This is where NASCAR began. In 1948, Bill France Sr. formed NASCAR and ran the first sanctioned Grand National race on the 4.1-mile Daytona Beach and Road Course — right here, at what is now Racing’s North Turn in Ponce Inlet. Stock cars flew down the beach at 130 mph and slid through this exact turn until the Daytona Superspeedway was built in 1959. Today it’s a 5,000-square-foot oceanfront beach bar with a mini-museum of racing history, walls covered in vintage photos and autographs, and the occasional visit from Richard Petty himself. Top 10 Florida Beach Bar every year from 2011–2019. The food is solid, the shrimp po’ boys are famous, and the beach deck is as good as anything on the Atlantic coast. But you’re here because this is hallowed ground.
