Hard to believe a sport with over 75 million fans had a rough start, but NASCAR’s beginnings weren’t always smooth driving, so to speak. Like everything, NASCAR had to start somewhere and the Southern United States was this sport’s birthplace.
Stock car racing in the United States has its origins in “bootlegging” during the 1920’s and early 30’s Prohibition era, when drivers ran whiskey or “moonshine” from hidden stills to hundreds of markets across the Southern United States. Many of the drivers would modify their cars to improve handling and speed in an attempt to outrun the police. As bootlegging grew, the drivers began to race among themselves on Sunday afternoons to see who had the fastest cars. Inevitably people came out to watch the races, and racing moonshine cars on Sunday afternoons became extremely popular – NASCAR history had begun.
In the summer of 1938, William H.G. “Bill” France Sr. organized a race on the sands of Daytona Beach, Florida. The winner received such items as a bottle of whiskey, a case of motor oil and a box of cuban cigars (precursors to present-day sponsor involvement in the sport). Unfortunately for William France, there were only a few races promoted when racing was mostly halted due to the outbreak of World War II.
After the war, stock car racing was experiencing a surge in popularity. Tracks had more drivers and larger crowds, but with this came crooked promoters who would leave the events without paying the drivers. By 1947, France decided there should be a formal sanctioning organization with standardized rules, a regular schedule, points system and an organized championship. On December 12th of that year France gathered promoters from the Southeast, Northeast, and Midwest at the Ebony bar atop the Streamline Hotel on Daytona Beach to formalize the new organization. Thus, by the time that famous meeting at the Streamline Hotel was complete; the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) was born.
Few knew, even at that original meeting, that NASCAR would become as big as it is today, but two months later the first NASCAR-sanctioned race was held on February 15th, 1948. Three divisions were initially created; Modified, Roadster and Strictly Stock, with the former two being predicted more popular with fans. It turned out Roadsters were seen as a Northwestern or Midwestern series and the Strictly Stock division had to be put on hold due to a boom in post-WWII family sedan production. So with that, the first NASCAR race was won by Atlanta, Georgia stock car legend, Red Byron, in his Ford Modified.
Six days later on February 21st, 1948 NASCAR was incorporated. That year had the 1948 series schedule fifty-two Modified dirt track races. By the following year, things changed drastically. The Strictly Stock division debuted a 20-mile exhibition near Miami, Florida. In June of 1949 a tremendous crowd came to see Jim Roper win the first ever NASCAR Grand National (now NASCAR Sprint Cup) event at Charlotte Fairgrounds in North Carolina. This new series was officially off and running with tremendous success. There was no turning back now.
Immediately, plans were made for more, bigger, faster tracks to attract larger, hungrier race driven audiences. In less than a year (1950), the country’s first asphalt super speedway, the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, opened its doors to this new division of drivers. After a short time on this raceway, attendance had surpassed the track’s capability. Only three years later, France developed a yet another super speedway called the Daytona International Speedway. It was a new 2.5-mile, high-banked track that would be the permanent ground for NASCAR races and hold the immense crowds already attending. In 1959, the Daytona 500 debuted and lasted 3 days! It took that long for officials to study the photograph of the finish between Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp. This close competition is what race fans still thrive for even to this day. Petty was declared the victor.
The hook had been set. Decades passed with France at NASCAR’s helm as chairman and CEO. In 1979 the Daytona 500 became the first 500-mile race in history to be telecast in its entirety. The 1980s brought the infamous sponsorship of Fortune 500 companies and brought to everybody’s attention one thing….racing was bigger than big. The Busch beer company took over sponsorship in what would become the NASCAR Busch Series – now known as the Nationwide Series. The 1990s branched out into the Craftsman Truck Series, an official website (http://www.nascar.com/) and added races in new places such as L.A., Dallas and New Hampshire. Attendance exploded to over 9.3 million for the three series (Cup, Busch, Truck) by the time NASCAR had its 50th Anniversary in 1998.
The Car of Tomorrow is NASCAR’s latest instalment with emphasis on improved safety, cost maintenance and competition.
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Ryan
Publisher, Racing News 360
