• DeWayne "Tiny" Lund, filling in for the injured Marvin Panch, wheels the Wood Brothers' Ford to victory in the Daytona 500. It is Lund's first victory in Grand National competition.

• Johnny Rutherford wins the second Twin 100-Mile Qualifying Race, becoming the sixth and last man to score a victory in his first Grand National start. From 1959-1971, points are awarded for the qualifying races at Daytona and they are considered official Grand National events.

• Actress Jayne Mansfield greets Junior Johnson in Victory Lane following his victory in the 148.5-mile Grand National race at Orange Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C., on March 10.

• In same event, Herman Beam of Johnson City, Tenn., finishes in ninth place, which is the 84th consecutive Grand National event in which he had been running at the finish. It is a record that still stands today.

• Grand National drivers Tiny Lund (April 17), Joe Weatherly (July 26) and Fred Lorenzen (Oct. 24) appear on CBS television's "To Tell The Truth" game show.

• Roger Penske drives a Pontiac to victory in a NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model (prelude to the Winston West Series) event at Riverside International Raceway on May 19.

• Fred Lorenzen becomes the first driver to win more than $100,000 in a single Grand National season. Lorenzen's seasonal race winnings come to $113,570 and post season awards push his 1963 total to $122,588. He finishes third in the final NASCAR Winston Cup point standings despite not entering 26 of the 55 races.

• Joe Weatherly wins his second consecutive Grand National championship in an unorthodox manner. Driving for Bud Moore in major short track and superspeedway events, Weatherly is forced to rent rides for most of the 100-mile contests. He drives for nine different teams, winning three times, and noses out Richard Petty for the title.