news-record.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - This day would be different. Competitors knew it and felt it. Yet its significance would not be truly realized until years later.

All that was evident July 4, 1984, was that crew members had to arrive earlier than normal to the garage area at Daytona International Speedway. They gathered before the sun began its scorching arch.

A black cover draped over the chain-link fence that surrounded the garage. For years, fans pressed against that fence, gazing at those who worked inside. After losing his ride one year, Mark Martin stood among the fans outside that fence and shared their envy.

But this day fans would see nothing through the fence.

It was all done for security reasons. Just as the crew members' early arrival was so they could be screened.

On this day 25 years ago, a President visited a King.

Never before had a sitting President attended a NASCAR race. Ronald Reagan would soon arrive, helping a sport that traced its lineage to moonshiners move deeper into the national conscious.

Go through NASCAR's major dates and this July 4 race doesn't strike a chord. Many will focus on the 1979 Daytona 500 that featured the first live flag-to-flag coverage of that race. Richard Petty won, but that day is remembered for the last-lap crash and fight between Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison.

Then there was Aug. 6, 1994, when the Cup series first ran at Indianapolis Motor Speedway's hallowed grounds.

And Feb. 18, 2001, the day Dale Earnhardt died in the Daytona 500, triggering public displays of grief often seen only for heads of state.

Yet July 4, 1984, in many ways, proved as meaningful, if not more, for the sport.

For all of those mystical NASCAR finishes that spur conspiracy theories -- think Hoosier transplant Jeff Gordon winning the inaugural race at Indy or Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning in the first race at Daytona after his father's death -- July 4, 1984, would have it all.

Richard Petty, the sport's biggest star, won.

It was the King's 200th career win, a number never to be equaled.

It came at Daytona, the sport's most prestigious track and where NASCAR was born.

And the President was there

"It was just an extraordinary confluence of events that furthered strengthened NASCAR in terms of it being a national attraction," said Neal Pilson, who oversaw CBS Sports at the time.

ESPN, which helped nurture NASCAR's growth beginning in 1981, began showing more races live after that 1984 season. ESPN's need for programming and NASCAR's need for a semi-permanent home created a union that helped foster the sport's rapid growth in the 1990s. NASCAR began adding tracks in Las Vegas and Fort Worth, Texas, and later near Chicago and Kansas City.

Reagan's appearance played a part in fueling that growth by showing the sport was worthy of such non-traditional attention. Nearing the end of his first term, he embarked on a three-day trip to build Republican support in the South. NASCAR's boss, Bill France, Jr., was an avid supporter of Reagan and that connection led to Reagan starting his trip with the race.

His plane arrived in spectacular fashion at the Daytona Beach airport, located next to the track. As Air Force One landed midway through the race, Petty's red-and-blue Pontiac streaked down the backstretch. A photo freezes the moment. Petty's car in the foreground, Air Force One behind.

It's easy to assume Petty was leading. He wasn't. Of course, it would only be a matter of time before he was out front. It was expected. Not solely because Petty was the track's all-time winner but because of the moment.

Frank Vehorn, who covered the race for the Virginian-Pilot, recalls some in the garage joking that it was a foregone conclusion Petty would win because of his ties to the Republican Party -- Petty was a county commissioner at the time -- and that he had met Reagan before.

How could NASCAR not have its biggest star win with the President there?

Yarborough nearly beat Petty, coming about three feet short. They crossed the line behind the lapped car of Ken Ragan, whose car might have provided Petty enough of an aerodynamic draft coming to the start/finish line to edge Yarborough.

After taking the checkered flag, Petty returned to the start/finish line, parked the car and was whisked to a VIP booth to visit Reagan before celebrating the moment in victory lane. Drivers and crew members reunited in the garage area for a picnic with the President that featured Kentucky Fried Chicken and Tammy Wynette singing "Stand by Your Man."

Pictures of Reagan and Petty together were sent nationwide. A King and President eating fried chicken after a NASCAR race.

"We got the President of the United States on the sports page," Petty recently said, "and the President of the United States got us on front page. So it was a pretty good tradeoff."

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com