In 1940, at Daytona, a straight-eight Buick Century coupe driven by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr and Joe Littlejohn finished first and second in an AAA-sanctioned race, with the Buick entries leading the field by more than a lap, and the victory spurred competitors to push for rule changes excluding the powerful Buicks from future competition. In 1955, Zora Arkus-Duntov, chief engineer and father of the Corvette, drove the first NASCAR-sanctioned vehicle, a '55 Corvette prototype, to a two way average speed of 150.583 mph, breaking the 150 miles per hour barrier.