64 days until Daytona: How Richard Petty scored his first 500 win

It’s 64 days until the 2017 Daytona 500 will be televised live on FOX, and therefore time to reflect back on the 1964 Daytona 500.

It was the first of a record seven 500s that Hall of Famer Richard Petty would win, as he dominated in his No. 43 ’64 Plymouth featuring a Hemi engine that would be allowed by NASCAR a year later.

It would help springboard Petty to the first of his seven championships in the NASCAR Premier Series, which recently took on its latest name – the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Petty’s seven championships remain tied with current driver Jimmie Johnson and the late Dale Earnhardt for the most of all time.

Petty led 184 of 200 laps en route to the win, pocketing $33,300 – then a staggering amount – for his victory.

He did not return to defend his race win the following season, sitting out not only the 1965 Daytona 500 but also the 33 races of the ’65 season in protest after NASCAR outlawed the Hemi engine.

But in ’64, he was only beginning to enjoy its benefits. He would go on to win eight more races, and finished in the top 10 in 43 of 61 starts back in an era when oft-failing equipment made finishing races far more difficult than it is today.