FLORIDA (USA)
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DAYTONA SPEEDWAY
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1953 - DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY IS BORN
By 1953 Bill France Senior decided it was time to build a modern speedway complex that would cater for the ever increasing speeds and large crowds that wanted to watch American Stock Car Racing.
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1954 - JOHNNY ROBERTS
Turn 5 Turn Around facebook Photo feature
1954 - Johnny Roberts on the sand at Daytona Beach. Photo: Brian Tidball collection.
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1955 - DAYTONA BEACH ROAD CIRCUIT
France began construction of the new 2.5mile Super Speedway in 1956 while the street and beach circuit continued to hold events.
Photo's: unknown.
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1957 - DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY. The Vision. 25th November 1957.
Florida: A History In Pictures (The Group)
25th November 1957 - The vision of Bill France all those years ago. Photo: Jack Aparicio collection.
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1958 - DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY. Opening.
With the closure of the road and beach circuit Daytona International opened on the 23rd of Febuary 1958, with the running of the first Daytona 500 the following year.
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1959 - DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY. DAYTONA 500. 20th > 22nd February 1959.1959 saw the running of the first Daytona 500 race on the 22nd of February 1959, this event was won by Lee Petty in an Oldsmobile from Johnny Beauchamp and Charlie Griffith in third, the race distance being two hundred laps.
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