The 1963 Daytona 500, won by beloved underdog Tiny Lund, is one of the great stories in American motorsports.

Every veteran race fan knows the story of the 1963 Daytona 500. A short version: Wood brothers driver Marvin Panch flipped a Maserati he was driving in a preliminary race, trapping him inside. His buddy DeWayne “Tiny” Lund, a six-feet-five gentle giant straight out of a Hollywood casting call, pulled Panch from the flaming wreckage, an act of bravery that won him a Carnegie Medal. It also won Lund a top-flight ride in the Daytona 500 when the grateful Wood brothers selected him to substitute for Panch in the big race.

Lund, a journeyman midpacker who’d never won a major NASCAR event in 18 years, made the most of the opportunity. Driving the cagiest race of his life in the Wood brothers’ Ford, he waited out the speedy Chevrolets and Pontiacs as one by one they fell out of contention. Then he outlasted the factory Fords of Fred Lorenzen and Ned Jarrett as the laps wore down to the finish. To this day, Lund’s unlikely victory remains one of the most popular wins in NASCAR history.

This short flim, edited from ABC’s historic Wide World of Sports program, does a great job of capturing the race-long drama. Broadcasting legend Bill Flemming of ABC calls the action. Watch for the Mystery-engined Chevrolets of Junior Johnson, Rex White, and Johnny Rutherford, the Pontiacs of Fireball Roberts, Bobby Johns, A.J. Foyt, and Paul Goldsmith, and the Fords of Lorenzen, Jarret, and Larry Frank.

All these drivers took their turns at the front—between them, Jarrett and Lorenzen led nearly half the race—but on this particular day, the planets aligned for Tiny Lund. Enjoy the film.