USAC Daytona 100
Start No Name Car Speed
9 2 George Amick Epperly / Offenhauser 176.887
10 75 Tony Bettenhausen Kuzma // Offenhauser 173.010
11 8 Len Sutton Lesovsky / Offenhauser 170.068
12 25 Bill Cheesbourg Kurtis / Offenhauser 166.852
13 4 Jud Larson Lesovsky / Offenhauser 163.577
Practice and qualifying -- Monday March 30
After losing track time on Sunday due to rain , officials announced that the second day of qualifying would be held on Monday March 30 . Rain once again kept the track closed in the morning , but the track dried and was opened for qualifying by 2:00 p.m. Officials noticed the ideal conditions , and decided to take advantage of the cool temperatures and calm winds . A record-setting day saw five more cars added to the starting field . George Amick became the fastest qualifier in the field , with a new track record of 176.887 mph . As a second day qualifier , Amick would line up on the inside of the fifth row . Amick 's lap was just short of breaking the all-time one lap record for a Championship Car ( 177 mph ) set at Monza during time trials for the Race of Two Worlds . [ 48 ] [ 49 ] In addition , Amick 's Daytona International Speedway competition track record would stand until 1967 .
The Daytona 100 was a USAC Championship Car race held at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida on Saturday April 4, 1959. It was the first and only Indy car race held on the high banks of Daytona, and saw incredible speeds turned in by the front-engined roadsters. The race was part of a triple-header weekend featuring races for the USAC Championship Cars, Formula Libre, and a USAC-FIA sports car endurance race. Both the Champ Car and Formula Libre races were won by Jim Rathmann. However, the weekend was marred by the tragic death of George Amick, who was killed in a crash on the final lap of the Champ Car race. Amick's death came less than two months after Marshall Teague was also killed testing a highly modified Indy roadster at the track. Despite a predicted crowd of over 30,000 spectators for the weekend, turnout was disappointing. With estimates as low as 7,000 to 10,000 in attendance for Saturday, the event was also seen as unsuccessful and a money-loser. In the wake of the tragic circumstances, the blindingly fast speeds were deemed too dangerous for the track, and the Indy cars would never again race on the Daytona International Speedway oval. The sports cars, however, would return and the Daytona Continental later became an annual event. The Daytona 100 was the first race of the 1959 USAC Championship Trail, and the first Championship race held in the state of Florida since a board track race at Fulford-Miami Speedway in 1926. There would not be another Indy car race held in Florida until the Miami Grand Prix in 1985.