NASCAR for beginners
by SANTOS TORO
NASCAR stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing and was started way back following World War II. There was a serious lack of organization in the beginning and the rules were different from track to track so the drivers had to adapt with each track. In December 1947, the founder of NASCAR, Bill France Sr., organized a meeting with all drivers and pit crews to come up with ideas for rules and regulations pertaining to teams and tracks. After that meeting, things came together quickly. The first NASCAR race was held on Daytona��s beach, the actual beach, back on February 15, 1948. Six days later, on Feb 21, 1948, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was incorporated.
Jim Roper of Great Bend, Kansas, was the winner of the first ever NASCAR Grand National (now known as the Sprint Cup) Event held at the Charlotte NC fairgrounds on February 21, 1949.
In 1950, the first asphalt super speedway was built in Darlington SC. It was the biggest, fastest and the first of its kind ever built. The first decade for the Cup Series was one of tremendous growth. Characters became heroes and fans hung on to every turn of the wheel, watching drivers manhandle cars at speeds fans wished they could legally run themselves. Names like Lee Petty, Fireball Roberts, Buck Baker, Herb Thomas and others became as well-known to race fans as Willey, Mickey and the Duke were to baseball fans. With the success of Darlington in his mind, Bill France started looking to the future and began construction of a 2.5 mile, high-banked super speedway four miles off the beach in Daytona Beach. In 1959, the track was moved to what is now Daytona International Speedway. The first Daytona 500 did not end for three days. It was a photo finish and officials took that long to study the photograph finish between Petty and Johnny Beauchamp with the officials declaring Petty the winner.
Tracks were popping up everywhere shortly after the first decade of racing. There were tracks from Florida to California to Maine. The first corporate sponsorship of the series was sponsored by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company through its Winston brand back in 1971 and NASCAR��s premier division was then known as the Winston Cup Series. In 1976 over 1.4 million spectators made their way to the events taking the sport to the lead in worldwide motor sports attendance for the first time. According to the figures from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, the lead has never been relinquished.
By the mid 80��s, Fortune 500 companies not only were involved in sponsoring NASCAR, but individual races and teams as well. Major consumer and packaging companies like Kellogg��s General Foods and Procter & Gamble were realizing what Bill France Sr. knew in the late 40s -- stock-car racing was big.
The big names have come and gone, your Allison��s, Labonte��s, Waltrip��s, Petty��s and, of course, the Earnhardt��s. Most of the names are still in the starting lineups. By the turn of the century, nothing could stand in the way of NASCAR��s racing success. New stars emerged such as Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon and second-generation driver Dale Jarrett. With the Daytona 500 in 2001, viewer ship increased 32% in one year, going from 4.1 million to more than 17 million. As Tony Stewart was crowned NASCAR��s 2002 champion, close observation of the sport saw a youth movement swelling, NASCAR��s ��Young Guns,�� drivers such as Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr., were evidence of labor pains to a new era. In 2003 NASCAR announced that Nextel would be the new sponsor for the series in 2004, replacing R.J. Reynolds�� Winston brand after 33 years. Shortly after, in 2007, the sponsors changed hands again, now making it the Sprint Cup Series.
Santos Toro, USN/Retired www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/25585 (see NASCAR.com)
