VIDEO SPECIAL: Daytona 500 Held On the Beach In 1952, Safety Devices Were Few
By Space Coast Daily // May 14, 2019
inaugural race was road course that included trekking across the World's Most Famous Beach
ABOVE VIDEO: The 1952 Nascar Daytona Beach Race was literally held on the beach with very few safety devices. This is color footage of the 1952 Daytona Beach race and a driver named Jimmy Johnson was part of the action.
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When NASCAR began racing in Daytona Beach in the 1940s, there was no concern about drafting or restrictor plates.
It wasn’t on the 2.5-mile superspeedway all fans are familiar with today.
The inaugural race was a road course that included trekking across the sand on the World’s Most Famous Beach and the parallel State Road A1A.
Top speeds barely exceeded 100 miles per hour.
The most treacherous part of the track was the corner exiting the pavement onto the beach near the start/finish line.

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