Hail To The Chief--And The King

  It was billed as potentially the grandest Fourth of July in Daytona Beach history.

  That day in 1984 far exceeded the billing, producing one of the most memorable races I witnessed during 40 years of covering NASCAR.

  With the approach of each July 4th, what happened that Independence Day 22 years ago continues to revive a thrill.

   The scene was Daytona International Speedway.  The event was the track's Firecracker 400 classic, a race immensely popular with fans because they not only got to enjoy high speed action, but Daytona's famous beaches and other summertime attractions as well.

   Making the proceedings even more special in '84 was the fact that President Ronald Reagan was flying to Florida from Washington on Air Force One to attend, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to watch a race in person.

   Me and most of the other wretches of the press headed for the speedway much earlier than usual to avoid what we knew would be a massive traffic jam created by the presidential visit.  As expected, the president's trip to Daytona Beach brought along scads of Secret Service personnel.  They understandably established security checkpoints to screen everyone entering the track.

   Metal detectors, like those used at airports, were in place at each gate.

   The president was to watch the race from the tower suite of NASCAR's founder, Big Bill France.  The suite was located adjacent to the press box.

   This meant that everyone with access to the tower underwent very extra scrutiny from the G-men.

    

   

 

   We reporters had to go through four checkpoints, including one at the base of the stairs.  There, an apologetic agent required us to remove laptop computers from our bags for a fourth time.  And this time we had to take them apart!

   I pled that I barely knew how to turn the computer on and off, much less dismantle it and then reassemble the contraption.  The agent was sympathetic, but handed me a small screw driver to remove the laptop's cover anyway.

   "After all this," I told pals after eventually reaching the press box, "the race is going to be anti-climactic."

   Wrong!

   President Reagan gave the "Gentlemen, start your engines!" command via radio from Air Force One while in flight.  He arrived after the race began, dropping in on what evolved into one of NASCAR's all-time greatest shows.

   As the president watched the cars go by in a blur at almost 200 mph, I was able to have a little fun in the press box.

   A journeyman driver named Ken Ragan happened to come down pit road with his car spewing smoke, which trailed in a big, white plume.

   "My God!" I yelled.  "Ragan has blown!"

   All the media people within earshot chuckled.  But four Secret Servicemen stationed in the press box jumped from their seats and glowered. 

   Looking back, maybe I shouldn't have done it.

   Nevertheless, the race continued to build in excitement.  With only 20 of the 160 laps remaining on the storied 2.5-mile speedway, superstars Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough were locked in a stirring duel.

   At stake for King Richard, a seven-time series champion, was a triumph he would treasure for the rest of his life--a 200th and final victory at NASCAR's top level, where he would continue driving through 1992.

   Adding to the drama was the fact that Petty was a Republican member of the commission back home in North Carolina's Randolph County, and he had played a big role in getting the GOP's Reagan to come to Daytona Beach.

   With two laps to go the car of rookie Doug Heveron flipped wildly into the grassy area near Turn One, bringing out the yellow flag.  Since leader Petty and the second place Yarborough already had passed the flagstand, they were free to race all the way around the track.

   Both drivers were aware there was no way the race would be restarted, so whoever got back to the line first would be the winner.

   Down the backstretch three-time series champion Yarborough pulled an aerodynamic slingshot, at which he was a master, and surged into the lead.  However, Petty rallied hard and drew abreast of Cale in Turn Four.

   As the two thundered into the trioval homestretch they scraped sheet metal, spewing sparks and smoke.  Their cars appeared welded together, with Petty on the inside groove and Yarborough on the outside.

   Just before the finish line the cars parted slightly and Petty's Pontiac spurted ahead a bit to edge Yarborough's Chevrolet by mere inches.

   An estimated crowd of 80,000 gasped at what they had just witnessed.  So did President Reagan.

   Even the veteran, savvy Yarborough was swept up by the thrill of the sensational shootout, and when he came back around the track he drove down pit road.  Cale thought the race had been back to the checkered flag.  However, a lap under caution remained to be run.

  Frantic shouts and waves from his crew sent Yarborough back onto the track, but by now he was relegated to third place.

   Thus developed one of the greatest, most amusing trivia questions in NASCAR history: Who finished second in the 1984 Firecracker 400?  The inclination is to say Yarborough because of the unforgettable photographs and TV footage of he and Petty charging to the line side-by-side.

   However, the correct answer is Harry Gant, who became the runnerup when Yarborough confusingly went to pit road.

   Moments after taking the checkered flag, Petty stopped at the gate under the flagstand and was escorted through an ecstatic swarm of fans upstairs to meet President Reagan.

   "It blowed the president's mind that me and Cale could touch like that at 200 miles an hour and maintain control," Petty, near tears, said after meeting Reagan.  "I can't say how much this means to me.

   "During that last green flag lap, I didn't have an idea what I was going to do.  It was a circumstance where Cale would act and I would react."

   President Reagan likened the courage of Petty and Yarborough--and the other drivers as well--to that of the country's founding fathers.  It was heady stuff to have unfurled at any time, but especially so on Independence Day.

   It will remain special for all time in NASCAR lore, for American history transpired that day in 1984 that isn't likely to be repeated:

   Petty's car of red, white and blue was destined for enshrinement in the nation's greatest museum, the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.

   But there was much, much more beyond this.

   For almost certainly the only time it ever will happen, a county commissioner upstaged the President Of The United States.