Stock car racing was born in the Southern Appalachians and has a colorful past. True stories abound of “good old boys” transporting loads of illegal moonshine in their souped up ‘34 Fords, trying to elude the revenue agents as they drove without headlights along dark, twisting dirt roads at speeds exceeding 120 miles per hour.
The need to prove who had the fastest car led to weekend races at tracks carved out of pastures and corn fields.
Bill France saw the need for formally organized competition, and his efforts led to the founding in 1948 of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), motorsport’s preeminent stock car racing organization.
In the tumultuous half-century since, stock car racing has evolved from a band of hell-bent-for-leather drivers who raced for gas money on tracks primarily in the South, to millionaire owners and drivers who race at tracks across the country from North Carolina to California. NASCAR ends its season with a nationally televised black-tie awards banquet in New York City