1964 Firecracker 400
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 35 of 62 in the 1964 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
Track map of Daytona International Speedway showing mainly the speedway.
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| Date | July 4, 1964 | ||
| Official name | Firecracker 400 | ||
| Location | Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.500 mi (4.023 km) |
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| Distance | 160 laps, 400 mi (643 km) | ||
| Weather | Hot with temperatures approaching 93 °F (34 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 151.451 miles per hour (243.737 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 34,681 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Bud Moore | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | |
| Laps | 102 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 47 | A.J. Foyt | Ray Nichels | |
The 1964 Firecracker 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) event that was held on July 4, 1964, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It would become the first NASCAR Grand National Series race to take place after Fireball Roberts died two days earlier; after participating in the infamous 1964 World 600.
There were 33 American-born drivers on the official racing grid.Fred Lorenzen (employed by Holman Moody) secured his last-place finish during the parade laps because he refused to start the race.Paul Goldsmith also elected not to start the race along; making Doug Moore the "legitimate" last-place finisher due to a distributor issue on lap 1 of this 160-lap race. Reb Wickersham spun on the first lap and very nearly took out Foyt. It took just more than two and a half hours for A.J. Foyt to defeat Bobby Isaac by a single car length in front of more than 30000 live spectators. There were 19 lead changes in the race and five caution periods for 25 laps.
Rodney Williams would make his NASCAR debut in this race. A.J. Foyt would appear in various races from the 1960s through the 1990s. His most notable future wins would come at the 1972 Daytona 500 and the 1972 Miller High Life 500.Larry Frank would carry two movie cameras in his car to record all the action being taken place. Attempts to record NASCAR history had already been attempted for the 1955 Southern 500 and the 1956 Southern 500.
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