When the sun sets on February 16, the iconic Harley J. Earl Trophy will have another name engraved on it in honor of the 67th Daytona 500 winner. The winner will then receive a replica of the prize that he will get to take home while the original goes back to its resting place in the Daytona International Speedway. But what is so special about this award?
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It is the dream of every single driver in NASCAR to get his hands on this piece of silverware. It is named after the iconic automobile designer Harley J. Earl, who was a close aide of Bill France Sr. and the second commissioner of NASCAR. He is best known for being the inventor of the Corvette and the designer of the Firebird I concept car that sits on the trophy.
The trophy itself is four feet tall, five feet wide, and is in the same triangular oval shape as the speedway. Richard Petty, seven-time winner of the Daytona 500, has the most Harley J. Earl Trophy replicas in his possession. Cale Yarborough has four, and others, including Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon, have three each.
This trophy won’t be the only one that is given out on the day of the season-opening. The crew chief of the winning driver will be given the Erwin ‘Cannonball’ Baker trophy. It is an award named after the infamous coast-to-coast racer who was chosen as NASCAR’s first national commissioner in 1948. The team owner of the winning driver will receive the Governor’s Cup.
Frank Kelleher about the Harley J. Earl Trophy
Frank Kelleher is the president of the Daytona International Speedway. He was recently on News6 to provide viewers with a glimpse of the iconic trophy and inform them about its uniqueness. He said, “This trophy weighs 54 pounds, but I promise you… at the end of 500 miles, it might as well weigh a million pounds.”
Kelleher continued answering questions about the trophy put forward by the show’s host. He said that only Denny Hamlin has won the trophy back-to-back, that it is made of acrylic on the bottom and silver on the top, that it came to be in its current form in 1998, and that 20 drivers in total have won the trophy so far.
Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron is the most recent driver to win the coveted award. He will either defend the honor or lose it to a different champion this Sunday.
