Walt Wimer, Pennsylvania racing historian, sends these photos from the sands of Daytona in 1955.

Hi guys!!!! This week for my posting we are going way back!! 49 years to be exact for photos on the sands of Daytona after the Modified race on the beach-road track in 1955. These were some of the first race car photos I ever took, being all of 15 at the time. Unfortunately racing sort of went on the back burner for several years while I was in high school, so with exception of one other roll at Palm Beach Speedway, I didn't take any more photos until late 1961, again at Palm Beach while still living in Florida. For several years at Daytona they ran two races for the Sportsman and Modified cars. The Sportsman cars got their own race on Friday and then could also run with the Modifieds on Saturday. Sometimes drivers ran the same car as both a Sportsman and Modified by changing from a single carb to a multi-carb setup. There were several years that the starting field for the Saturday race numbered over 100 cars. To this day one of my big thrills as a long time race fan was sitting in the old North Turn grandstand watching 100 or so coupes coming full bore down the beach heading for the first turn. As most of you know from old photos, not all of them made it!! Here are six shots from the 1955 Daytona races.
TOP left........The famed Fish Carburetor #M-1driven by Fireball Roberts
TOP right......#3 Bill Tanner, Newtown, Pa
MIDDLE left....#86 Sonny Black of Montgomery, Ala
MIDDLE right....#158 Hooker Hood of Memphis, Tenn
BOTTOM left......Jim Paschal of High Point, NC drove this #80 Sportsman
BOTTOM right.......The old North Turn, made famous by its many wrecks and deep ruts in the sand