nascar
founded more than 50 years ago, NASCAR has become one of the hottest spectator sports in the world. In the years following World War II, stock car racing began to growon Daytona Beach, Florida"
Stock car racing was experiencing the greatest popularity it had ever seen. Tracks all over the country were drawing more drivers to race in front of bigger crowds. But there was very little organization and no consistency in the rules between tracks. From track to track, rules were different. Some tracks were just makeshift facilities, built to produce one big show at a county fair or something similar to capitalize on the crowds flocking to the events. Other tracks were more suited to handle the cars, but not the crowds. Some could manage both, but did little to adhere to rules set by neighboring tracks. In December of 1947, Bill France Sr., of Daytona Beach, Fla., organized a meeting at the Streamline Hotel in town to discuss the matters facing stock car racing. France had come to Florida from Washington, D.C., years earlier and operated a local service station as well as promote events on the city's famed beach course that he often raced in himself. From that simple meeting, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was born. Few knew when the meeting adjourned if the organization would be successful. In fact there were skeptics who believed it never would work. Not even France, who believed a sanctioning body was exactly what the sport of stock car racing needed, could have envisioned what NASCAR has become today. Things came together quickly. The first NASCAR-sanctioned race was held on Daytona's beach course Feb. 15, 1948, just two months after the organizational meeting. Red Byron, a stock car legend from Atlanta, won the event in his Ford Modified. Six days later on Feb. 21, 1948, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was incorporated. It was 1949, however, when what is now the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, the premier racing division in America, was born. The first event featured a $5,000 purse and was held on a two-mile circular course in southern Florida followed by a 150 mile race at the three-quarter-mile Charlotte Speedway in which Jim Roper of Great Bend, Kan., was the winner. A tremendous crowd attended the event to see automobiles with the appearance of a street car race door-to-door. The new racing series was off and running. And it was an immediate success. Eight events in all were held in 1949.Plans immediately were underway bring bigger, faster races to bigger, hungrier crowds and less than a year later (1950), the country's first asphalt superspeedway, Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, opened its doors for the new division. The first decade for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series was one of tremendous growth. Characters became heroes and fans hung on every turn of the wheel, watching drivers manhandle cars at speeds fans wished they legally could run themselves. Names like Lee Petty, Fireball Roberts, Buck Baker, Herb Thomas, the Flock brothers, Bill Rexford, Paul Goldsmith and others became as well-known to race fans as Willie, Mickey and the Duke were to baseball fans. Then in 1954, France announced plans to construct a 2.5 mile high-banked speedway in Daytona Beach, four miles off the beach in Daytona, headquarters of NASCAR. Construction started November 1957, and the track was completed in 1959. France had helped lead the fight to keep racing affiliated with the city. When those looking to set land speed records began opting for the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah so the incoming and outgoing tides at Daytona Beach would not be a factor, the city wanted to maintain one of its main attractions -- fast cars and the beach. By the end of NASCAR's first decade, the city not only had held on to its racing roots, but had outgrown the beach and, in 1959, moved events to Daytona International Speedway. With its long back straightaway and sweeping high-banked turns of more than 30 degrees, the 2.5-mile tri-oval was one of the largest speedways in the world. The first race at the new speedway was a 100-mile NASCAR Convertible Division race on February 20, 1959. In this race, fans were treated to something that each year still brings millions of fans to NASCAR races --close competition. The finish of the inaugural Daytona 500 was very, very close between Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp – it took officials three days to study a photograph of the finish. Petty, driving a 1959 Oldsmobile, was declared the winner.
Stock car racing was experiencing the greatest popularity it had ever seen. Tracks all over the country were drawing more drivers to race in front of bigger crowds. But there was very little organization and no consistency in the rules between tracks. From track to track, rules were different. Some tracks were just makeshift facilities, built to produce one big show at a county fair or something similar to capitalize on the crowds flocking to the events. Other tracks were more suited to handle the cars, but not the crowds. Some could manage both, but did little to adhere to rules set by neighboring tracks. In December of 1947, Bill France Sr., of Daytona Beach, Fla., organized a meeting at the Streamline Hotel in town to discuss the matters facing stock car racing. France had come to Florida from Washington, D.C., years earlier and operated a local service station as well as promote events on the city's famed beach course that he often raced in himself. From that simple meeting, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was born. Few knew when the meeting adjourned if the organization would be successful. In fact there were skeptics who believed it never would work. Not even France, who believed a sanctioning body was exactly what the sport of stock car racing needed, could have envisioned what NASCAR has become today. Things came together quickly. The first NASCAR-sanctioned race was held on Daytona's beach course Feb. 15, 1948, just two months after the organizational meeting. Red Byron, a stock car legend from Atlanta, won the event in his Ford Modified. Six days later on Feb. 21, 1948, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was incorporated. It was 1949, however, when what is now the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, the premier racing division in America, was born. The first event featured a $5,000 purse and was held on a two-mile circular course in southern Florida followed by a 150 mile race at the three-quarter-mile Charlotte Speedway in which Jim Roper of Great Bend, Kan., was the winner. A tremendous crowd attended the event to see automobiles with the appearance of a street car race door-to-door. The new racing series was off and running. And it was an immediate success. Eight events in all were held in 1949.Plans immediately were underway bring bigger, faster races to bigger, hungrier crowds and less than a year later (1950), the country's first asphalt superspeedway, Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, opened its doors for the new division. The first decade for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series was one of tremendous growth. Characters became heroes and fans hung on every turn of the wheel, watching drivers manhandle cars at speeds fans wished they legally could run themselves. Names like Lee Petty, Fireball Roberts, Buck Baker, Herb Thomas, the Flock brothers, Bill Rexford, Paul Goldsmith and others became as well-known to race fans as Willie, Mickey and the Duke were to baseball fans. Then in 1954, France announced plans to construct a 2.5 mile high-banked speedway in Daytona Beach, four miles off the beach in Daytona, headquarters of NASCAR. Construction started November 1957, and the track was completed in 1959. France had helped lead the fight to keep racing affiliated with the city. When those looking to set land speed records began opting for the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah so the incoming and outgoing tides at Daytona Beach would not be a factor, the city wanted to maintain one of its main attractions -- fast cars and the beach. By the end of NASCAR's first decade, the city not only had held on to its racing roots, but had outgrown the beach and, in 1959, moved events to Daytona International Speedway. With its long back straightaway and sweeping high-banked turns of more than 30 degrees, the 2.5-mile tri-oval was one of the largest speedways in the world. The first race at the new speedway was a 100-mile NASCAR Convertible Division race on February 20, 1959. In this race, fans were treated to something that each year still brings millions of fans to NASCAR races --close competition. The finish of the inaugural Daytona 500 was very, very close between Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp – it took officials three days to study a photograph of the finish. Petty, driving a 1959 Oldsmobile, was declared the winner.
- Official site from the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. Includes news, schedules, points, driver and team information, statistics
- Bet on NASCAR racing at Bodog Sportsbook, with online sports betting on NASCAR odds, NASCAR betting lines, and NASCAR bets online
