A 1930s Daytona newspaper trumpeting the Beach Race.On the beaches of Daytona in the 1930s, a weatherbeaten farmer by the name of Marion MacDonald changed the course of automotive history with a length of rope and a pocketknife.

MacDonald, nicknamed "Mad" because he used to eat hamburgers while racing, was one of many drivers who challenged the sands of Daytona, rocketing across both hardpacked and shifting sands. And like all the other drivers of the time, MacDonald raced without a seat belt of any kind. Cars tended to flip with metronome regularity on the sand, and the thinking ran that being thrown from the car was far preferable to being trapped inside it, either underwater or amid burning fuel.

Problem was, without any form of restraint, drivers tended to slew back and forth across the front seat, making an already difficult task — driving across sand — damn near impossible. As Yahoo! Sports own Jay Hart tells it, MacDonald hit upon the idea of belting himself into the car with a rope. And in order to prepare for a quick exit, he taped a pocketknife to the steering wheel to cut himself free.

Still, pocketknives are tricky to open even when you're standing still. How did MacDonald plan on fiddling with a knife while the world collapsed around him?

Why, he kept the blade out, of course.

Welcome to Daytona Beach. Racing is different here.

Jeff Gordon and daughter Ella / Getty Images

NASCAR, more than any other sport, carries the specter of grievous injury, or worse, with it every time the green flag drops. You see the drivers kiss their families goodbye before every race, and there's a part of you that starts wondering what if. Let's face it, nobody expects the worst when a pitcher goes out to throw a few innings.

Where the pathos ratchets up exponentially is when kids come into the equation. The idea of watching your dad (or mom, let's be fair) drive 200-plus mph has to be a thrilling one, but what about when things don't go so well? Jeff Gordon faced just such a scenario this past weekend, and fortunately, he was able to walk his 4-year-old daughter Ella through the wreck replay from a safe distance.

As Scene Daily notes, father and daughter watched the wreck together on Sunday morning, as Ella was asleep when the wreck happened. And thankfully, Gordon could assure his daughter that he was just fine.

"That is the downside of being a parent as a race-car driver

All right, here's the deal: Fantasy NASCAR is coming up soon, and we at Yahoo! Sports want to fantasize with you. (Wait, that sounded really wrong.) Anyway, you need to get in on this action. Go to the Fantasy NASCAR homepage and sign up for a team. Then make sure you jump in on our special private league:

Fans of From The Marbles
Group ID: 31
Password: marbles
(sneaky password, yes?)

Anyway, the whole deal begins in a month or so with the Daytona 500. There'll be acclaim and love for the weekly winners, and you'll get the satisfaction of knowing that you're a better race analyst than [insert announcer name here]. Win-win all the way around. Get on it!

Time again for the weekly Yahoo! Sports NASCAR chat, and this week we've got actual racing to discuss! Join us here on Tuesday at 1 p.m. Eastern to talk about the Bud Shootout, the upcoming Daytona 500, and whatever else may jolt your fancy. See you here!

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
• Jeff Gordon walks 4-year-old daughter through replay of his wreck
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Sunday was an exceptional day of golf by any measure, but it wasn't the only display of fine shotmaking this past weekend at the Northern Trust Open. Here, check out the best of the weekend's play ... and, yes, the majority of the video is dominated by the late-Sunday-afternoon putting fiesta. Still, it's good stuff, and the season is now kicking into a higher gear.

Not to be used for wagering. / Getty Images

The Accenture Match Play Championships begin this week, and we've got your bracket breakdown right here. First, snag yourself a printable bracket, and next, let us help you with the rundown. Fill it out pronto, and remember: the "cuter uniform" rule has no sway here.

Bobby Jones Bracket: No. 1 seed and defending champ Luke Donald leads off against Ernie Els. Other intriguing matchups include #3 Dustin Johnson against #14 Jim Furyk and #4 KJ Choi against rebound kid #13 Kyle Stanley. This bracket has its pitfalls, but it ought to be a fairly easy route to the Final Four for Donald.

Ben Hogan Bracket: Martin Kaymer, the top seed, faces Greg Chalmers in the first round, but then it gets tough. He'll have to potentially face Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar or Bubba Watson just to get to the Elite Eight. The other half of the bracket features #2 Steve Stricker potentially facing Graeme McDowell, Hunter Mahan, Zach Johnson or Y.E. Yang. That's some tough competition there. Prediction: Mahan is

Danica Patrick prepares for qualifying / Getty Images

Heard about this young lady making her Sprint Cup debut in the Daytona 500? Name of Danica Patrick. Criminally underpublicized, but we'll do our best here to let you know about her. Hey, if Tony Stewart thinks she has the talent to win the Daytona 500, that's good enough for us.

[Dan Wetzel: Danica Patrick's foray into NASCAR is not a PR stunt]

Patrick will be running 10 Sprint Cup events this year, and you can bet that each one will have a torrent of publicity and hype ... hype that, lest we forget, would not be present without her presence. So if you're near one of these tracks, get ready for the Neon Green Tide:

Feb. 26: Daytona (Daytona 500)
May 12: Darlington
May 27: Charlotte (Coca-Cola 600)
Aug. 25: Bristol
Sept. 2: Atlanta
Sept. 16: Chicagoland
Sept. 30: Dover
Nov. 4: Texas
Nov. 11: Phoenix

Patrick will race one more as-yet-undetermined Sprint Cup race, depending on her level of development and needs. The Brickyard 400 at Indy in late July or a road course would appear to be a

This one's worth watching again, unless you're a Mickelson fan: the Northern Trust Open's final round, in which Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley held onto the lead until the final two holes. Bill Haas swooped in and appeared to vulture away the win, but no! If you don't know how it already turned out, shame on you, but watch it anyway. Best tournament of the year so far.