Daytona Through The Decades

   FIRST IN A FIVE-PART SERIES ON FEBRUARY RACING AT DAYTONA BEACH

   By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea...

   That's where Cotton Owens, his fellow drivers and the crews of NASCAR's foremost circuit, then known as the Grand National Series, were gathered in mid-February of 1957.

   They were back in Florida to race once again on the storied Beach and Road Course a few miles south of Daytona Beach.  The layout measured 3.2 miles, split evenly between the hard-packed oceanside sand and the straight-as-an-arrow asphalt of U.S. A-1A.  Short, hairpin turns in the sand connected the two long straightaways, giving the "track" the appearance of an elongated paper clip. 

   Racing on what was popularly known as "the Beach Course" had begun in 1936, was discontinued 1942-45 because of World War II, and resumed in '46.

   In 1957 NASCAR founder/president Big Bill France was in the process of building a high-banked, 2.5-mile superspeedway just west of Daytona Beach, so competitors and fans alike were aware that beach racing soon would pass into history.  It might even happen as soon as 1958, depending on the progress of the trioval track's construction.

   "Everyone wanted to be the last driver to win on the beach, so the situation was especially intense," the late superstar, Tim Flock, once recalled.

      

   Flock was the winner of a NASCAR Convertible Division race on Feb. 16, and he was widely favored to win again 24 hours later in the main event.

   However, the handsome Georgian was outqualified by several rivals, including Banjo Matthews, who won the pole at a 134.328 mph as a teammate of Owens in a Pontiac Chieftan fielded by Ray Nichels.  Matthews was followed in time trials by Jack Smith, Owens,  Fonty Flock and Tiny Lund.

   The qualifying runs of Matthews and Owens earned a lot of attention because they were driving two of only five Pontiacs in the field of 57 cars.

   With a crowd estimated at 35,000 roaring over the sound of the surf, Owens immediately showed he deserved the respect, surging into the lead on the first lap with a hard-charging Paul Goldsmith trailing slightly in second place in a '57 Chevrolet.

   Owens, a native of Union, S.C., who was then 32, led the first 10 of the 39 laps in the 159.9-mile race.  Goldsmith led Lap 11; Owens led Laps 12-23; Goldsmith led Laps 24-31; and then Owens Laps 32-39.

   Goldsmith appeared headed to victory, holding a 25-second lead when smoke started trailing from his car.  He went to his pit, where car owner/crew chief Smokey Yunick diagnosed the trouble as a burned piston.

   "This beach course, especially the turns, which become rutted, is very hard on equipment," said Goldsmith.

   "I was gaining rapidly on Paul.  I think I might could have run him down," remembers Owens.

   Cotton didn't have do face that challenge.

  With Goldsmith sidelined, Owens found himself with a lead of almost a minute over Chevy's Johnny Beauchamp.  Owens held the advantage and took the checkered flag 55 seconds in front.

   It was a significant triumph.

   Through the years Owens had ranked among NASCAR's top competitors, winning more than 100 feature events in the Modified Division.  But this was his first Grand National victory in 27 starts dating to 1950.   

   It also was the first Grand National win for Pontiac. 

   Owens averaged 100.541 mph, the first time a Grand National victor had topped 100 mph.   

   The popular, soft-spoken Owens beamed almost as bright as the sunshine that bathed the beach that day.  He received heart-felt congratulations all around, including from his rival drivers.

   "There's no doubt it's the greatest win I had as a driver," Owens said this week.  "See, except for two seasons, I didn't run all the Grand National races.  I stuck with my modified cars.  I was pretty much a part-time Grand National driver, so winning on the beach was very big for me and I look back to 50 years ago with a lot of pleasure.

   "I think people have sort of lost sight of how tough that beach course race really was.  It was difficult getting through those sandy, hairpin turns.  They became deeply rutted and the ruts could pitch a car almost anywhere.  It took every bit of your driving skill and strength to muscle a car through those turns.  We had no power steering in those days, remember.  If there was another car alongside it doubled or even tripled the difficulty.

   "I was lucky on the latter count.  Except for just a very few laps, no one was near me when I went into the turns." 

  Owens was destined to win eight more times over the next eight seasons, but none of the succeeding victories came close to matching what he accomplished Feb. 17, 1957 on the beach a few miles north of Ponce Inlet.

   His best overall season came in 1959, when he won two races, posted 22 top ten finishes in 37 starts and wound up second to champion Lee Petty in the point standings.

   Cotton retired as a driver after the '64 tour, concentrating fulltime on  fielding cars for others, which he had started doing in 1960.

   As a team owner, Owens amassed 39 victories, including 15 wins in 42 starts by driver David Pearson in a tremendous '66 season when the two paired to take NASCAR's top championship.

   Owens captured the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in 1970 with Buddy Baker driving Cotton's sleek orange and black No. 6 Dodge, a car that once was displayed in the track's museum, but since has been sold to a collector.

   Owens discontinued his racing operation in 1973.

   The past five decades have brought honor-upon-honor to Cotton Owens.  Included are memberships in various motorsports halls of fame, the Smokey Yunick LIfetime Achievement Award and The Order Of The Palmetto, South Carolina's highest civilian honor.

   NASCAR named him among its 50 greatest drivers in 1998.

   Owens is 81 now, but has continued to oversee operation of a busy garage in Spartanburg, S.C., where he has lived most of his life.  Owens said he's now in the process of selling the business.

   "I'm still going to work," he hastened to add.  "It'll just be at a different place.  I've already restored and sold a couple of cars my drivers raced--the winged Dodge Buddy Baker drove and a '64 Dodge Polara.  My next project is restoring the '66 Dodge Charger that David Pearson drove to the championship."

   Owens has a website that provides a window into the fascinating early days of NASCAR.

   Turns out Cotton wasn't the last Beach Course winner.  That honor went to Goldsmith, who triumphed in 1958, edging the legendary Curtis Turner by five car lengths.

  Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959.  Lee Petty beat Beauchamp by inches in a finish that wasn't made official for four days.

  The Beach Course's colorful days were over.

   Almost every year when Speed Weeks roll around at Daytona Beach, Cotton Owens heads to Florida to join friends like Ray Fox and other oldtimers who competed on the sands.  The occasion is The Living Legends of Stock Car Racing organization's annual banquet, an event that usually draws about 1,500 fans.

   If Cotton attends this time, he can with justifiable pride and satisfaction, look back 50 years--a half-century--to the special February day he spent in that Pontiac beside the sea.

   He should drive out there and ride down the old beach course and A-1A again for old time's sake.

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   NEXT: MARIO ANDRETTI SCORES A SURPRISING VICTORY IN THE 1967 DAYTONA 500.