Memories of a special 500 in '79

It's considered to be the most pivotal race in NASCAR history, and the events that took place on Feb. 18, 1979 still resonate through the sport today.

The first live flag-to-flag television broadcast on CBS. Record ratings as a result of a snowstorm that blanketed the entire northeast portion of the country. A last-lap accident that resulted in a surprise winner -- and an even more surprising post-race altercation.

And except for a few highlights, I didn't see the live TV broadcast, and I've never watched an entire play of the race. That's because my father and I were there, sitting in Row 12 of the DePalma grandstands.

In 1979, your experience was completely predicated on what you could see from your seat, and perhaps ascertain from the public address system during lulls in the action.

There were no video boards, no race scanners, no live timing and scoring links. There were a few people at the track who wore huge radio headsets -- but the success of hearing the race broadcast depended solely on whether you could pick up the local AM station over the din of the race.

50th Daytona 500

• Most memorable
• Winning drivers
• Winning crew chiefs
• History of the 500
• How DIS came to be
• Flashback: Daytona '79

It was almost impossible to get up-to-date information without being there in person. This was before the Internet, cell-phone messaging, satellite radio or 24-hour cable sports channels. (ESPN wasn't launched until September of that year.) If you were lucky, the local television sports anchor might give a quick recap of the race in his five-minute segment. If not, perhaps the newspaper might have a short recap and results.

And yet for the estimated 130,000 fans who did their best to stay warm and dry at Daytona International Speedway that day, most never had any idea of exactly what transpired until they read the paper the next morning.

I recently asked my father what he remembered about that race. Our memories are somewhat fuzzy about the exact specifics, but both of us remember certain things very vividly. At the time, I was a junior at the University of Florida in Gainesville. My dad was working at IBM in Boca Raton.

The year before, I went by myself to my first Daytona 500 and was mesmerized by the sheer speed and power of the cars as they flashed by at 190 mph. So I called my father -- who had attended the 1961 race -- and asked if he wanted to join me the next time. I bought the tickets no more than a month in advance -- $20 apiece, more than it cost to see the Dolphins play in those days -- and we agreed to meet at the track.

It began raining the afternoon before and quickly turned into a steady downpour. Unfortunately, it was still raining when I woke up for the three-hour drive to Daytona Beach. And it continued to rain all the way there. How I could have used the Weather Channel back then.

One thing we still agree on: It was miserably cold and damp. Florida may be the Sunshine State, but there was a definite lack of it that day. The temperature may have been in the low 50s, but coupled with the wind and rain, it was a raw February day for central Florida. (Continued)