The road to the future championship of serial cars was paved in the times of the Prohibition in the USA. Smuggled alcohol was in high demand in the States, but its distribution was monitored day and night by the police. In order to deliver the illegal potion as quickly as possible and increase the chances of evading the police, couriers chose compact, fast cars and had them modified.
Blueprints for modernisation
The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 sparked the American love affair with moonshine. Wilkes County in North Carolina became the capital of the hot drink. From there adventurers delivered moonshine to the nearest regions – Detroit, New Jersey, South Florida. At the same time it was necessary to escape from ‘tax agents’ – people trying to appropriate the business and collect money from those who are engaged in it independently. So the wave of car modernization in the southern US continued. Amateurs began to get together and race on shared roads.
The first unofficial race was held in 1936 along the beach in Daytona. It featured a young businessman named Bill France, who finished in fifth place at the end of the race. After the race, France saw the potential in this kind of entertainment and organized two or three more races a year until the Second World War with a group of like-minded people. Just as racers during and after Prohibition leveraged every edge to outperform their rivals, today, gambling fans can use the Wanted Win promo code to enhance their experience and enjoy casino games online.
The creation and early development of NASCAR
The outcome of the meetings was the founding of the NASCAR Association on 21 February 1948. The first season was held in two classes – modified cars and roadsters. The class of ‘stock’ cars was planned, but after the war the production of serial samples has not yet reached a level capable of meeting the demand. In 1949 began the history of NASCAR as a championship of production cars with the start of the Strictly Stock class. These races were the closest to the public – after all, anyone could drive the same car.
Initially, the season consisted of eight races – seven rounds on dirt ovals and the start on the street circuit in Daytona. Already in 1950 the Stock class was renamed to Grand National – the pathos name raised the status. This name was retained until 1971.
NASCAR race in 1956
As the series grew in popularity, it began to need a home – a racetrack that would be directly associated with NASCAR and become its capital. With that goal in mind, Daytona International Speedway, a huge 2.5-mile oval, came into being in 1959. The race on it is to this day the most famous race on the championship calendar, the Great American Race, the Daytona 500 Mile.
Little by little, the stock car championship began to move away from its philosophy. High speeds on ovals and specific loads provoked an increase in safety. Curiously, some drivers even cut a ‘window’ in the underbody to see the wear on the right front wheel. The level of protection of assembly line cars was low, so the regulations began to include requirements that turned classic production cars into sports cars. The arms race began in the mid-1960s, when factory teams, which until then had only supported their own brands, officially entered the championship. Thanks to the latest developments, their representatives easily outperformed private racers, because of which a rule was introduced for each car that a car produced in a batch of at least 500 copies was allowed to participate in NASCAR.
A new era
In 1971, NASCAR took a sharp turn. RJ Reynolds attempted to circumvent the ban on tobacco advertising on television by using the Association’s races as a platform for product promotion. Bill France did not refuse the generous offer of the tobacconists, and the series was named the Winston Cup Series. Looking ahead, the cooperation with RJ Reynolds lasted until 2003, after which the main financial cushion of the series was a contract with telecom operator Nextel. In 2017, energy drink maker Monster Energy took the helm, a partnership that only lasted three years. In 2020, NASCAR organisers found four major partners (Coca-Cola, Xfinity, Busch Beer and GEICO) – and gave the series the name under which we know the championship now – NASCAR Cup Series.
Along with the sponsors, the racing component developed. In 1970, racing on dirt ovals was discontinued – the last race on dirt was the North Carolina round. It wasn’t until 2021 that the series returned to its roots – the Bristol oval was raced on dirt for the first time in half a century. Not for long – in 2024, Bristol returns to the classic concrete surface. The departure from the dirt tracks was due to the technical development of the series and growing interest – hard surface tracks were safer and easier to maintain, so more and more oval asphalt race tracks appeared.
Racing on the dirt at Bristol
In addition to this, the cars themselves changed. By 1981, the Association had changed its technical policy. At the start of the cars began to come out, even outwardly had nothing in common with the serial copies. They were prototypes with a tubular steel frame, from which the ‘stuffing’ was removed for the sake of weight saving. Each team could build a car independently, and only the engine was ordered from the manufacturer. By the way, the configuration has not been changed by the rules since the 1960s – a 5.87 litre V8 petrol engine with a cast iron cylinder block.
Class diversity
NASCAR isn’t just a championship where 40 people in pseudo-series cars run laps around an oval. NASCAR is an association of series united by one idea. The main follower is the NASCAR Xfinity championship, where the regulations are simpler, and the races and prize money are smaller – something like an analogue of ‘Formula 2’ for ‘Formula 1’. Previously, a driver of the main championship could come to the track early and participate in the race of the junior series, but it caused criticism from the pilots. Since 2011 the rule has been introduced that each driver can fight for the championship in only one of the series, but it is not forbidden to take part in parallel class races.
Start of the Xfinity Cup race
Another popular class is Craftsman Truck. It involves modified pickup trucks. This type of transport is especially demanded by American farmers, because of which it has even grown into its own racing championship. Together with NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Cup it is one of the three main NASCAR championships.
Pickup truck championship race
In 2010, NASCAR entered virtual platforms. The series has sanctioned the release of cyber sports simulators that feature body car competitions. Each year, the series’ appeal to fans of racing from the comfort of their room grows. In 2020, Coca-Cola became the main sponsor of iNASCAR, and the championship prize pool reached $300,000.
In addition to the championships described above, there are Canadian, Mexican, European NASCAR series, as well as dozens of regional championships under the auspices of the Association.
Ovals only or not?
Historically, NASCAR has been a series that fights exclusively on oval tracks. And all ovals are different, with different turn radii, banking angles and lengths. Each of them requires a different style of piloting and the way the car is set up, which increases the unpredictability of results. For example, the 2.5-mile track at Pocono is more like a triangle with pronounced turns. And races on the half-mile tracks at Bristol and Martinsville are famous for the frantic scramble when 40 cars try to fit into 800 metres of space.
Pocono Raceway’s triangular oval (above) and short oval at Martinsville
The evolution of the championship has led to the addition of road courses to NASCAR’s schedule. At the turn of the transition from Grand National to Winston Cup, the oval season was diluted by a race at Riverside Raceway. In 1986, the series came to the track at Watkins Glen for the first time. Since then, the calendar has consistently featured at least one round on classic tracks. NASCAR will make four trips off the oval in the coming year, with races at Watkins Glen, the Circuit of the Americas (home of the U.S. Grand Prix) in Texas, the hills of Sonoma Raceway and inside the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval. For the second year in a row, the championship’s novelty street race in Chicago will also take place.
By the way, on the road stages, teams often substitute the main pilots for the specialists of the ring races. So, in 2022 during the stage in Watkins Glen at the wheel of NASCAR fighting cars sat ex-pilots of ‘Formula 1’ Kimi Raikkonen and Daniil Kvyat.
Fighting at the finish line Conclusion
Despite the fact that the name NASCAR no longer corresponds to the essence, the popularity of the series has long gone beyond North America. No matter how different the championship cars are from their production prototypes, these body races are still some of the easiest and most equal in the world. The similarity of designs and strict regulations creates the same conditions for all participants, and the result is determined by the pilot’s flair, good car set-up and accurate calculation at yellow flags.
Suspension of the race in the series is a separate topic. Some people like to compact the peloton and increase the intrigue, others find it an artificial creation of struggle. During the race, yellow flags appear over the track at least every 5 minutes, and it’s not that Americans love advertising. A wreck forgotten on the track can lead to fatal consequences at speeds under 300 kilometres per hour, so safety is given special attention.
-
-
-
-
-
