IN THE BEGINNING ...

While serving on board a B-24 bomber during World War II, Red Byron sustained injuries that left him with a limp for the rest of his life. That didn't stop him, however, from continuing his career as a race-car driver.

Byron teamed with already famed car owner Raymond Parks to win the first race ever sanctioned by the fledgling outfit NASCAR, a Feb. 15, 1948 Modified event on the old Daytona beach-and-road course. The duo went on to capture that season's championship before taking on NASCAR's brand-new Strictly Stock -- what we now know as the Sprint Cup -- division in 1949.

Again, they won the championship together. Increasingly bothered by his war-time injuries, Byron ran just 4 of 19 races in 1950 and finished out his career with five starts in 1951. Byron died Nov. 11, 1960, the victim of a heart attack.