A Brief History of the NASCAR Racing Phenomena

It all began on June 19^th 1949. Less than four years after the end of World War 2, the first NASCAR race was held in Daytona Beach with a whopping $5000 prize. Incredibly, 33 cars in the race overheated and just two cars finished. By more than 3 laps, one of them came in first. The car was Glenn Dunnaway’s. How did he know how to drive this factory model car at speed? Dunnaway, typical of the early pilots, had been a bootlegger until 1933 when Prohibition ended. Even after this, he continued to deal in illegal moonshine and it was in his getaway car that he raced.

NASCAR, The National Association for Stock Car Racing, was established in February 1948, after four days of talks among the lead players in the racing world. The rules were clarified and NASCAR’s were defined as cars, not made for racing and for which parts could be purchased in regular stores. More than 500 pieces of a specific part had to be manufactured or the car was not technically “Stock Car”. The success of these rules was such that early racers drove their cars to and, if possible, home from the race.

But Glenn Dunnaway doesn’t hold the prize for winner of this historical first race. He was disqualified because the NASCAR inspector found that the car had a shored up chassis by spreading the rear springs. “Just one of them deals,” sighed Glenn Dunnaway as he sadly watched Jim Roper being named winner and Dunnaway never won a NASCAR race again.

By 1950, Darlington held the first 500-mile race and ten years later CBS filed its first TV report on this burgeoning sporting event. Gruesome deaths of several drivers through these years, inevitably led to security modifications of the cars and role bars became commonplace. In fact, by 1965, modifications were additionally made for speed and by 1965, the cars were actually purpose built racecars.

Erwin “Cannonball” Baker was the first commissioner of NASCAR, and he personally set 143 land speed driving records himself, before his death in 1960. He was the first driver to embark across country from New York to Los Angeles in a Stutz Bearcat, and then he completed the reverse journey in a record breaking 7 days while driving a Cadillac 8 Roadster.

Ten years after his death, NASCAR recognized the expansion of interest in the sport and it was clear that sponsorship would integrate the fan base. The organization was therefore restructured in 1970 as a result of substantial sponsorship deals with tobacco companies (e.g. R J Reynolds Tobacco Company), who were banned from advertising on television.

The NASCAR officials opted to shorten the season to 31 races, they began offering significant cash prizes, and they changed the point system so that the winners were awarded for their performance across the whole season, not based only on one race. This increased fan involvement as there was time to assess the relative pros and cons of each driver. Eventually, in 1979, the Daytona 500 was successful in attracting enough attention to garner “flag to flag” coverage from CBS. Today there are estimated to be more than 75 million fans that spend more than $3 billion annually on purchasing merchandising product.

Today, NASCAR makes special effort to emphasize the safety measures that it implements but the reality is that the cost of making safety changes means that is only after tragic deaths, such as Dale Earnhardt in 2001, that real changes are seen. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. built a fan club because of his unusually aggressive driving style and his resulting success is legendary. He won 76 races and had much success at the famous Winston Cup Series but met a tragic end while racing into the last lap at the Daytona 500 on February 18^th, 2001. Fan outrage at his death was overwhelming and NASCAR had no choice but to make major changes in head and neck restraints and seatbelt and seat inspections. The next generation racecar was designed with driver safety of paramount importance.

Jeff Gordon wanted to drive Stock Car racing as early as in 1984 and his parents moved to the Sprint car capital of Pittsboro Indiana to help Jeff reach his goal. A dedicated driver from the age of 5, he was prohibited from racing Stock Cars when he was 13 years old, because the risks were deemed too high; the G-force on the drivers was strong and this was the days before the safety measures were as high as they are today. Surprisingly, the insurance company finally gave approval for him to race. As the years went by, the car’s increased safety measures helped speed Jeff Gordon’s epic success.

Today’s NASCAR hero’s benefit from the safety measures, the infrastructure and the fame that their predecessors struggled to create. Accidents, while not unusual, are largely not a death sentence anymore. By example, Jimmie Johnson’s crash at Watkins Glen, in 2000, could have been fatal. Traveling at full speed, the car lost breaking power as it rounded a corner and Johnson went headlong into the crash barrier. While the audience gasped, Johnson climbed out of the car, punching his fist in the air with relief. He could walk away. Born in 1975, Jimmie Johnson has built a crystal career with a quantity of wins since 2001. He is certainly one of the industry’s leading drivers today and Glenn Dunnaway would be overwhelmed at the sophisticated world that he enjoys.

Dollar rich sponsorship, multi-million financial prizes, driving innovations, safety measures, new tracks and retirement by 50, weren’t imaginable back in the days when NASCAR was first organized. Today’s stock car audience in the USA and throughout the world is a diverse collection of people, of all ages and cultures but behind it all, the feeling is the same today as it was in the earliest days.

Elliot Sadler, one of today’s greatest drivers said, “To be able to pull into victory lane and see smiling faces is a great, great feeling.” Not just for the drivers, but for the audience as well. That is the meaning that NASCAR has come to represent for its worldwide audience.

Andy Lipps It's About Clocks