Simmering Safety Issues in NASCAR
April 11th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Safety has always been an important issue in NASCAR, but only recently has it become a real focus of not only drivers, but also of NASCAR as an entity itself and an issue for the fans as well. When NASCAR started out, regular cars didn’t have seat belts, so of course their race cars counterparts also did not have seatbelts, although sometimes drivers would use harnesses that were normally used for air travel in their race cars. Of course, cars in the 1950s just did not go anywhere near as fast as they do now. That being said, there have been crashes and accidents in NASCAR since its inception, and in addition, varying degrees of caution have been present during the entire time.
Where modern NASCAR is concerned, safety has become the primary concern of NASCAR officials. Officials are concerned for racers’ safety while they rocket around the track, but they’re also forced to look out for the safety of their fans that trip and fall in the stadium bleachers. In the modern world it’s always somebody’s fault whenever an accident occurs. For this reason NASCAR has been forced to pay closer and closer attention to safety of everyone around a NASCAR race. If they were to ignore the increasing needs the public has for safety and security, they would be liable for all manner of accusations and, in today’s world, lawsuits.
Recent crashes in NASCAR have prompted excessive safety measures to be suggested. Most notable are the crashes of Earnhardt Sr., the second of which was fatal. NASCAR fans know that there’s a risk that comes with high-speed auto racing, but they still can’t stand to see one of their favorite drivers killed in a crash. It’s always been a small part of NASCAR, and perhaps it’s one of the reasons that the sport did not become immensely popular until recently. It’s possible that previous generations just could not get into a sport in which the stars were dying on the track. For this reason, fans turned to basketball and baseball. However, in the last few decades, fans have flooded NASCAR with a burgeoning fan base, and this fan base has been appropriately saddened and sobered by deaths such as that of Dale Earnhardt. In many ways, it’s the demand of the fan base that is pushing current safety reforms into fruition.
Some of the new safety regulations concern the car’s infrastructure, specifically the area immediately surrounding the driver. Of course, the goal is to avoid high-impact to the driver in a high-impact crash. At speeds like those seen every day in NASCAR, this is, of course, no easy task. Certain bar constructions help to increase stability of this box in which the driver is sitting, such that the roof will not collapse so easily and the steering wheel and module will not force themselves into the driver. All of these initiatives are admirable ones, and unfortunately, none of them are so easy to implement. If such things were easily done, all modern automobiles would be now sporting the same features.
In addition to some safety concerns within the car, NASCAR is looking into the construction of walls surrounding each race track in hopes of finding a way to effectively reduce high impact crashes into these structures. You can imagine that concrete walls are none too kind to mere cars crashing into them at speeds approaching 200 mph. Also concerning the area of the race track are security measures indicated for the safety of NASCAR fans and anyone else entering the stadium to work or anything else. In modern times, it’s always necessary to ensure security, especially at events where thousands and thousands of fans and others are coming together in one spot. Such security issues have never been a bigger issue than they are today.
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NASCAR State of Shocks – Why They Must Be Adjusted for Each Racing Track
April 10th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
It’s easy enough to understand that different cars and trucks have different requirements when it comes to having an efficient and effective shocks system, but it comes as a surprise to many when they find out that NASCAR drivers change their shocks according to many more factors than simply the kind of car or truck that they are driving. When it comes to NASCAR, speed is the name of the game, and in order to truly speed, you have to have a smooth ride.
Okay, so get good shocks, but that is hardly the solution. There are plenty of ‘good’ options for shocks; the catch is that some of them work better at certain temperatures than others. What’s good in February might not be what’s best in October. This is only one of the many factors that affect the shocks in NASCAR and in all cars. The other very important factor is in choosing the right shocks for the particular track that you are going to drive. While two sets of shocks might perform similarly at the same temperature, one might be better suited for a short track with tight curves whereas the other set might be a better choice for a more varied course with both left and right turns.
Shocks have much more importance than the average consumer or even the average NASCAR fan might think that they do. Of course, it’s nice to have a smooth ride, but when you’re talking about speed, about honest to goodness speed racing where every fraction of every second counts, bouncing up and down seriously affects the lap time and the efficiency of the car. Every motion in an up and down manner is motion that should more effectively be applied in the forward-moving motion. Bouncing up and down has serious effects on the aerodynamics of any car, but again, when you’re talking about racecars, the effect of bad shocks is disastrous.
It’s clear that shocks that are in poor condition or of poor quality are not a good idea for a NASCAR race, but how do you find out if one set of shocks is better for one set of conditions and another is better for another type of condition? The answer is that NASCAR is a team sport although at the surface it may not look that way. The drivers get a lot of publicity; the public sees them splashed across bulletin boards and commercials. The average American knows the names of at least one or two NASCAR drivers; however, only the most hard-core of fans will know the names of the team members that make up the crucial support system on which the drivers rely.
Each NASCAR team has a vast group of technicians who work on various aspects of the car and the race on race days. Some of the team members focus on fueling and others on tires. Some of the team members are scanning the track with their eyes and their ears looking out for helpful hints that they can pass on to their driver that could shave tenths of a second off their time or let them know of potential dangers or problems. Some of the technicians are focused on the shocks and the performance of the car in light of how the shocks are performing on that track, at that temperature, and with given weather conditions.
With over a hundred types of shocks available to NASCAR teams, making the choice between this or that set of shocks is no easy matter. It takes a tried and true specialist with years of experience to make a recommendation that is really and truly going to work.
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NASCAR Stock Cars: Past, Present and Future
April 9th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Although it’s certainly true that the most hard-core of NASCAR fans must know what stock cars actually are, there is a huge gray area in which the term stock car all too often is synonymous with racing car. At its inception, stock cars were not at all racing cars, stock cars were stock cars and they could be made into racing cars with a very few number of small modifications.
The truth of the matter is that NASCAR car racing was built on the idea that people might like to see cars like the cars that they were driving be the ones on the race track. Truth be told, there weren’t even racetracks. So how, you might ask, has NASCAR come from being a car race without a race car or a race track to what it is today—a car lover’s and speed lover’s haven?!
The history seems long when considering how much has changed, but the history is actually very short. NASCAR’s roots were planted in post World War II America in a time when people had more than they had had in decades. There was once again time, money and energy available for general amusement. The first car races took place on the dirt tracks around fairgrounds. The cars were, then, truly stock cars. This means that they were the exact same version of the car that you’d see someone driving down the street. This idea was one of the founding ones of NASCAR, based on the inference that the general people would get most excited about seeing real cars out there racing each other. Looking back, the idea seems very all-American; anyone can be president and any car can make it onto the racetrack. Whether an all-American or an anti-American idea, the idea was highly successful and great crowds came out to see the first stock car races.
At the beginning, the cars had no special equipment; sometimes airplane harnesses were used as stand-in seatbelts for the sake of safety—but this was neither standard nor required for safety’s sake by the race organizers. The earliest concerns in these early races were for the car’s tires (racing went far beyond ‘normal wear and tear’) and the shocks of the car. Forever resourceful, the first decade of car racing was marked not by innovations in tires specific for racing, but in the inclusion of a trap door in the floorboards of the car so that the driver could pull the trap door open mid-track in order to see how much life was left in his tires. A far-cry from today’s technology and diagnostics team looking out for such things; tire wear is not a responsibility of today’s driver, unless he feels some difference in the way the car is handling, of course he will report it to the crew chief.
Like bike races, car racing is no longer just car racing. The ‘stock cars’ of today are not actually stock, at least not general stock. They’re stock specific to racers and NASCAR in particular. Cars in today’s NASCAR are so easily identified beside their street counterparts that even the most general of non-specialists can point out which one is which without knowing a single thing about race cars or about NASCAR. In the 21st century, the cars of NASCAR are only going to get fancier and more technologically ‘smart’. With today’s engineering possibilities and the increasingly stringent safety requirements put in place by NASCAR, the cars of NASCAR are only going to get better and better and further differentiate themselves from the cars we see on the street. Or maybe, just maybe, cars and racing have come full circle; the original races were raced with ‘regular’ cars—maybe regular cars will soon be modeled after racing cars…only time will tell.
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NASCAR Terms Every Race Enthusiast Should Know
April 8th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
NASCAR race fans have a language all their own. There are terms you will only hear around a track that features the NEXTEL Cup race. You can add enjoyment to your race day experience if you are familiar with some of the most common racing terms.
The first term that most everyone including non-race fans is familiar with is pole position. The pole position is the term for the front inside position that belongs to the driver with the fastest qualifying time. It’s every driver’s dream to hold the pole position that is not a guarantee a win! It does mean you start at the beginning of the pack and you are not stuck in the middle of the pack with cars all around you.
Short track is the term for a racetrack that is less than a mile long. One example is the Bristol Motor Speedway. A Superspeedway refers to a track that is longer than a mile long and that includes road races. Generally a Superspeedway has a track that is over two miles long.
The next term you need to know and understand is draft. This is the term used for the aerodynamic effect that allows two or more cars that are running nose-to-tail to travel faster than a single car. The front car cuts through the air and provides less resistance to the car trailing. If your driver has a racing partner in the race and can give you some help by allowing you to draft, you may be able to take advantage of the draft to slingshot around the leader!
Drag is the term used for what the car experiences when passing through the air while traveling at high speeds. It is a force put on a car that is parallel to its airstream and the opposite in direction from the motion of the racecar.
Drivers will talk about getting in the groove. What they mean is finding the quickest and most efficient way around the racetrack. If the driver is in a “high” groove he is driving closer to the outside wall for most of the lap. F the driver is driving in a “low” groove the car is traveling closest to the inside apron. The groove can change for a driver depending on the weather conditions and the condition of the track.
In a recent NASCAR race one driver complained that his car was loose. This is a condition that happens when the rear end of the car tries to overtake the front end while entering or exiting a turn. Some drivers make a quick pit stop so their crewmembers can make the appropriate adjustment to tighten the movement of the car. Too much looseness in the car can cause a driver to lose control and crash.
Pit road is an important term that applies to where the pit crews service the cars. It is normally found on the front straightway but on some tracks there are pit roads on both the front and back straightway. Each pit road has a designated space for each car. The driver has speed limits on pit road for safety.
Restrictor plates came into being to also improve safety. Some raceways require racecars to have restrictor plates to control the top speeds on the racetrack.
Last but not least, victory lane! That is the dream of every starting driver on race day. The thrill of victory, doughnuts on the infield and gaining the all-important NEXTEL points! The first car to reach the start/finish line belongs in victory lane. Some drivers celebrate by doing back flips out his car window (Carl Edwards) and climbing the fence after a race victory (Tony Stewart.) The driver celebrates with crewmembers and friends and basks in the glory of living the life in victory lane!
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NASCAR with a Latin Flavor – A Glimpse into Juan Pablo Montoya
April 7th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Juan Pablo Montoya, joining NASCAR in the end of 2006, comes to NASCAR after a lengthy career as an open-wheel driver. Born in Bogota, Columbia, Montoya has raced all over the world. He began racing at the tender age of 6, and apparently, hasn’t stopped yet. He began as a child with cart racing and loved the speed and the thrill. He went on to continue his practice of racing and made it easily into the world of Formula 1 racing. His record shows a strong driving ability, but a certain unpredictability—sometimes delivering and sometimes not, but doing either with a little bit of latin flavor. His moves are bold and unapologetic, and have led to a few unfriendly severances with former teams.
He is clearly a talented driver, which is why he’s being picked up for NASCAR; however, there are some wrinkles to be ironed out if he is to be the next NASCAR fan favorite. His record shows a strong history and partnership with a few teams in Formula 1, but his record also shows some daring, and costly mistakes that have caused him to fall out of favor with some teams. He’s got a certain edge—think Maverick in Top Gun, that lets him decide to make a very bold move at the last possible second, without consulting team mates and perhaps before thinking the decision through all the way to fruition. In any case, NASCAR is looking for a new partnership with Montoya.
Montoya has been working on testing for NASCAR in the summer and early fall of 2006 and makes his NASCAR debut on October 28th in Memphis. Joining the Dodge team, he will be behind the wheel of a Charger for his October premiere. Many fans are looking forward to his spunk coming to NASCAR, while others are wary of his bold moves. Either way, he will find a home for himself among NASCAR drivers, and based on his track record, it will only take a few seasons to get an idea of whether or not this is going to be a lasting career for Montoya.
In addition to racing, Montoya founded the Smiles Foundation, which works on improving sports facilities in impoverished areas of Columbia. The foundation works to raise money for sports programs and facilities in cities where kids would otherwise not have access to high-quality (or any at all) sports equipment and spots. Races are sponsored to raise money and also fun contests are created such as the helmet-painting event in which children got to come up with new designs for Montoya’s helmet. The winning helmet painted design was to be worn by Montoya in upcoming races, which, of course, was a very exciting idea for the kids participating in the contest.
Montoya’s racing style is due to see slight changes in the end of 2006 and early 2007 as he becomes comfortable rocketing around a small race track with so much traffic all around him. He has participated only in a limited way in two NASCAR races in October, but the one at the end of October will be his first pilot race. The team is very optimistic that he will do very well, not just because he’s a top-driver, but also because he really knows what he’s doing when he’s inside a race car. The team’s engineer is very pleased with his communication with Montoya, saying that the only reason he’s been able to get the car to perform so well is because Montoya is able to give such accurate descriptions of how the car is handling and what needs to be changed in order to make it better.
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New Kid on the NASCAR Block – Kasey Kahne
April 6th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Though Kasey Kahne is still fairly new to NASCAR, he is not at all new to car racing. The 26 year-old from Washington State has been racing since his early teen years, and of course, winning since then. Kahne entered the NASCAR world for the first time in 2002, running a few series races that year. In the 2004 season is when his NASCAR career exploded into action.
The beginning of the 2004 season was a typically unmarked time for Kahne. Young and enthusiastic, it didn’t matter to him that nobody knew the name Kasey Kahne; they didn’t know it yet, but they would soon be saying it at every race. The season began slowly and Kahne was basically an unknown driver outside of a small circle of those immediately around him. During the course of the season, he skyrocketed to the top of the charts, finishing 13th overall for the season. There was no question in anyone’s mind that he would be named Rookie of the Year, which, indeed, he was.
The 2004 season brought 13 top-five race finishes—no small feat for a rookie, and four poles. Everyone, fittingly, seemed to be talking about this talented young driver who drives on the Dodge team under Evernham. Recent changes to Dodge and recent changes to NASCAR regulations made his 2005 not as successful as 2004, finishing 23rd in the overall yearly rating, but his tenacity certainly showed him through the year, driving aggressively throughout the season despite some troubles with the car’s handling. Everyone from Kahne himself to the team director and the car’s engineer are working together to make the results of the 2006 season more on par with Kahne’s rookie 2004 season.
Currently, his 2006 season is looking up. Everyone thought he was basically out of the running for the 2006 Chase at the end of September, but the last three races have turned everything around. Good handling in his Dodge #9 as well as sheer youthful optimism are currently leading the way toward a much more successful end to the 2006 season than was thought just one month ago. There are four more races to go, and the team is optimistic because a few of those remaining races are at tracks on which Kahne has already won a race this season. His standing is currently on the upward swing, and hopefully, that trend will continue for him as the season comes to an end.
Since his 2004 successful season, Kahne has become a household name and one of the most popular NASCAR drivers. He was even named one of America’s most eligible bachelor’s by People Magazine. His youth and his success are magnets for the NASCAR fan base. Of course, women are enamored with his young, sweet face, but men are also very positive about Kahne based on his hard-core grit attitude and his aggressive driving despite his youth. Everyone loves a success story, and extra kudos if the successful one is so young.
It is possible to buy just about anything with Kahne’s face and number splashed across it. NASCAR is one of the heaviest sports when it comes to fans collecting random gear associated with their favorite drivers, and despite Kahne’s relatively new presence in NASCAR, all those goodies are available with the Kahne name splashed across it. In any case, the young driver has continued to turn heads despite the downswing of the 2005 season. Even if the 2006 season doesn’t turn out to be as successful as the 2004 season, everyone still loves Kasey Kahne and everyone’s rooting for a successful season finish.
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Paying Tribute to NASCAR Driver Dale Earnhardt
April 5th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Americans who’ve never even seen a NASCAR race know the name Dale Earnhardt; perhaps in the 90’s it wasn’t yet a household name in America, but after his death in 2001, his name has definitely become one known to all Americans. However, a lot of Americans who know his name don’t really know who he was. Most people will be able to come up with an answer that vaguely alludes to cars and racing, but admit that they don’t know the real story behind who this man really was, both at the height of his career and earlier on in his life.
Earnhardt (not to be confused with also NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt, Jr., his son) was one of the nation’s most successful NASCAR drivers ever. His career, though ended early by an untimely on-the-racetrack death, was a lengthy and a steady one. Steady in the sense that he was consistently among the top-ranked drivers. Though his was not a household name before his untimely death, his name was more than well-known to avid NASCAR fans across the country. Even if a fan was not a supporter of Earnhardt’s team, his name was always among the top names as one of the uncontested greats among the truly great American NASCAR drivers.
Earnhardt was born into a racing family, learning most of what he knew early on from his father. It seems that Earnhardt worked so hard to become a good driver in order to show his father just what he could do. Though his father did not live long enough to see even the beginning of the height of his son’s racing career, it’s safe to say that his Dad would be more than proud of his son’s ultimate skill, career, and the positive changes that were his influence on the world of NASCAR racing.
Like Earnhardt learned from his father, Earnhardt’s son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has followed very fittingly in his father’s footsteps. The careers of Earnhardt and Earnhardt Jr. overlapped, and Earnhardt Jr. was on the racetrack the day that his father died in a final-lap crash in 2001. As Earnhardt’s car crashed into the barrier wall, Earnhardt Jr. sped on to the finish line. The public was not told for quite some time that the injuries sustained in this crash had been fatal. It was not NASCAR’s fieriest crash; it was not even Earnhardt’s fieriest NASCAR crash. A crash from a few years before his life-ending crash in 2001 left spectators breathless, thinking that he must have sustained very serious, if not fatal, injuries…until he jumped out of the car, waving to fans, with a broken collarbone and a few other small injuries. His 2001 crash looked milder to spectators watching, but the crash turned out to be fatal.
Earnhardt has two extremely large legacies in NASCAR. The first is that he was an incredibly talented racer, with a long list of wins and an even longer list of adoring fans. The second legacy Earnhardt has left to NASCAR is one that is still evolving. His first major crash, though not fatal, stirred major changes in NASCAR’s safety regulations for their drivers. His fatal 2001 crash stirred even bigger safety changes and continue still today to be a driving force in safety regulations for NASCAR cars and drivers in addition to the construction of the tracks themselves.
Similar to sports that retire jerseys of their most famous and most successful retired players, so is Earnhardt’s auspicious number 3 black GM Goodwrench car retired. It was retired almost immediately after his death; his teammates took on a new number and a different color scheme, leaving his black #3 as the physical legacy of the bigger inspirational legacy Earnhardt left to NASCAR fans across America, and indeed, to all Americans for putting NASCAR on the map of American sports.
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Profiling the Texas Motor Speedway and its NASCAR Highlights
April 4th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
The Texas Motor Speedway is one of the homes of NASCAR races, and although it hosts a short list of races each year, it’s one of the commonly heard names among NASCAR news buffs and NASCAR fans. Located between Fort Worth, Denton, and Justin, Texas, the speedway is a big one in more ways than one. The speedway was recently considered the fastest track when using speeds from 2004 and 2005 in order to compile data, but more recently, changes in the track’s surface have forced this title to move on to another track, the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Both of these tracks are part of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which means that the tracks are identical. Also in this family is the recently renamed Lowe’s Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway). The last member of the group is the Bristol Motor Speedway, which tends to get a little less press because it is not as large as the other tracks; however, some prefer it for the very reason that it’s a short-track.
There are currently four NASCAR regular-season events that are held at Texas Motor Speedway each season. Some of these events are newer than others, and some belong to the Nextel Cup Series while others belong to the Busch Series of races. There are currently no Craftsman Truck Series races held at the speedway in Denton County, Texas, but that could change in the future. Texas Motor Speedway also hosts the Indy Racing League’s Bombardier Learjet 500; it’s a short list, but also an exciting one that make up the NASCAR series races. The Busch races are the O’Reilly Challenge and the O’Reilly 300; the Nextel Cup races are the Dickies 500 and the Samsung/Radio Shack 500. Seeing the names of these events all together like that is another coherent example of the magnitude of event sponsorship in NASCAR. The amount of races named after sponsors, and even racetracks themselves now being named after sponsoring companies, is innumerable.
Another great NASCAR feature of the Texas Motor Speedway is their NASCAR driving school. The driving school offers the opportunity for die-hard fans to really get their kicks by driving an authentic NASCAR stock car. The price tags are not so insignificant, but for an appropriately expensive sum of money, one can buy the opportunity to ride around the racetrack at high speeds in the passenger seat of a racecar or even learn to do the driving oneself. Of course, most fans are interested in the latter option, paying thousands of dollars to drive original stock cars around the track a pre-determined number of times. Throughout the driving school, it is supposed that one will gain the experience needed to successfully drive at NASCAR speeds. The driving school teaches skills according to the skill level of the driver, and of course students of the driving school must be able to show a valid driver’s license before being allowed to get behind the wheel of the car.
Whether for race watching or car-driving, Texas Motorsports Speedway is an exciting place for NASCAR fans to be. Certainly, some other tracks draw more races and are higher on the popularity list of drivers across the country, but when it comes right down to it, the speedway in Texas is one of the icons of American racecar driving. Whether it’s because of the favorable climate or because of the sheer magnitude of the fan base, nobody really knows. What is certain is that Texas Motorsports Speedway is a great place for NASCAR fans to come together for a tailgate party or to have the amazing opportunity of driving an authentic NASCAR racecar around, around, and around again the track.
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Provisional and Guaranteed Starts in NASCAR Explained
April 3rd, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Do you know the difference between provisional and guaranteed starts in NASCAR? I didn’t. I thought if your time trials were good enough you were in the line up! That is not how it works. NASCAR is all about speed and the two-lap trial will give you the position start for each driver. Starting in the year 2005 NASCAR changed the rules to allow for the top 35 teams in owner points to have a guaranteed spot in races. This was meant to encourage and reward teams that show up each week. This guaranteed start means they can use their practice times in other ways. They can work on race setups that can pay off on race day. It could cause them to start farther back in the field but they must make an attempt at a time trial run.
After the first 35 drivers are given their guaranteed spots, the seven fastest drivers in time trials are then placed in the starting field. This means that these drivers will be inserted into the field where their trial time would normally place them. If they have a faster qualifying time than the number one team in owner points, they win the pole position. This is a great way to make sure that car owners do not skip some races to save their resources for more favorable races.
Once the field of 35 has been set, and the 7 fastest qualifying drivers the final spot goes to any former NASCAR former champion that did not qualify by points or lap times. If there is not a former champion to fill this final spot, it will go to the next car owner in the points standings.
As with all rules, there are exceptions. The Daytona 500 follows its own rules for qualifying for the race. It is important to know the first five races of each New Year uses car owners points from the previous year. Current points standings are used starting the sixth race of the season.
Another exception occurs when qualifying is canceled because of rain, snow, or any other reason. They still allow the provisional Champions rule but the first 42 in points are the cars that will race.
Qualifying begins a few hours before the start of the race. NASCAR has a way of settling the official starting lineup for each race. A team is randomly assigned with the use of a machine that resembles a bingo cage. That number tells them in what order they will be on the track for their qualifying run. This draw may make an impact on qualifying times as a cooler track and an afternoon run will increase speeds. Many teams believe that drawing a high number is an advantage to their team.
One car goes out on the track and use one lap to get up to top speed. When they receive the green flag they have two laps to set their best time. Some drivers will deliberately moderate their speed on the first lap because they know the second lap will normally go a little quicker. A driver may choose to run only one lap if he feels he has a good enough qualifying speed to save wear and tear on his engine and risks damage to his car.
NASCAR tracks time in the qualifying laps down to the one-thousandth of a second. If there is a tie between two drivers, the driver with the highest car-owner points gets the spot. It is important to know we are talking about qualifying time and not speed. The formula for converting lap times to miles per hour is this: (length of the track in miles)/lap time in seconds) *60 *60.
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Quickie Guide of How NASCAR Got Its Start
April 2nd, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
The roots of NASCAR are found deep in the southern part of the United States. During the prohibition period drivers were running moonshine to supplement the family income. Moonshine running paid well in an era where wages were small and many men went unemployed. For a 120-gallon load of white lightening a man could collect $200 per delivery. This seemed a fortune to many men who had families starving! The south was mainly dry so moonshine or white lightening was in high demand. There were plenty of loads to be delivered!
Naturally these drivers needed cars that could go faster than the police cars that chased them. That meant the cars had to go over 95 mph. The drivers had to have the ability to handle these cars over rough mountain roads, unmapped territory, and the drivers themselves needed to be fearless to avoid capture. In a time when entertainment was nonexistent, competition grew between drivers for nothing more than bragging rights! Dirt tracks were fashioned and drivers were soon running them and collecting fans. Promoters began exploiting the races popularity. Gate prices were ten to twenty-five cents and were available to the people who lived in the area. Promoters began promising big winning paydays and then running off with the money.
Bill France was a mechanic and dirt track racer who lived in the Washington D.C. area. He took his life savings and packed his family up to move south to get away from the harsh winters. He had started racing by sneaking his father’s Model T to a racetrack in Maryland. His original car was a modified Motel T engine with a woven canvas body. It had one seat and was open wheeled. As he competed in tracks around the Washington area, Bill learned the business of auto racing and continued improving his driving skills.
The trip south ended in Daytona Beach Florida. Speed was already an important part of their tourist trade as many speed trials were run on Ormand Beach. The Utah salt flats were opened for speed trials and Daytona Beach was soon starving for tourists and for speed. A racetrack was set up for a 250-mile race along Highway A1A and parts of the beach. Stock cars ran the race for a purse of $5000. They shortened the track and received backing from a local restaurant owner and began making money from promoting racing events.
Bill France soon realized the races needed to have the same rules and car specifications. Bill France’s dream of a racking league strictly for stock cars came to pass when the National Championship Stock Car Circuit was born in 1946. In 1947 a group of lawyers, car owners, promoters, mechanics, and drivers founded the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing, or NASCAR. The official birth date of NASCAR is February 21, 1948.
The strictly stock series eventually changed in to what is now known as the NEXTEL Cup Series. The sport has grown in popularity and has continued to grow. Today, drivers make an enormous amount of money and you cannot get started in the business for less than ten million dollars! The races of today draw enormous crowds and attract more fans every year. NASCAR fans are passionate about the racing, loyal to the drivers, and fill stands Sunday after Sunday during the race season. Races fill the senses with sound from the crowd and the roar of the engines, the smell of fuel, brake fluid and burning rubber, the feel of the sun on your arms and the taste of the cold drink of your choice. Attending a race will have you hooked on NASCAR racing.
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