NASCAR trivia: 66 amazing facts about the American auto racing!

NASCAR is one of the most famous American traditions about cars and speeding races!

1. 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
2. Its three largest or National series are the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Gander Outdoors Truck Series
3. 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
4. NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states as well as in Canada, Mexico, and Europe
5. NASCAR has presented races at the Suzuka and Motegi circuits in Japan
6. And the Calder Park Thunderdome in Australia
7. NASCAR also ventures into eSports
8. This happend via the PEAK Antifreeze NASCAR iRacing Series
9. And a sanctioned ladder system on that title
10. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948
11. And his grandson Brian France has been CEO since 2003
12. The company’s headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida
13. Internationally, its races are broadcast on television in over 150 countries
14. In the 1920s and 30s, Daytona Beach became known as the place to set world land speed records
15. Supplanting France and Belgium as the preferred location for land speed records
16. With 8 consecutive world records set between 1927 and 1935
17. After a historic race between Ransom Olds and Alexander Winton in 1903, the beach became a mecca for racing enthusiasts
18. 15 records were set on what became the Daytona Beach Road Course between 1905 and 1935
19. By the time the Bonneville Salt Flats became the premier location for pursuit of land speed records
20. Daytona Beach had become synonymous with fast cars in 1936
21. 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
22. The two straights were connected by two tight, deeply rutted and sand covered turns at each end
23. Stock car racing in the United States has its origins in bootlegging during Prohibition
24. When drivers ran bootleg whiskey made primarily in the Appalachian region of the United States
25. Bootleggers needed to distribute their illicit products, and they typically used small, fast vehicles to better evade the police
26. Many of the drivers would modify their cars for speed and handling, as well as increased cargo capacity
27. Some of them came to love the fast- paced driving down twisty mountain roads
28. The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 dried up some of their business
29. But by then Southerners had developed a taste for moonshine
30. And a number of the drivers continued “runnin’ shine”, this time evading the “revenuers” who were attempting to tax their operations
31. The cars continued to improve
32. And by the late 1940s, races featuring these cars were being run for pride and profit
33. These races were popular entertainment in the rural Southern United States
34. They are most closely associated with the Wilkes County region of North Carolina
35. Most races in those days were of modified cars
36. Street vehicles were lightened and reinforced
37. Mechanic William France Sr., moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, from Washington, D.C., in 1935 to escape the Great Depression
38. He was familiar with the history of the area from the land speed record attempts
39. France entered the 1936 Daytona event, finishing fifth
40. He took over running the course in 1938
41. He promoted a few races before World War II
42. France had the notion that people would enjoy watching “stock cars” race
43. Drivers were frequently victimized by unscrupulous promoters who would leave events with all the money before drivers were paid
44. In 1947, he decided this racing would not grow without a formal sanctioning organization, standardized rules, regular schedule, and an organized championship
45. 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
46. That ended with the formation of NASCAR on February 21, 1948
47. The first Commissioner of NASCAR was Erwin “Cannonball” Baker
48. A former stock car, motorcycle, and open-wheel racer
49. He competed in the Indianapolis 500
50. Set over one hundred land speed records
51. 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
52. After his death, the famous transcontinental race the ‘Cannonball Run’
53. The film that was inspired by it were both named in his honor
54. Baker is enshrined in the Automotive Hall of Fame, the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame
55. This level of honor and success in each diverse racing association earned Baker the title of “King of the Road”
56. In the early 1950s, the United States Navy stationed Bill France Jr., at the Moffett Federal Airfield in northern California
57. His father asked him to look up Bob Barkhimer in San Jose, California
58. Barkhimer was a star of midget car racing from the World War II era
59. And later ran about 22 different speedways as the head of the California Stock Car Racing Association
60. Young Bill developed a relationship with Bob Barkhimer and his partner, Margo Burke
61. He went to events with them, stayed weekends with them and generally became very familiar with racing on the west coast
62. “Barky”, as he was called by his friends, journeyed to Daytona Beach and met with Bill France Sr.
63. In the spring of 1954, NASCAR became a stock car sanctioning body on the Pacific Coast under Barky
64. Wendell Scott was the first African- American to win a race in the Grand National Series
65. NASCAR’s highest level
66. He was posthumously inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., January 30, 2015