NASCAR is one of the most famous American traditions about cars and speeding races!
So let’s find out some trivia and facts about that!
- The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock-car racing
- Its three largest or National series are the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Gander Outdoors Truck Series
- Regional series include the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West, the Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR Pinty’s Series NASCAR Whelen Euro Series and NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series
- NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states as well as in Canada, Mexico, and Europe
- NASCAR has presented races at the Suzuka and Motegi circuits in Japan
- And the Calder Park Thunderdome in Australia
- NASCAR also ventures into eSports
- This happend via the PEAK Antifreeze NASCAR iRacing Series
- And a sanctioned ladder system on that title
- The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948
- And his grandson Brian France has been CEO since 2003
- The company’s headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida
- Internationally, its races are broadcast on television in over 150 countries
- In the 1920s and 30s, Daytona Beach became known as the place to set world land speed records
- Supplanting France and Belgium as the preferred location for land speed records
- With 8 consecutive world records set between 1927 and 1935
- After a historic race between Ransom Olds and Alexander Winton in 1903, the beach became a mecca for racing enthusiasts
- 15 records were set on what became the Daytona Beach Road Course between 1905 and 1935
- By the time the Bonneville Salt Flats became the premier location for pursuit of land speed records
- Daytona Beach had become synonymous with fast cars in 1936
- Drivers raced on a 4.1-mile (6.6 km) course, consisting of a 1.5–2.0-mile (2.4–3.2 km) stretch of beach as one straightaway, and a narrow blacktop beachfront highway, State Road A1A, as the other
- The two straights were connected by two tight, deeply rutted and sand covered turns at each end
- Stock car racing in the United States has its origins in bootlegging during Prohibition
- When drivers ran bootleg whiskey made primarily in the Appalachian region of the United States
- Bootleggers needed to distribute their illicit products, and they typically used small, fast vehicles to better evade the police
- Many of the drivers would modify their cars for speed and handling, as well as increased cargo capacity
- Some of them came to love the fast- paced driving down twisty mountain roads
- The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 dried up some of their business
- But by then Southerners had developed a taste for moonshine
- And a number of the drivers continued “runnin’ shine”, this time evading the “revenuers” who were attempting to tax their operations
- The cars continued to improve
- And by the late 1940s, races featuring these cars were being run for pride and profit
- These races were popular entertainment in the rural Southern United States
- They are most closely associated with the Wilkes County region of North Carolina
- Most races in those days were of modified cars
- Street vehicles were lightened and reinforced
- Mechanic William France Sr., moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, from Washington, D.C., in 1935 to escape the Great Depression
- He was familiar with the history of the area from the land speed record attempts
- France entered the 1936 Daytona event, finishing fifth
- He took over running the course in 1938
- He promoted a few races before World War II
- France had the notion that people would enjoy watching “stock cars” race
- Drivers were frequently victimized by unscrupulous promoters who would leave events with all the money before drivers were paid
- In 1947, he decided this racing would not grow without a formal sanctioning organization, standardized rules, regular schedule, and an organized championship
- On December 14, 1947, France began talks with other influential racers and promoters at the Ebony Bar at the Streamline Hotel at Daytona Beach, Florida
- That ended with the formation of NASCAR on February 21, 1948
- The first Commissioner of NASCAR was Erwin “Cannonball” Baker
- A former stock car, motorcycle, and open-wheel racer
- He competed in the Indianapolis 500
- Set over one hundred land speed records
- Baker earned most of his fame for his transcontinental speed runs and would prove a car’s worth by driving it from New York to Los Angeles
- After his death, the famous transcontinental race the ‘Cannonball Run’
- The film that was inspired by it were both named in his honor
- Baker is enshrined in the Automotive Hall of Fame, the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame
- This level of honor and success in each diverse racing association earned Baker the title of “King of the Road”
- In the early 1950s, the United States Navy stationed Bill France Jr., at the Moffett Federal Airfield in northern California
- His father asked him to look up Bob Barkhimer in San Jose, California
- Barkhimer was a star of midget car racing from the World War II era
- And later ran about 22 different speedways as the head of the California Stock Car Racing Association
- Young Bill developed a relationship with Bob Barkhimer and his partner, Margo Burke
- He went to events with them, stayed weekends with them and generally became very familiar with racing on the west coast
- “Barky”, as he was called by his friends, journeyed to Daytona Beach and met with Bill France Sr.
- In the spring of 1954, NASCAR became a stock car sanctioning body on the Pacific Coast under Barky
- Wendell Scott was the first African- American to win a race in the Grand National Series
- NASCAR’s highest level
- He was posthumously inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., January 30, 2015
Got anything to add?