Maybe you’re new to the sport, have a casual interest or are just coming around to the edge-of-your-seat wrecks, the thrilling finishes and the stars that make up the Daytona 500 field. Daytona Beach became the unofficial “birthplace of speed” in 1903 when two men argued over who had the fastest horseless carriage and decided to settle things in a race on the white, hardpacked sand along the Atlantic Ocean. Since then, the region has become a motorsports mecca, and the first Daytona 500 was held Feb. 22, 1959, in front of a crowd of more than 41,000.