The 1991 Daytona 500 will officially be 20 years old in a little over a month. I realize many of you may not remember this particular race as it was not a significant event in the history of the sport but it is one of my first racing memories because my first favorite driver was Davey Allison. Davey Allison tangled with Dale Earnhardt with two laps to go which in turn got me hooked into racing because now I had a favorite driver and a driver that I could root against.

I was looking through the results of the 1991 Daytona 500 and something really stood out to me when looking at the results so I went back to the 1971 Daytona 500 to see if this is a trend that may continue. In the 1991 Daytona 500 there are two drivers that competed in the 1971 Daytona 500, Richard Petty and Dave Marcis. There are three drivers that are scheduled for an attempt at qualifying for the 2011 Daytona 500 that competed in the Great American race of 1991, Mark Martin, Bill Elliott, and Michael Waltrip.

If this trend continues, which two, three or four drivers will participate in the 2031 Daytona 500? Obviously the drivers mentioned above all had long successful careers so it is safe to assume that the current flock of drivers will have to accomplish the same thing. I know that every year there are drivers that for whatever reason never make it back to the top series in NASCAR but over the last 20 years we have lost 40 that will not be in the 2011 Great American Race. As hardcore race fans take some time during Speedweeks at Daytona this February and think back to all of the drivers that are no longer racing and the ones that will be gone in the next 20 years.

 MORE NASCAR NEWS