The 1964 Firecracker 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) event that was held on July 4, 1964, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It would become the first NASCAR Grand National Series race to take place after Fireball Roberts died two days earlier; after participating in the infamous 1964 World 600.
There were 33 American-born drivers on the official racing grid. Fred Lorenzen (employed by Holman Moody) secured his last-place finish during the parade laps because he refused to start the race. Paul Goldsmith also elected not to start the race along; making Doug Moore the "legitimate" last-place finisher due to a distributor issue on lap 1 of this 160-lap race. Reb Wickersham spun on the first lap and very nearly took out Foyt. It took just more than two and a half hours for A.J. Foyt to defeat Bobby Isaac by a single car length in front of more than 30000 live spectators. There were 19 lead changes in the race and five caution periods for 25 laps.
Rodney Williams would make his NASCAR debut in this race. A.J. Foyt would appear in various races from the 1960s through the 1990s. His most notable future wins would come at the 1972 Daytona 500 and the 1972 Miller High Life 500. Larry Frank would carry two movie cameras in his car to record all the action being taken place. Attempts to record NASCAR history had already been attempted for the 1955 Southern 500 and the 1956 Southern 500.
For the final 56 laps, Isaac and Foyt dueled for the win, exchanging the lead 15 times between the two. The transition to purposely-built racers began in the early 1960s and occurred gradually over that decade. Changes made to the sport by the late 1960s brought an end to the "strictly stock" vehicles of the 1950s; most of the cars were trailered to events or hauled in by trucks.
Start of race: Richard Petty held the pole position as the first lap officially commenced, Paul Goldsmith and Fred Lorenzen refused to start the raceLap 3: Neil Castles noticed that his vehicle's fuel pump was acting up, forcing him to accept a meager 29th-place finishLap 5: Oil pressure issues would end Rodney Williams' hopes of winning the eventLap 9: Problems involving the vehicle's distributor managed to knock out Marvin Panch from the eventLap 10: Reb Wickersham suddenly felt nasty vibrations coming out of his vehicle, exiting the race for safety purposesLap 13: Bill McMahan had to leave the race because the oil temperature in his vehicle got too highLap 17: Junior Johnson managed to blow his vehicle's engine while racing at high speedsLap 35: Ned Jarrett managed to blow his vehicle's engine while racing at high speedsLap 38: Oil on the track forced a caution that ended on lap 41Lap 40: Earl Balmer took over the lead from Richard PettyLap 41: Richard Petty took over the lead from Earl Balmer before losing it to Bobby Isaac on lap 104Lap 44: J.T. Putney's chances of winning the race ended with a problematic valve affecting his vehicleLap 62: Tiny Lund's vehicle suffered from a faulty ignition, forcing him to accept a humiliating 21st-place finishLap 69: Billy Wade managed to blow his vehicle's engine while racing at high speedsLap 88: Ken Spikes had a terminal crash, forcing him out of the raceLap 103: Wendell Scott managed to blow his vehicle's engine while racing at high speedsLap 104: Bobby Isaac took over the lead from Richard PettyLap 105: A.J. Foyt took over the lead from Bobby IsaacLap 106: Bobby Isaac took over the lead from A.J. FoytLap 107: A.J. Foyt took over the lead from Bobby IsaacLap 111: Bobby Isaac took over the lead from A.J. Foyt before losing it to A.J. Foyt on lap 120; Larry Thomas had a terminal crashLap 114: Bobby Johns managed to blow his vehicle's engine while racing at high speedsLap 121: Bobby Isaac took over the lead from A.J. Foyt before losing it to A.J. Foyt on lap 136Lap 130: Debris on the backstretch forced NASCAR to slow down the vehicle until racing was re-allowed on lap 132Lap 139: Bobby Isaac took over the lead from A.J. Foyt before losing it to A.J. Foyt on lap 146Lap 144: LeeRoy Yarbrough had to drop out of the race due to his vehicle having a faulty fuel pumpLaps 146-148: A.J. Foyt and Bobby Isaac would take turns with the first-place positionLap 149: Bobby Isaac took over the lead from A.J. Foyt before losing it to A.J. Foyt on lap 156Lap 160: A.J. Foyt took over the lead from Bobby Isaac for the last time in this raceFinish: A.J. Foyt was officially declared the winner of the event
