Daytona 500 1960

In 1960 the Daytona 500 was just getting going having moved off the beach and into the new Speedway a year ago. The sport of stock car racing was still young and there was room for young drivers with a little money but a lot of talent to win. Junior Johnson, who's father was a moonshiner and who learned to drive running moonshine, knew how to drive fast but his '59 Chevy was a year older than the likely winners' '60 Plymouths -- the Petty brothers, Richard and Lee. Well Johnson discovered something he called the "draft" or the slipstream. He found that if he held back a bit and drove right behind the faster cars the air draft created by the lead cars would pull him along and at the right time give him a chance to catapult right by them. It worked and he won. Coming in second was Bobby Johns in a '59 Pontiac. The Pettys came in 3d and fourth. S026