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THE FIRST 500-MILE RACE EVER BROADCAST LIVE AND IN ITS ENTIRETY on network television proved to be the most important race in NASCAR history. With the entire East Coast from Georgia to Maine hunkered down due to a massive winter storm, many who knew nothing about NASCAR tuned into CBS’ coverage of the 1979 Daytona 500 because they simply had nothing better to do. It’s safe to say they didn’t walk away disappointed.

In addition to seeing a young rookie and future NASCAR Hall of Famer named Dale Earnhardt make his first start in NASCAR’s premier event, the roughly 6.5 million TV viewers and 120,000 in attendance witnessed a frenzied last-lap battle for the lead between reigning, three-time Cup Series champion Cale Yarborough and cagy veteran Donnie Allison that culminated in the two drivers bouncing hard off of each other multiple times before crashing –and paved the way for then-six-time Cup Series champion Richard Petty to go from third to first in the final half a lap and edge Darrell Waltrip for an improbable sixth Daytona 500 victory.

The real fireworks occurred after the race, however, when Allison and his older brother, Bobby, engaged Yarborough in a bareknuckle fistfight, which was captured on live television and only further fueled viewers’ appetite for this sport about which many who watched that day knew so little.