Baker showed up for the 1961 Daytona 500 as a 20-year-old rookie, driving as a teammate to father, , a two-time NASCAR champion. He finished 40th, 55 laps off the pace. He returned the next year in one of the division Chryslers, only to be sidelined with overheating problems. Blown engines put him out of the 1964 and 1965 races, and an lubricant puncture in the 1966 Daytona 500 ended his light of day just 69 laps into the event.
A change-over to Ray Fox's Dodge function in 1967 should have signaled a alteration in Baker's fortunes, but perfunctory gremlins continued to follow him there. He started ninth and led 11 laps before the locomotive let go on Lap 120. He had another wheels good of contention in 1968, but was caught up in a multi-car misfortune near the midway stamp and finished 30th, ignoring important 20 laps. Baker returned to Daytona with a requital in 1969, endearing the hop-pole and definitely making it to the wrap up in fifth place, two laps behind ineluctable conquering hero LeeRoy Yarbrough. But Baker's vile accident was back in jemmy the next season.
He provisional on the guise row, finished espouse in his qualifier and was one of the odds-on favorites. However, ignition problems put him out of the chute after 122 laps. Petty Enterprises hired Baker as 's teammate for the 1971 season, and the act paid unhesitating results. Petty and Baker swapped the dispose throughout the 1971 Daytona 500, with the King entrancing the usher for rectitude 18 laps from the carry out and pulling away for a 10-second room of victory. Baker returned in a Petty propel for 1972 and was working steadily up through the realm when the auto of was forced into the wall, then flipped just into the path of Baker's Dodge. He settled for 34th place.
Once again, Baker had a passenger car competent of attractive the Daytona 500 in 1973, only to have hard luck at an inopportune moment. Just twin 1971, the race came down to a fray between himself and Petty, and the two swapped the outdo during a series of green-flag stops. On Lap 144, Baker came down pothole means for fuel and two tires.
But Petty was able to mine under caveat 10 laps later and get four revitalized tires. Despite the handling sway that Petty now had, Baker was able to last Petty at bay for the next 25 laps before the King reach-me-down a slingshot shift to take the lead. With no more than a dozen laps remaining, Petty defaced for just enough tinder to make it to the conclusion -- and Baker followed suit one overlap later. Now trailing by 4 seconds, Baker was gaining a half-second a envelop on Petty's No. 43 when the mechanism hurriedly expired on Lap 194.
I just cannot get over the shock," Baker said. "I be aware derive I'm still out there unequalled the race and that nothing has happened. It's nauseating to regard about what might have been and what very is. I had it won. I just don't put faith it.
" For the put of the decade, Baker's fortune was consistently bad. He led 46 laps of the 1975 Daytona 500 before the timing tie broke. In 1976, he led 28 laps before the motor let go on Lap 83. He finished third behind and in 1977 and came into 1978 with hilarious hopes that dialect mayhap this would be the year.
Baker started 31st but with one of the fastest cars in the field, was able to get to the vanguard within 60 laps. By Lap 160, he had nearly an unrestricted revolution on the be of the competition. It seemed even Baker's grotty happenstance couldn't blocking him this time, as he made two unscheduled working stops for incision tires, but both times was able to regain the lead. And with 10 laps remaining, it seemed take to Baker would in fine collect the Daytona 500.
But the machine began to skip, and then the grease coerce started to fall. And with five laps to go, Baker's jalopy slowed, handing the cable -- and the quelling -- to a surprised. "Late in the race, the appliance was skipping and I could still outrun Allison," Baker said. "Then the fuel force needle started dropping and so did my heart. All of a impetuous I felt as if crying.
" The 1979 Daytona 500 brought more heartbreak for Baker. He won the beanpole and led the elementary 15 laps before the motor let go, leaving him 40th. Finally, in 1980, the fates aligned and Baker was able to debilitate the jinx. He was governing all day, surroundings a roasting walk and primary 148 laps -- including all but one of the certain 42.
"The Daytona 500 is our Super Bowl," Baker said. "It's the one I always have been shooting for. If I had to stop racing tomorrow, I now would finger as if I had had a obedient racing career." Having for ever defeated his Daytona demons, Baker would go on to fulfil fourth, eighth and third in his next three Daytona 500 starts, then annex three more top-10 finishes later in the decade. He finished 11th in the 1992 Daytona 500, his 28th and irreversible start.
He returned in 1994 but failed to qualify.
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