History of NASCAR
... illegally ran whiskey from hidden stills to hundreds of markets across the southwest. These men were the real Dukes of Hazard; only there was nothing funny about their business. Driving at high speeds at night, often with the police pursuing, was dangerous. The penalty for losing the race was jail or loss of livelihood” (www.betting-nascar-auto-racing.com). Racing in high mountains at night with no guard rails protecting the roads, sound a little dangerous also, as Junior Johnson described bootlegging as, “It was a race to win or go to prison- and that got a lot more exciting than beating some other race driver ever would” (Hinton 54). After some time, bootleggers started to race each other, proving that their car was the fastest of all. They not only raced each other in the afternoon, but also would go out the same night and continue doing the thing they love the most, bootlegging. These were the first organized races that would start the birth of competitive racing (Daytona 52-57) The first organized race was on March 26, 1903 at Ormond Beach. The race was between Ransom Eli Olds, in of course an Oldsmobile, and Alexander Winton. They called the race a tie at 57 m.p.h. The first race on pavement was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 1911 when Ray Harroun won with an average speed of 74.602 M.P.H. (Hinton 55-57). Of course with racing there is bound to be accidents. The first accident was by Marriott who barrel rolled into the ocean at 150 M.P.H. with no safety gear, not even a seat belt. The people there found him alive. They took him to the hospital and Marriott’s eye was popped out of its socket, the doctor had to put it back in with a spoon. In 1907 the first deaths occurred. Frank Croker and Alexander Raoul swerved out of the way of a motorcyclist when sent them rolling. Both men were killed (Hinton 52-57). In the summer of 1938 William H.G. “Bill” France organized a race at Daytona Beach. The winner won a bottle of rum, a box of cigars, and a case of motor oil. After he thought about creating an organization of racing, WWII hit, which cause racing to come to a halt. But after the war, on Dec. 12, 1947, Bill France gathered promoters from all over the country to meat at Daytona. The next three days the rules and specifications of racing were created. Creating the organization of NASCR- National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (www.betting-nascar-auto-racing.com). So NASCAR had been created, a...