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N0KFQ > TODAY 21.02.16 17:41l 66 Lines 3122 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 85261_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Feb 21
Path: IW8PGT<IV3ONZ<IZ3LSV<ED1ZAC<GB7CIP<N0KFQ
Sent: 160221/1535Z 85261@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
1948
NASCAR founded
On this day in 1948, the National Association for Stock Car
Racing-or NASCAR, as it will come to be widely known-is
officially incorporated. NASCAR racing will go on to become one
of America's most popular spectator sports, as well as a
multi-billion-dollar industry.
The driving force behind the establishment of NASCAR was William
"Bill" France Sr. (1909-1992), a mechanic and auto-repair shop
owner from Washington, D.C., who in the mid-1930s moved to
Daytona Beach, Florida. The Daytona area was a gathering spot for
racing enthusiasts, and France became involved in racing cars and
promoting races. After witnessing how racing rules could vary
from event to event and how dishonest promoters could abscond
with prize money, France felt there was a need for a governing
body to sanction and promote racing. He gathered members of the
racing community to discuss the idea, and NASCAR was born, with
its official incorporation in February 1921. France served as
NASCAR's first president and played a key role in shaping its
development in the sport's early decades.
NASCAR held its first Strictly Stock race on June 19, 1949, at
the Charlotte Speedway in North Carolina. Some 13,000 fans were
on hand to watch Glenn Dunnaway finish the 200-lap race first in
his Ford; however, Jim Roper (who drove a Lincoln) collected the
$2,000 prize after Dunnaway was disqualified for illegal rear
springs on his vehicle. In the early years of NASCAR, competitors
drove the same types of cars that people drove on the
street-Buicks, Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, among others-with minimal
modifications. (Today, the cars are highly customized.)
In 1950, the first NASCAR-based track, the Darlington Raceway in
South Carolina, opened. More new raceways followed, including the
Daytona International Speedway, which opened in 1959. Lee Petty
won the first Daytona 500, which was run on February 22 of that
year. The Daytona 500 became NASCAR's season opener and one of
its premiere events. Lee Petty's son Richard, who began his
racing career in 1958, won the Daytona 500 a record seven times
and became NASCAR's first superstar before retiring in 1992. On
February 18, 1979, the first live flag-to-flag coverage of the
Daytona 500 was broadcast on television. An end-of-the-race brawl
between drivers Cale Yarborough and Donnie and Bobby Allison was
a huge publicity generator and helped boost NASCAR's popularity
on a national scale.
In 1972, France's son, William France Jr., took over the
presidency of NASCAR from his father. Over the next three
decades, the younger France (1933-2007) was instrumental in
transforming NASCAR from a regional sport popular primarily in
the southeast U.S. into one with a global fan base. France led
NASCAR into a new era of lucrative corporate sponsorships and
billion-dollar TV contracts. Today, NASCAR has three national
series as well as four regional series and two international
series. The organization sanctions over 1,200 races at 100 tracks
across North America.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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