The following article is from NASCAR.com

David Pearson, a three-time Cup Series champion who had a phenomenal history at Daytona International Speedway, won only one Daytona 500 -- but his victory in the 18th annual running of the Great American Race was perhaps one of the most dramatic in the 42-year history of the event that has become the crown jewel of the series.

Midwest veteran Ramo Stott started from the pole in a Chevrolet, but A.J. Foyt was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 185.943 mph in Hoss Ellington's Chevrolet. Foyt's lap was one of three that was disallowed on pole day, elevating Stott into the pole position.

Pearson, who drove the Wood Brothers No. 21 Mercury, led only 37 laps in the event in which veteran drivers such as Bobby Allison and Buddy Baker played a big part. But they, along with other stalwarts such as Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough and Foyt failed to finish the race.

With the exception of one lap led by 1975 Cup champion Benny Parsons, Pearson and Petty, driving the famous No. 43 Dodge, dominated the final 46 laps of the race, swapping positions three times. Pearson led from Laps 155-165, Petty paced 166-175 and Parsons led 176. Pearson and Petty led the next 11 and 12 laps, respectively, gauging each others' strengths until the final lap.

The last half-lap was a Daytona classic. Pearson used the draft to pass Petty going into Turn 3. Pearson slipped high after making the pass and Petty slid back underneath him. They ran side by side through Turn 4, before the cars made contact exiting the corner.

"I'm not sure what happened," Pearson said at the time. "He went beneath me and his car broke loose. I got into the wall and came off and hit him. That's what started all the spinning, I think."

Petty crashed into the outside wall, then spun into the trioval grass, scant yards from the finish line. Pearson spun to the pit entrance, made contact with Joe Frasson's car, then spun back toward the race track. Through it all, he engaged the clutch and kept the engine running. When Pearson straightened his car out, he was able to stagger across the line and win the event.

Pearson averaged 152.181 mph and won $46,800. Petty's crew attempted to push his car across the finish line but that was not allowed, so he was credited with second, one lap down.

Parsons, Lennie Pond and Neil Bonnett rounded out the top-5 finishers.

ABC Coverage of the 1976 Daytona 500

The three following You Tube videos show the race coverage from ABC. The finish rates in the top ten of all-time race finishes depending on who you ask. It should be top five but what do you do? It is not the whole race but portions of them. Before 1979, complete NASCAR races shown start to finish were not covered like they are today. Usually, they were seen in segments during the Wide World of Sports program. These videos seem seamless but you need to pay close attention to the action to know what part of the race you are viewing. The braodcasters that day were Keith Jackson and Jackie Stewart. The video at times is sketchy. Combined they are about 26 minutes long.

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 of 3, The Dramatic Finish!

Daytona 500 Automobile Manufacturer Winners List

Chevrolet 20
Ford 11
Plymouth 4
Dodge 4
Mercury 3
Oldsmobile 3
Pontiac 3
Buick 3

The Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson,

The NASCAR Champion of 2009

Click on the picture to read more. Learn more about Jimmie Johnson at Lowe's Racing and The Jimmie Johnson Foundation.

"The Fatal Current" Here is a neat movie that shows how the misuse of electricity can be fatal. Ben Franklin is busy cleaning his dishes as he is making breakfast. Unknown to him, his toaster has a bad cord and has energized the metal housing of his toaster, at least I hope he did not know about it, he should have known better to get it fixed. Being the efficient founding father and inventor, he reaches over to get the toast and touches the energized housing. This is a fatal error because the plumbing is bonded and grounded to the neutral side of his service. Since the toaster did not have a ground plug and the metal housing of the toaster was not grounded to that plug, Ben has now become the grounding source for the electricity to return. You think Mr. Franklin would have known better to have his receptacles GFI protected in the kitchen! The current flows through his body, right through the heart and that is the end of a great founding father. I want to give my thanks to Code Check, where I found this movie and Paddy Morrissey, their illustrator, for allowing me to display this movie. Code Check is a company that authors code manuals and teaches code seminars in an entertaining and knowledgable way. Paddy Morrissey is a comedian, actor, writer, graphic designer and all-around jack-of-all-trades. Click on their names to go to their sites and click on the "Fatal Current" movie to go to Code Check's site.

Livermore's Centennial Light Longest Burning Light Bulb In History This site is devoted to the longest burning light bulb in history at the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department in Livermore, CA. First installed at the fire department hose cart house on L Street in 1901. Shortly after, it moved to the main firehouse on Second. In 1903, it was moved to the new Station 1 on First and McLeod, and survived the renovation of the Firehouse in 1937, when it was off for about a week. During it's first 75 years it was connected directly to the 110 Volt power line, and not to the back-up generator for fear of a power surge. In 1976, it was moved with a full police and fire truck escort, under the watch of Captain Kirby Slate, to its present site in 1976 at Fire Station 6, 4550 East Ave., Livermore, California. It was then hooked to a seperate power source at 120V according to Frank Maul, Retired City Electrician, with no interuptions since. Click on the picture to go to the site.

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Past Home Page Content

We try to change the fun part of our home page weekly but some of the information or images are worthy to be seen later, which is frustrating if you come back and the article is no longer there. So we have decided to archive the articles on a separate page. Click on the Past Home Page Content link to go there.

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