Do you remember your first visit to Daytona International Speedway?

Richard Petty does.

He tells the story of his first interaction with the World Center of Racing in the foreword to “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 earliest years of fast cars on Daytona Beach, to the Speedway’s birth in 1959 and everything up to the present as the venue became iconic and the Daytona 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 signature event — has produced plenty of career-defining triumphs and heartbreaking defeats and, yes, the occasional tragedy through six-plus decades. It’s been a tale authored by giants of the sport like Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon, as well as underdogs like Tiny Lund and Trevor Bayne.

Relive those moments year-by-year in “High Banks & Heroes” or gift it to the racing fans in your life.

The 144-page book, filled with captivating photos and historic written accounts from The Daytona Beach News-Journal, is priced at $44.95. But it's currently available at Daytona.PictorialBook.com at a discounted presale price of $35.95.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona 500 celebrated in new book, with foreword by Richard Petty