History of

The majority of early auto racing occurred in the industrialized areas of the North and Midwest, where automobiles became prevalent much sooner than among the dispersed populations of the rural South.  In the 1920s, “the southern attitude toward the automobile...was one of ambiguity and uncertainty that cut across class and racial lines" (Wilson 596).  Southerners purchased cars and embraced car culture with mixed feelings; many desired cars as luxury items yet desired also to resist urbanization.  By the 1930s, mass-produced cars in the South had become more popular among farmers as a means of transporting crops -- and even homemade liquor.

In an effort to outrun federal agents, many “moonshiners” modified their cars to enhance speed along the backroads of the rural South and through the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  These early drivers combined a "bad boy" image with that of the southern "good old boy" and became local heroes.  Although only a few such liquor runners, such as Junior Johnson, entered early stock car races, they were among the sport's most legendary and skilled drivers.  In the first few years of NASCAR, female drivers like Sara Christian and Ethel Flock Mobley were common, yet it was the men, good old boys like Lee Petty, who emerged as the sport's superstars in the fifties.
 

When World War II ended, "many young men, and a few women, were looking for excitement, and they found it running the dirt tracks" that hosted informal races in the 1930s and '40s (Burt 6).  In an effort to standardize rules of racing and administration, race organizers formed the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) in 1947.  Although stock cars had raced before NASCAR became a "sanctioning body...the vision and perseverance of 'Big Bill' France...organized and united stock car racing," making it into an empire, a sport of the South (Burt 14).  France devoted himself to promoting the sport, displaying the NASCAR emblem wherever possible and doing anything he could to attract fans' attention, since "once he got them to the track, many would be hooked" (Burt 16).  Whereas early racers had driven anything available, basing their choices on low price and decent performance, France transformed stock car racing into a "sport in which the facroties would court the best teams and put cars, parts, and money into the race shops and onto the track" (Burt 19).
 
 

Even though its opening was virtually ignored by the national media, the success of the first major paved race track in Darlington, South Carolina, in 1950 led to the opening of tracks all over the South.  1956 was a banner year for NASCAR, reeling in an estimated 10 million fans, each of whom paid an average of two dollars per ticket.  The Southern “500” races at Darlington, South Carolina attracted around 65,000 spectators to a track surrounded by a cotton field, 60 miles from the nearest big city.  Most of NASCAR’s money came not from the big races but from “a nationwide network of small and medium-size tracks where something is going on nearly every Saturday and Sunday night” (MacDonald 33).  There, cars raced on quarter- and half-mile tracks, usually dirt, and the spectator could enjoy a birds-eye view even from the cheapest seat.  Ten laps into the race it became hard even for officials to see through the dust to tell which driver held the lead, yet fans could still count on noise and often spectacular crashes (MacDonald 33).
 
 

By 1971, NASCAR's elite division of racers had moved from dirt roads and flat, packed beaches, exclusively to paved tracks, like the 2.5-mile Daytona Speedway, opened in 1959.  As well as featuring improved track surfaces, such speedways were longer and had banked turns, enabling cars to reach higher speeds than ever before, even though the safety standards of cars initially lagged behind their improved performance.  The early years of racing on paved tracks did not seem far removed from the dirt-track races, at which fans frequently witnessed spectacular crashes.  Stricter enforcement of safety became a feature starting in the seventies, but, as engine specialists continued to up the standards of high-speed maneuvering and performance, stock car racing did not lose the sense of danger and exhilaration that highlighted the spectator experience.

Today stock car races are hosted across the country, from New England to the West Coast, although most of the major speedways are still in the South.  The “heartland” of NASCAR racing ranges from central Virginia to Talledega, Alabama. The Carolinas boast the largest concentration of tracks, major races, driver home bases, and driver heroes, notably Dale Earnhardt.

The most publicized form of stock car racing is Winston Cup professional racing, in which races take place on larger speedways and draws contestants from all over the country.  At the professional level, emphasis on "technical sophistication in the preparation of the vehicles is one of the excitements of the sport, and fans and racers alike are constantly alert to innovations that increase the cars’ speeds” (Wilson 596).

Just as racing series vary, so do the kinds of competition facing each driver.  Most visibly, drivers compete to win the race by being the first to complete a specific number of laps around the track, yet drivers compete over the course of a season for “points” from accomplishments ranging from the number of races entered to the number of laps finished.  Winning depends largely on the speed and efficiency of the pit crew and the machine’s endurance through up to 500 laps at speeds as high as 200 miles per hour.  Off the track, drivers vie for the most desirable sponsors and mechanics.  Due to the exorbitant cost of the machinery involved in stock car racing, it inhibits wide popular participation, leading to mass popular support for a select few drivers and teams.  Whereas stock car racing once seemed a sport in which anyone could participate, it has separated itself from team sports like basketball, as well as from individual sports like boxing or tennis, because no longer can  "just anyone" can afford to race a stock car.
 
 

Stock car racing involves automobiles that resemble standard production passenger cars, although the vehicles' engines and interiors are carefully and expensively remodeled for maximum speed and power.  Due to wide media coverage, stock car drivers are generally more visible than Formula One or race-car drivers.

Outside of the United States, Formula is the most important kind of auto racing, featuring single-seat cars with sophisticated designs that are strictly regulated by the FIA, based on Paris, France.  Formula One vehicles, with their aerodynamic wings and closeness to the surface of the track, are constructed for high speeds and specifically for road racing.  Indy cars resemble F1 cars, as both kinds have open wheels and open cockpits.  Due to their similarities and to Indy racing's wide media coverage in the United States, Indy rivals Formula One for popular support within the U.S.