History Daytona Beach - Early Land Speed & Stock Car Racing

Great Thread. Love the Golden Arrow. These guys had some big ones.

 

Preety sure that is Barney Oldfield driving Wintons Bullet

 

Alexander Winton was the original driver of Bullet #2 but Oldfield and Earl H Kiser both drove it to record performances as well. I don't know which one is in the picture.

 

I'm not a NASCAR guy so you'll have to help me out here. A good friend of mine used to pit for a guy who raced at Daytona in the late 50's, early 60's. I believe the driver's last name was White and he was from Missouri(?). White drove a 61 Starliner, which suppose to be the last car to ever run the Flying Mile, and is on the cover of a book with a title something like "Thunderbolts". After the car war retired in 62 or 63, my friend bought it less engine. He cut out the rollbars, put new sheetmetal on it, and gave it a paint job. He put it back on the street for a few years and then sold it. In the mid 1990's, as he was looking at some other junk cars, he found it again laying upside down. He recognized it by the tach still on the dashboard. He bought it for scrap value. When he got it home he ran the numbers and verified it was the same car. I saw the car in this state and it was a mess. It of course still had the holes in the floor for the roll bars and the riveted on new quarters. My friend ended up selling the remains to a guy, but restored the car for him. I believe it is now in Illinois.

Does anyone have any pictures of this car from back in the day?

 

There was a Rex White who drove a Chevrolet. No luck yet on finding the guy you're looking for. I'll keep trying.

 

I have found photos of '61 Fords @ Daytona, but none with a driver named White.

 

I have posted this photo before but I think it qualifies for this thread. Another Golden Arrow circa 1929.

 

Rex White did drive a Ford, both early and late in his career. I know him well. But he was known for driving gold #4 Chevies. He won the Grand National Championship in 60'. HE is the oldest living Nascar Champion.

 

Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss was into motorcycles before planes. The first motorcycle he built was a single cylinder powered bike he completely built including the engine in 1901. By 1907 he had built this V-8 powered motorcycle and took it to Ormand Beach where he became the "fastest man on the planet" with a run of 136.36 MPH. The record stood until 1911 before being topped by an automobile. It would be 1930 before a motorcycle ran a faster speed. Curtiss used his racing bikes as the groundwork for his future aviation endeavors.

 

Report on the March 8, 1936 AAA race on the beach course.

http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.c...na-beach-started-the-momentum-for-stock-cars/

 

Here's the 1957 "Mercury Mermaid" @ Daytona Beach:

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... and the results from Daytona Beach Speed Week 1957:

page 53 of the February 25th 1957 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine​

NOTE: The SI "DAYTONA'S SPEED CARNIVAL" article is a pretty good read ... just click HERE ... and go to page 50.

 

Chrysler 300 "letter cars" @ Daytona Beach ...

... 1955 C-300s:

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... 1956 300 Bs:

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... 1957 300 C:

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... 1960 300-F:

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... and 1961 300 G:

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Looking forward to this. I was there in 1956. 12 years old. Will never forget that.

 

Subscribed! This thread is going to be great, me thinks! Gary

 

That is really insane, not kind of insane, really insane!
The winner averaged 82 mph in the rutted mess, real balls!

 

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What a trip down memory lane. Thanks for posting.

 

Wow, some great material!

 

Couple of covers from 1957....