children’s medical needs and help families in the communities where we all live, work, and race. This year’s giveathon will be hosted online over a 37 hour period and you can support the positive cause here!

Founded in 2003 to bring the NASCAR community and its employees together in order to support children’s health and wellbeing all across the country! It’s celebrated on the 3rd Friday in May every year. Each NASCAR day, all the fans, sponsors and corporate partners, drivers, and celebrity supporters band together to fundraise for charitable children’s organizations and the NASCAR Foundation. It’s also a way for everyone in the racing industry to give back to their community of supporters!

In 2006, Betty Jane France, wife of the late Bill France Jr, NASCAR’s former Chairman and CEO, began a long legacy of Humanitarian work by founding The NASCAR Foundation. In addition, she also established the wonderful “Speediatrics” division of children’s health care units at Halifax Health in Daytona Beach and Homestead Hospital in South Florida. Following the success of Speediatrics, she then went on to found the Speediatrics Children’s Fund to further efforts of children’s medical care across the entire US!

We love learning that one of our favorite interests has done so much good in the world.

A brief History of NASCAR: We’re sharing some highlights from the history of NASCAR sports with these milestone moments!

In late 1947, Bill France Sr organized a special meeting in Daytona Beach Florida to talk about the future of stock car racing, and thus the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing was born! The organization wasted no time at all getting things off the ground, hosting their first official NASCAR race in Daytona on January 15th of 1948. The first winner was Red Byron!

In June of 1949, the first NASCAR “Strictly Stock Race”, now called the NASCAR Cup Series, was held at the Charlotte Fairgrounds Speedway. Although the winner of the race was Bob Flock, it was a monumental win for women in racing as Sara Christian became the first woman to race in the premier division.

A decade later in February 1959, the Daytona International Speedway hosted the very first Daytona 500, drawing a crowned of more than 41,000 fans! It was a hotly contested win, ultimately decided more than 60 hours after the conclusion of the race; after examining photographic evidence, the winner is determined to be Lee Petty.

A few short years later in 1963, the incredible Wendell Scott breaks barriers and shatters records by becoming the first Black driver to win a race in the NASCAR Premier Series at Jacksonville Speedway (you can learn more about Wendell Scott by scrolling through our social media and checking out our previous Black History Month posts!)

In February 1977, Janet Guthrie moved mountains and became the first woman to compete in the Daytona 500, qualifying for position 39 and finishing in 12th.

In February 1979, CBS covered the first live coverage race of a 500-mile NASCAR event with the Daytona 500.

In July of 1984, Richard Petty set an as yet unbroken record with his 200th win in the Firecracker 400 race!

In 2010, the NASCAR Hall of Fame inducted its first members: Bill France Sr, Bill France Jr, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Junior Johnson

What are some of your favorite moments in NASCAR history? Let us know in a comment!