February 23, 1964 - NASCAR Daytona 500. Racing champions from several types of motor racing entered the 1964 Daytona 500 to form
a lineup that NASCAR.com calls "The greatest field in NASCAR history". This was Dave MacDonald's first and only Daytona 500 prior to
his death in the 1964 Indianapolis 500

At this time, Dave MacDonald was still running a full schedule for Shelby driving the Cobra Roadster, King Cobra & Daytona Cobra Coupe.
Dave managed to squeeze in two NASCAR races early in the '64 season (both on road courses) and despite limited time on the circuit was
7th in the NASCAR driver standings coming into the Daytona 500. This would be Dave's first time running on a pure oval track!

Race results of the two 100 mile races held on Feb 21st. Dave MacDonald finished 9th in race 1. These races determined the starting posi-
tions behind Petty & Goldsmith, who each won one of the two "50-mile pole position races" giving them the front two spots.

Aerial view on race day as cars begin decending on world renowned Daytona International Speedway.

Drivers get ready to pull their cars out to the track in front of 70,000 roaring fans. Dave MacDonald in #17 in front of Billy Wade in car #1.

Richard Petty & Paul Goldsmith are top qualifiers in the 46 car field and take their spots in row 1.

Two more photos of Dave's car in the starting lineup. Photo Fran Hernandez.

This photos shows Dave MacDonald (#17) lined up next to his good friend and Cobra teammate Dan Gurney. Photo Fran Hernandez.

Parade lap finished and the Daytona 500 about to go green (Dave started 19th). Unfortunately the parade lap is where Dave MacDonald
felt the sway bar break on his Mercury. After pitting the Stroppe crew determined that repairs could not be made and sent Dave back out.
He drove the entire 500 miles with the car in this condition ... such was racing in the sixties.

Paul Goldsmith (25) grabs the first lap lead with Petty and Bobby Issac (26) close behind.

Fireball Roberts and Marvin Panch side by side in front of Sal Tovella. All three are in the top 15 early

Freddy Lorenzen takes a higher line and is just ahead of Larry Frank on lap 35. Lorenzen would drop out on lap 50 with engine troubles.

Johhny Rutherford, Jim McElreath & Ned Jarrett are involved in an accident on lap 106. All drivers were ok.

King Richard Petty led 184 of 200 laps and went on to win his first of seven Daytona 500.

Daytona rookie Dave MacDonald scored a 10th place finish in his only Daytona 500. Dave would die three months later in the Indy 500

NASCAR star Darel Deiringer was Dave's teammate for the 1964 Daytona 500 and finished 7th. Combined with Dave's 10th place
showing, Bill Stroppe Racing was the only team to place two drivers in the top ten

Parnelli Jones, the third Stroppe team member, started 12th and finished 28th.

Dave's good friend, and Shelby Cobra teammate, Dan Gurney started 20th and finished four spots behind Dave in 14th

NASCAR legend Fireball Roberts finished 37th. (MacDonald & Roberts co-piloted a Shelby Cobra in the 1963 12hrs of Sebring).

NASCAR superstar Freddy Lorenzen started 34th and finished 31st. Lorenzen was coming off a 1963 season where he became the first
NASCAR driver to earn $100K in a single season.

Polesitter Paul Goldsmith finished 3rd

Bobby Issac started 4th and finished 15th

Ned Jarrett in car number 11, started 17th and finished 27th

Richard Petty collects the $33,000 winners share and trophy

Results for the 1964 Daytona 500. Dave finished 10th in a Bill Stroppe Mercury. Video of this race is in Dave's racing video section

News articles recapping the 1964 Daytona 500

Dave MacDonald picked up 3,104 pts for finishing 10th & another 272 pts for placing 9th in the 100 miler. This put Dave 8th overall in the
NASCAR driver standings. Sports car champion MacDonald is surrounded by names that would turn out to be legends in NASCAR!

Beautiful artwork by Bill Rankin shows Dave's versility. Middle left is rendition of the car Dave drove in the Atlanta 500 & Daytona 500.