My uncle took me to Bridgehampton Raceway on Long Island back in 1963 ( I was 10 ) for the NASCAR Grand National finals which Richard Petty won . I don’t remember why I liked Fireball , but I did , and after the race I shyly walked over to him standing by his car and asked him to sign my program , which he did . Kept it for years but it got lost or tossed by someone many moons ago .
When I was in high school, (I graduated in 1965), all of the boys would keep up with who won the Daytona 500. It was not so much that we were NASCAR fans. It was who would get bragging rights between Ford and Plymouth. There were other brands too but that was the big two.
After Daytona, we hardly even noticed who won.