Richard Petty do what.

He tells the story of his first interaction with the World Center of Racing in the introduction “High Banks & Heroes: 65 Years at Daytona International Speedway.”

The new coffee table book from the Daytona Beach News-Journal and USA TODAY Network chronicles everything from the early days of fast cars on Daytona Beach, to the Speedway’s birth in 1959 and all the way to the present when the venue became iconic and Daytona. The 500 developed into the Great American Race.

Petty’s foreword serves as an appropriate beginning. He participated in the inaugural Daytona 500 and won more NASCAR races at Daytona (10) than anyone else.

But the track — and its flagship event — has produced plenty of career-defining triumphs and heartbreaking defeats and, yes, the occasional tragedy over six decades. It was a story written by sports giants like Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon, as well as underdogs like Tiny Lund and Trevor Bayne.