The Ghosts of NASCAR: The Harlan Boys and the First Daytona 500

Who won the first Daytona 500? Fans still debate whether it was midwestern champion Johnny Beauchamp, declared the victor at the finish line, or longtime NASCAR driver Lee Petty, declared the official winner a few days after the race. <i>The Ghosts of NASCAR</i> puts the controversial finish under a microscope. Author John Havick interviewed scores of people, analyzed film of the race, and pored over newspaper accounts of the event. He uses this information and his deep knowledge of the sport as it worked then to determine what probably happened. But he also tells a much bigger story: the story of how Johnny Beauchamp - and his Harlan, Iowa, compatriots, mechanic Dale Swanson and driver Tiny Lund - ended up in Florida driving in the 1959 Daytona race.<br>