DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- More than a half century ago, one of the biggest issues confronting the folks who would stage the first Daytona 500 was how to deal with the large number of people sneaking into their races by cutting through the scrub and swamps and not paying to see the event.

Legend has it that Bill France Sr., the founder of NASCAR, solved that problem by announcing that most of the people who had been bitten by snakes would survive.

The racing fans here in Daytona are safe from the snakes now, inside a huge venue, and this afternoon, Daytona International Speedway stages its 50th Daytona 500 with two-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson on the pole. The contemporary concerns are far removed from rattlesnakes and gate crashers as NASCAR is now a mega-corporation with hundreds of millions of dollars coursing through its veins, generated by huge television deals, innovative marketing and the nurturing of its massive fan base.

"It's a different world we're livin' in today, and stock car racing is so different, too," said Richard Petty, a winner of the biggest race on the Sprint Cup Series schedule a record seven times.

"If you try and think about where we've come in 50 years of Daytona 500s -- we've been to the moon and back a few times, for sure."

That first Daytona 500 in 1959 was won by Petty's late father, Lee.

The Great American Race, as it has grown to be called, was the direct descendant of the shorter races that had been staged here on the beach. Those were 200-mile events that used the sand and the highway running parallel to the beach as the racing surface.

Richard Petty, who drove an Oldsmobile convertible in that inaugural Daytona 500, starting sixth and finishing 57th, said the image of that day is still imprinted in his mind.

"It was awesome as a 21-year-old kid coming through the tunnel here and seeing that infield with nothin' in it -- it was empty," Petty said. "There was nothin' here but the race track. It was just a swamp. And when you got out on the track, it looked like it was 3 miles down to the corner."

The controversies that seem to be an everyday occurrence in the current NASCAR landscape were also a part of that first Daytona 500. Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp were both lapping Joe Weatherly as they came to the finish, and after initially declaring Beauchamp the winner, Daytona officials spent three days reviewing film and photos of the finish before giving the race to Petty, by a couple of feet.

Convertibles ran in that first Daytona 500 -- the only time they were a part of the race. In 1961 Lee and Richard Petty sailed over the guardrail and out of the race track during the qualifying races, and neither took part in the 500 that year.

"This race has quite a history, and I'm proud to be a part of it," said Richard Petty, who started the Daytona 500 a record 32 times. "Every time you lined up for the Daytona 500, you really felt like you were a part of racing history and making history. Every race is important, but this is the one that matters the most."

The Daytona 500 has an illustrious history, highlighted by the cars and stars of the stock car racing world. There was the infamous fight between the Allisons -- Bobby and Donnie -- and Cale Yarborough in 1979.

Donnie Allison had the lead on the final lap but got tangled up with Yarborough as Yarborough tried to pass him. The pair crashed, allowing Richard Petty to move up from more than half a lap behind and win. Bobby Allison, a lap back of the mishap, pulled over where his brother and Yarborough had climbed out of their wrecked cars, and a brawl ensued.

"That's my favorite Daytona 500 memory -- watching the Allisons and Cale Yarborough fight on the apron in Turn 3. That was real racing at its best, and real emotion at its best," two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart said.

"That was a huge turning point for NASCAR and the Daytona 500 in particular. To have that action, that caught national attention and really brought NASCAR and the Daytona 500 from just a Southeastern sport to a nationwide covered sport."

For others, the Daytona 500 saga of racing icon Dale Earnhardt Sr. composes the most gripping memories from the 500. The elder Earnhardt was frustrated by years of misfortune and failure in the big race, finally won in celebratory fashion in 1998 and then died in a last-lap crash in the 2001 race.

"Dale Earnhardt winning the Daytona 500 has to be the coolest part of the history of this race," said driver Jamie McMurray. "As a race fan growing up, Dale Earnhardt was always my dad's favorite and someone we watched every Sunday. To finally see him get to win this race when he had come so close for so long, that was pretty cool, and I will never forget that."

Jeff Gordon, a three-time winner of the Daytona 500, said he expects the race today to add something significant to the rich lore that surrounds the Super Bowl of stock car racing.

"This race is so important that you seem to remember everything that goes on, no matter how many of them you run in," Gordon said. "With this being the 50th anniversary, I expect some special memories to come from this one. Fifty Daytona 500s -- that is a little overwhelming just thinking about it."