NASCAR
NASCAR, or the National Association for Stock Car Racing, is a prominent motorsport organization founded in 1948 to regulate and promote stock car racing in the United States. Originating from early 20th-century auto racing and the Prohibition-era activities of bootleggers, NASCAR has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry, overseeing over 1,200 races across various series. The flagship event, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has developed into a major spectator sport, attracting a large national audience.
The first NASCAR-sanctioned race took place in 1948, and the sport's signature event, the Daytona 500, debuted in 1959, showcasing exciting finishes and rapidly increasing popularity. Throughout the years, NASCAR expanded its reach beyond the Southeastern U.S., forging corporate sponsorships and television contracts that significantly boosted its visibility. By the late 20th century, NASCAR included multiple series, catering to both established stars and emerging drivers. Today, it features three national series: the Sprint Cup Series, the XFINITY Series, and the Camping World Truck Series, alongside regional and international competitions, making it a key player in the global motorsport landscape.
NASCAR
NASCAR is an organization that acts as the governing body of several motorsports series both nationally and internationally. NASCAR, which stands for the National Association for Stock Car Racing, was created in 1948 to reform and promote stock car racing in the United States. A stock car is a vehicle that has been modified for racing. While the sport's origins are connected to the illegal liquor smuggling business of the early twentieth century, NASCAR grew into a multibillion industry, sanctioning more than 1,200 races in several regional series and three major national ones. The most prominent series is the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, which has become one of the most popular spectator sports in the United States.
Brief History
Almost as soon as automobiles were invented, people began racing them. The first auto race in the United States was held in 1896 at a Rhode Island fairground. By 1903, wealthy car owners were competing against each other on the beaches near Daytona Beach, Florida. In the American south during the Prohibition Era (1920–1933), bootleggers who had modified their cars with stronger engines and frames to outrun the police, got together during their free time to race their souped-up automobiles. Even after Prohibition ended in 1933, many southern counties continued to ban alcohol, keeping the illegal whiskey business alive and the bootleggers' fast cars on the road.
Many of these bootleggers took their modified cars and joined racing circuits that began to spring up around the south. These circuits were often disorganized, with rules, prize money, and track facilities varying widely. In some places, law enforcement was even waiting for the racers to show up so they could arrest the drivers on liquor law violations.
In 1947, Bill France Sr., a racing promoter from Daytona Beach, called together members of the racing community to discuss forming an organization to oversee the sport and organize events. From this meeting the National Association for Stock Car Racing was born. The first NASCAR-sanctioned race was run on Daytona Beach in 1948. NASCAR's flagship series, then called the Strictly Stock Series, debuted a year later at the Charlotte Fairgrounds in North Carolina. The series' first "winner" was disqualified after the race when it was discovered his car had been illegally modified. Officially, driver Jim Roper won the first Strictly Stock race and its $2,000 prize. The vehicles used in the early days of NASACR were similar to the cars people drove every day, except they were modified with more powerful engines, stronger frames, and a sturdier rear axle to keep the car from flipping.
In 1950, the Strictly Stock Series was renamed the Grand National Series and NASCAR began building its own asphalt-covered racetracks to host events. The first of these to open was Darlington Raceway in South Carolina in September of 1950. Other tracks soon followed, including Daytona International Speedway in 1959. In February of that year, NASCAR held the first Daytona 500, a race that would later become the sport's signature event. The winner of the first Daytona 500 was Lee Petty, who took the checkered flag in a photo finish in front of a crowd of forty-one thousand. Petty's son, Richard, began his racing career in 1958 and would go to become the first NASCAR superstar, winning seven championships and two hundred races before retiring in 1992.
Impact
Despite its growth in popularity through the 1960s, NASCAR was still considered a southern sport and run on tracks mostly in the southeastern United States. In the early 1970s, Bill France Jr. took over the role of president of NASCAR from his father. The younger France wanted to grow the sport from its regional fan base into one with more national appeal. He sought out corporate sponsorships and signed television contracts to give the sport more exposure. In 1971, NASCAR signed a deal with the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and the Grand National Series became the Winston Cup Series. Racetracks became bigger and were built in other parts of the United States, such as Pennsylvania and Illinois. In 1979, the Daytona 500 became the first NASCAR race broadcast live on a national network. Richard Petty won the race in exciting fashion, but it was a brawl between two other drivers that captured viewers' attention and propelled the sport's popularity. Within a decade, every race on the Winston Cup schedule was broadcast live.
Early corporate sponsors of NASCAR had mostly been related to regional southern businesses or the automotive industry. By the 1980s and 1990s, companies as diverse as Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Folgers Coffee, and the Lowe's home improvement corporation were lining up to have their names and logos painted on a car. The cars themselves became more technologically advanced. They were no longer "strictly stock" but custom-designed for racing by automobile companies. As the Winston Cup Series continued to expand, tracks were built in Texas, New Hampshire, and California, and NASCAR signed a $2.4 billion television deal for its primary series in 1999. NASCAR agreed to additional multibillion television contracts in 2007, 2012, and 2023.
In 2004, the mobile phone carrier Nextel took over as primary series sponsor from R. J. Reynolds. Four years later, the series underwent another name change and became the Sprint Cup Series. The mobile phone company remained as sponsor until 2016. Also in 2004, NASCAR changed the way it decided its champion when it introduced a ten-race playoff at the end of the season called the Chase for the Championship. Initially, twelve drivers were included in the chase, but the system was modified and expanded to include sixteen drivers in 2014.
By 2025, NASCAR sanctioned three national racing series in the United States. In addition to the thirty-six race Sprint Cup Series, there is the thirty-three race XFINITY Series. Drivers in the XFINITY Series are primarily up-and-coming racers hoping to advance to the Sprint Cup Series. The next level of racing is the Camping World Truck Series, which runs a more limited schedule of twenty-two races. NASCAR also sanctions four regional racing series across the United States and three international series in Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
Bibliography
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Badenhausen, Kurt. "Dale Earnhardt Tops NASCAR's Highest-Paid Drivers 2016." Forbes, 17 Feb. 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2016/02/17/nascars-highest-paid-drivers-2016/#16100f2c2b74. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
"NASCAR Announces Historic Media Rights Agreements with FOX, NBC, Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery." NASCAR, 29 Nov. 2023, www.nascar.com/news-media/2023/11/29/nascar-announces-historic-media-rights-agreements-with-fox-nbc-amazon-and-warner-bros-discovery/. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
"NASCAR Founded." History.com,www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nascar-founded. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
Pierce, Daniel S. Real NASCAR: White Lightning, Red Clay, and Big Bill France. University of North Carolina Press, 2010.
Ryan, Nate. "NASCAR's Most Iconic and Goofiest Sponsors." USA Today, 2 July 2016, www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2013/04/11/nasrcar-nra-500-sponsors-lowes-budweiser/2075865/. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.