94-year-old ticket woman has worked every Daytona 500, but never watched a race

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Before Daytona International Speedway became the Mecca of stock car racing, it was a swamp filled with cypress trees and an abundance of wildlife.

Among the various critters found in the habitat, snakes were the one 94-year-old Juanita Epton remembers most; especially the rattlers. They were so big Epton recalls construction workers laying them diagonally across the hoods of their jeeps.

In the time since Daytona transformed from a desolate sleepy beach town to the site of a world-class venue, one in the midst of a $400 million renovation, Epton has been there every step of the way. And she has not just been a spectator in the 57 years the speedway has existed, she’s been a key cog in the track’s growth and, by extension, NASCAR’s.

“On the day the track first opened it was like a circus with people coming in all directions,” Epton said. “Some people were so dressed up you thought they were going out on the town for the night. They didn’t know what to expect. But it was a wonderful day.”

But Epton isn’t recalling her time working alongside Daytona visionary and NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., along with his wife Anne, she’s sharing memories in the Daytona ticket office. Where just moments before, Epton was prepping tickets for that day’s time trials, which would see Jeff Gordon win the pole-position for Sunday’s running of the Great America Race.

Talk to anyone who makes the annual trek to Daytona and they will likely share an Epton story, affectionately known as “Lightnin’,” a moniker bestowed by her late husband. That nickname was given because Joe Epton “never knew when or where I might strike,” she says laughing.

“She comes into work and she’s a spitfire,” Daytona president Joie Chitwood III said. “To me she’s a living legend. How many folks can say they’ve worked in the same place for over 50 years? That’s amazing.”

The Eptons met at a roller skating rink in Mississippi where Joe was stationed in the Army and where Juanita was born and raised. After being married, they moved to North Carolina. That was where Joe took his wife to her first race at a Charlotte dirt track.

Eventually Joe began working as a scorer for France, a race promoter and the founder of NASCAR in 1947. Ten years later France concocted the notion of building a 2.5-mile track in Daytona, with Joe as part of the construction crew. (Joe later became NASCAR’s chief of timing and scoring.)

With a burgeoning family, Juanita began working at the track herself. She’s never stopped.

“I think it’s so cool that she still came to work every day with the same joy and happiness that’s brought her here for all these years,” said Michael Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 champion who brought Epton flowers on Valentine’s Day. “You can just tell how energetic and how much she lights up the room. People love working beside her and I think that’s really special.”

Every day Epton drives herself to work in her brand-new Chevrolet Equinox. Although she doesn’t have to be in the office until 9 a.m., Epton likes to arrive between 8-8:30. Once settled, her day consists of distributing the mail and other assorted office duties, a series of tasks that hasn’t changed much over the years, though the technology certainly has. Epton has adapted with aplomb, but remembers she’s in a people business.

“I’m like Mrs. France,” Epton said. “She always said that she hoped that the computer never took the place of a customer. I don’t want our customers to become a number.”

Customers from that very first Daytona 500 still pay a visit to see Epton, as do their kids and grandkids. Those relationship have fostered a close kinship.

“It’s one right after another,” she said. “It’s a family deal all the way around from one generation to the next.”

Through the years Epton has never missed a race weekend. Pick a memorable race and she was on the grounds. She was there when Richard Petty and David Pearson wrecked out of Turn 4 coming to the checkered flag, just as she was there for the infamous fight between Cale Yarborough and the Allisons and Dale Earnhardt’s lone Daytona 500 victory.

And yet, Epton never witnessed any of those events happen with her own eyes. No, because in each instance she was hunkered down in the ticket office, ever dedicated to her job. As part of the 50th anniversary of the Daytona 500, Epton watched the early portions of a Thursday qualifying race only to excuse herself so she could return to work.

“They said after 50 years I ought to be able to see a race,” Epton said. “So I watched some of the race, but then I said, ‘I’m sorry, I have to go.’ I had to come back down here (to the ticket office) because I couldn’t stand it. My duties are here. I always felt like if a race time was here, then I was supposed to be at my job.”

But Epton’s streak of being a part of every Daytona 500 is in jeopardy. Clogged arteries have Upton set for heart surgery, an operation that could occur anytime in the immediate future. If her doctors deem it necessary within the next few days, it would prevent Epton from being in attendance Sunday.

Undeterred, Epton maintains her full-time schedule, because after nearly six decades of having a hand in NASCAR’s marquee event, pending surgery wasn’t going to be enough to keep her home.

“You’re not going to have this race without me having my finger on it someway,” Epton said. “I have my fingers crossed I’ll be here Sunday.”