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sports
When NASCAR Broke America — (1979 Daytona 500 Fistfight)
About this Episode
This episode has everything: Punches. Pepsi. Snow! Plus, a guy named Cale crashes a 190-mph race car in sneakers and kicks somebody on national TV.
Naturally, save the snow, this all happens in Florida.
This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode is our monthly deep dive into an epic moment from racing history. In this case, that means the 1979 Daytona 500 and the childish, joyous three-driver fistfight that changed NASCAR forever.
RELATED TRIVIA: To hell with trivia this week—we’re just gonna use this space to rattle off every badass old NASCAR first name that’ll fit. Here goes: Dale and Cale and Fireball and LeeRoy and Bobby and Davey and Donnie and Joe and Curtis and Marshall and Lee and Richard and Buddy and Pearson and Benny and Cotton and Junior and Buck and Hershel and AJ and the other Bobby and Harry and Dan and Red and Dick and Weatherly and Rex and the other other Bobby and Ned and the other Lee and you know what? Each and every single one of those dudes knew how to slide a big ol’ Detroit sled like ***nobody’s business***.
And we like that.
This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.
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Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023
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ABOUT THE SHOW:
It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.
Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning writer and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine.
We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the meatbag at the wheel.
New episodes every Tuesday.
Hosts & Guests
No transcript available for this episode.
