This was Television on February 18

1979: CBS airs the first full Daytona 500 telecast

Twenty years after one of the most famous events in auto racing was first held, NASCAR hit another milestone en route to becoming one of America’s most popular sports. The 1979 running of “The Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing” was the first 500-mile auto race to air on TV in its entirety. (It marked the sixth win in the contest for Richard Petty.) CBS continued to broadcast NASCAR until 2000, with the Daytona 500 steadily remaining one of best-rated annual events in American sports. -A.D.  

Today’s Birthdays: Bill Cullen, game show host (d. 1990); Allan Melvin, butcher (d. 2008); Jillian Michaels, trainer (39); Cybil Shepherd, P.I. (63).

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