Dale Earnhardt Jr. spotlighted a forgotten NASCAR miracle this Fourth of July weekend. The Hall of Famer retweeted a vintage newspaper article detailing how one of Daytona’s most anticipated events, the Firecracker 400, dodged rain for 24 consecutive years.
His Saturday tweet called the streak “wild,” igniting fan fascination with a piece of racing history that seems impossible by today’s standards.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Calls NASCAR’s 24-Year Rain-Free Streak ‘Wild’
The 1983 Daytona Beach piece by Ed Hilton explained the secret: a radical 10 a.m. ET start time. This avoided Florida’s daily 3:20 p.m. thunderstorms that “you can set your watch by.” The strategy preserved NASCAR’s “sultry sister” event for nearly a quarter-century while its February counterpart grew corporate.
Daytona International Speedway officials crafted their schedule around meteorology. Hilton’s article noted thunderstorms rolled in “so regularly every summer afternoon” that a traditional 1 p.m. ET green flag guaranteed failure. But the 10 a.m. start, NASCAR’s earliest for a significant race, let them finish by 2 p.m.
The proof lived in history. When Hilton wrote his piece in 1983, the Firecracker 400 was preparing for its 25th running. “The Firecracker has never been postponed due to rain,” he declared.
Fans escaped to beaches before downpours, while drivers avoided melted shoes like Neil Bonnett’s infamous incident. Rubber soles liquefied under July heat, sticking his foot to the accelerator post-race.
This article claims that the Firecracker 400 (with its original 10am start time) had never been rained out in the first 24 years! Wild. https://t.co/klrCjEQVhr
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) July 4, 2025
Earnhardt Jr. marveled at this detail after NASCAR historian and stock car journalist Jay Coker surfaced the clipping. “This article claims that the Firecracker 400 (with its original 10 a.m. start time) had never been rained out in the first 24 years! Wild,” Earnhardt captioned the quote-tweet this Friday.
The statistic stunned modern fans accustomed to weather-plagued events.
Forgotten Firecracker 400 Secret Revealed
Beyond meteorology, Hilton painted the Firecracker 400 as NASCAR’s antithesis to the high-stakes Daytona 500. He described “skimpy tops and shorts”-worn crowds who treated it as “a happening.” Half the size of February’s “rabid race fans from all over the country and Canada.”
The summer-time fans cheered casually, like, “OK, honey, you pull for the blue car, and I’ll pull for the red car.”
Drivers embraced the vibe. Richard Petty celebrated his July 2 birthday trackside. Old-timers reunited, with 38 beach-racing veterans gathering in 1983, swapping stories impossible during February’s chaos.
Sam Packard recounted racing a brand-new LaSalle from Rhode Island in 1937: “I entered it in the race, and of course, I tore it all to pieces. … my wife said, ‘Where’s our new car?’ I said, ‘Honey, they had a terrible hurricane down there. The car was totally destroyed.'”
Bill Tuthill recalled Paul Goldsmith’s 1958 beach-course victory, where he dodged Curtis Turner by jumping a sand dune after mud-blinded goggles made him miss a turn.
The article even featured Tim Flock’s memory of a car washing out to sea mid-race. “That disgusted driver waded ashore,” Hilton wrote. This freewheeling spirit survived Daytona’s transition from beach to asphalt. Hilton concluded that the Firecracker 400 retained “the flavor” NASCAR lost elsewhere.
Earnhardt’s tweet resurrected this legacy during a holiday weekend, where modern races battle delays. Daytona’s current summer event, now the Coke Zero Sugar 400, runs at night in August. But for 24 magical years, a 10 a.m. start made rainouts unthinkable.