Harley J. Earl Trophy
The Harley J. Earl Trophy is a trophy given to the winner of the most important and famous race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series , the Daytona 500 . It is named after the influential automobile developer Harley Earl , NASCAR's second race steward, who is also considered the father of the Corvette . Earl was also the developer of the Firebird I that adorns the trophy.
The permanent trophy is located in the Daytona 500 Experience , a museum on Daytona International Speedway . It measures approximately 1.22 m in height and 1.52 m in width. Up to and including 1997, the winners of the Daytona 500 received the so-called Harley Earl Award , an approximately 90 cm high silver trophy decorated with figures. Since 1998, the winner of the race has received a scaled-down replica of the Harley J. Earl Trophy created by John Liba, a sculptor from Omaha , Nebraska . For each new trophy, he needs around six weeks to create the Firebird I model on a twelve-hour day before it is silvered. On the first of these new trophies, which Dale Earnhardt was presented with after his victory in 1998, the base was still made of marble . The base has been made of acrylic since 1999 to make it lighter.
For the 50th edition of the Daytona 500 in 2008 , the Firebird I was gold-plated instead of silver-plated.