Once Upon A Time In Daytona

   Imagine this for a screenplay:

   A down-on-his-luck race driver with no prospect of a ride travels to Florida in the long-odds-hope that some car owner will give him a chance in the Daytona 500, NASCAR's biggest event.

   The guy has only 18 cents in his pocket when he departs his home in South Carolina.

   Not long after arriving, he's entering Daytona International Speedway via the tunnel under the fourth turn when there's a crash almost above his head.  He emerges from the tunnel to see an exotic sports car upside down and ablaze on the track, the driver trapped inside the cockpit.

   The rideless driver, a big man, rushes to the fiery scene and is the key figure in a dramatic rescue.  He saves the injured driver, who turns out to be a friend, from almost certain death in the flames.

   From a hospital bed, the driver who suffered burns requests that his entry in the Daytona 500 be turned over to the hero that helped thwart an awful tragedy in the blazing wreck.  The team owner agrees, and the brave chap who seemingly had little chance of even starting the 500 rolls to a fairy tale, storybook victory.

   Seems too hokey even for Hollywood, even by its low standards in filming auto racing-related movies.

   However, it really happened.    

    

   The year was 1963.

   The driver experiencing tough times was the colorful DeWayne "Tiny" Lund, a native Iowan who for some years had made his home at Cross, S.C., where he operated a fishing camp on sprawling Santee-Cooper Reservoir.

   The driver involved in the crash was Marvin Panch, a highly-respected racing veteran who had the seat in a potent Wood Brothers Ford for the 500.

   Ten days prior to the big NASCAR show the speed-loving Panch was test-driving a beautiful, low-slung Maserati that had been equipped with a stock car racing engine.  Panch  was intent on turning a lap in excess of 180 mph and earning a bonus of $10,000 that had been posted by Bill France, Sr., founder of NASCAR and the 2.5-mile Daytona track, which had opened in 1959.

   Panch appeared on his way to the prize when the Maserati flipped in the fourth turn.  Leaking fuel caught fire as Panch tried to scramble from the car.

   Lund and four others leaped the safety barrier and ran to Panch's aid as the blaze grew in intensity.  Tiny, whose nickname was a misnomer in that he was 6-5 and weighed about 275 pounds, somehow withstood the gathering inferno to grab Panch by the ankles and pull him free.

   Although not life-threatening, it was obvious that Panch's injuries would keep him sidelined for some time.  He asked that as a gesture of his great appreciation that the Wood Brothers, Virginians Glen and Leonard, let Lund drive their No. 21 Ford.

   Naturally, the fun-loving Lund gleefully accepted the Woods' offer.  On Feb. 22, 1963, Lund drove the car to a sixth-place finish in a 100-mile qualifying race, which was won by Texan Johnny Rutherford in a Chevrolet owned and engineered by Smokey Yunick.  An earlier 100-miler was taken by Junior Johnson of N.C. moonshine-hauling notoriety, in a Chevy fielded by Ray Fox.

   These two Chevrolets generally were rated co-favorites for the 500 on Feb. 24, along with the pole-winning Pontiac of Fireball Roberts and the Ford of Fred Lorenzen.  The latter two had taken the two front-row starting spots in time trials.

   Lund held the 12th starting position in a 50-car field.

   The start of the 500 was held up for just over an hour by rain and 50 mph winds.

   As expected, Roberts surged ahead at the green flag and led the first 10 laps.  Then, the front-spot began to trade regularly among a number of the competitors.  Among those to lead were Bobby Johns, Paul Goldsmith, A.J. Foyt, Rex White, G.C. Spencer, Larry Frank, Ned Jarrett and Lorenzen.  Lund finally made it atop the leader board for Laps 158-162 in the 200-lap chase.  He also led Lap 185 when others began pitting for fuel.

   As Jarrett made his last fuel stop on Lap 193, Lund inherited the lead--and he didn't relinquish it.

   The savvy Wood Brothers had devised a stragety through which they could cover the 500 miles with one less pit stop than their rivals.  So Lund didn't have to come in for a quick splash of gas to get him to the finish.

   Incredibly, the Woods didn't change a single tire on their car.  It remains the only occasion in Daytona 500 history that a team has made it all the way without swapping rubber.

   Lund took the checkered flag 24 seconds ahead of runnerup Lorenzen.  Jarrett, also driving a Ford, finished third and was the only other driver to complete all 200 laps.

   A beaming Lund literally howled in Victory Lane with the grinning Wood Brothers at his side.  The win was worth a then-heady $24,550 to the team and to the driver who had gone to Daytona Beach with pennies in his pocket.

   "Seeing Tiny Lund enjoy his moment  of triumph will always be one of the best memories I have in racing," says Leonard Wood.

   A few months later Lund received an even greater "trophy" than that he was presented for winning the Daytona 500.  Tiny was awarded the prestigious Carnegie Medal For Heroism for his selfless bravery in saving the life of Marvin Panch.

   Over the next decade Lund's racing fortune relatively flourished.  He won NASCAR Grand American Division championships in 1968, '70 and '71.  He was that circuit's Most Popular Driver for four successive seasons, 1969-72.

   Then, on Aug. 17, 1975, a day that will be remembered among Lund's friends and fans as dark and dreadful, he lost his life at age 42 in a crash during the Talladega 500 at the track then known as Alabama International Motor Speedway.

  So many people attended his funeral, including almost every notable in NASCAR, that the throng overflowed the grounds of a small Catholic church in Moncks Corner, S.C.  Tiny was laid to rest under a stately oak tree in a nearby cemetery.

   One pal, grizzled old fishing guide John Sellars, who had worked at Lund's camp from time to time, wept unashamedly as the casket was lowered into the ground.

   "This is awful hard to accept," said Sellars.  "But knowing the joy and pride Tiny always held from winning the Daytona 500 in 1963 makes it a bit easier.

   "For a few days Tiny got to do something that most of us will never know.  He lived a fairy tale."