HISTORY OF NASCAR

Shortly after the invention of the automobile, Americans fell in love with car racing. In the 1920s America started setting many of speed records. In fact, most of these world records were being set in Daytona Beach.

As many know, stock car racing spawned out of America's Prohibition period. The bootleggers needed fast cars to out run the police when they were transporting illegal whiskey throughout the south and in particular the mountains of Appalachia. These bootleggers started to modify their cars to increase their speed and performance. In order to out run the law, you needed to have a great car.

Even after prohibition was repealed in 1933, a lot of Southerners still loved to race their fast cars. Once these races started being held, the fans started pouring in to watch the car races. From this moment, stock car racing was born. The birth place of these early races was North Carolina.

During those times, the races were not really well-organized but still had a lot of demand from fans to see the fast cars race. Bill France Sr., who drove a stock car on weekends, recognized the popularity of the races. After becoming the manager of the Daytona Beach Race Course, he organized and promoted a series of races which later became one of the most popular racing events in the United States.

Bill France Sr. as the first person to hold the very first NASCAR race, prizes were not that prestigious compared to today's multimillion dollar prizes for the championship. Back then; you might have won a can of motor oil and even just a pack of cigarettes. However, even though the prizes were not that big, it was a very big deal among a lot of people.

It was only after World War II that Bill France Sr. had the idea of creating a highly organized way of racing that would guarantee the drivers and crew some good compensation. This organization was officially founded in 1947 and became known as NASCAR or National Association for Stock Car Racing.

The first officially sanctioned NASCAR race was held in Daytona Beach on February 1948. After a year, NASCAR began what would become the Winston Cup Series, which became one of the most popular NASCAR races up to this day.

During the 1990's to 2000's, NASCAR exploded as one of the most popular spectator sports in the United States. In fact, the Winston Cup Series even topped 6 million viewers in 1998. That same year, NASCAR licensed products topped 950 million dollars in sales.

While the South East region of the United States was the birthplace of NASCAR, today the sport is loved throughout the country. Today there are race tracks all across America and it is the fastest growing sport in the country. Despite its regional roots, NASCAR is today the most popular sport in the United States. Every Sunday during race season, over 100,000 screaming fans show up to see the NASCAR drivers start their engines.