NASCAR racing is top spectator sport today

Visit The-NASCAR-Circuit to read what the race fans are saying.

NASCAR history has evolved to a point where racing is no more a spectator sport just for Southern "rednecks". The popularity of the sport has risen from its Southeastern background to points across the country creating NASCAR fans all through the nation. NEXTEL Cup competitions are now held in New Hampshire, Michigan, California, Arizona, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Texas and Nevada. There have even been exhibition contests attended in Japan and other international locations.

From grass roots roots in the deep Southern US, NASCAR racing has exploded to incredible heights around the whole country. Across the many years, from the beginning races conducted in 1948, NASCAR has become arguably the leading spectator event in The United States of America. NASCAR, with the current NEXTEL Cup and Busch series, counts 75 million rabid followers. Fascinating demographics show that 40% of those are ladies and 53% function in white-collar or skilled labor jobs. Not your normal racing fanatic that virtually all folks expect. The additional spheres of fan interest are robust also; yearly attendance at courses is In excess of 7 million, more than of 275 million Americans watch on the tube, and the product marketplace surpasses $2 billion. Internet sites have also cropped up sporting key NASCAR news items.

Those who closely observe the NASCAR races ascribe various factors for its almost unbelievable growth over the decades. One significant cause is a combination that nearly no other spectator event matches. Every week, the top teams (drivers) are contending head to head against each other. Unlike, for instance the NFL, where you might have to hold off weeks for a exciting contest between leading teams, you can view number 1 versus number 2 every week. It’s virtually like experiencing the World Series of this circuit every week.

The American passion for auto racing that developed in the 1940’s did not escape the attention of boosters who rapidly made an "official" sport out of it, making numbers of organizations, each with their own system. Then on December 14, 1947, Bill France, determined to get together with thirty five of the organizers of all racing associations in place to draw the lines of what was going to become the American national automobile sport. It took four times for the group to agree on all the formulas, to pick the name of NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) and the Association was in the end officially created on February 21, 1948.

The lineage of NASCAR in the “bootlegging” times and the grass roots start of numbers of of its initial champions seems to be motivating to buffs now. In this time of the spoiled, pampered, arrogant professional athlete, NASCAR racing fans seem to be searching for a down to earth, more grounded type of hero to give their allegiance to.

How does NASCAR draw its origins back to bootlegging? The practice of bootlegging kept going even after the close of the Prohibition era, due to the great tax set on hard drink upon repeal of the Volstead Act in 1933. As bootlegging expanded , the drivers began to compete among themselves to see who had the fleetest cars. The bootleggers raced on Sunday afternoons and then utilized the same cars to transport moonshine Sunday night. As more and more folks came to watch the competitions, racing moonshine autos became extremely popular in the backroads of the Southern US.

The inaugural races of what was to in the end become the NASCAR series were observed in 1948 with customized pre-war autos, which later became the "modified" series. Some major milestones for the NASCAR Racing world over the many years include:

--The first 500 mile race takes place at Darlington in 1950

--The first Daytona 500 takes place at Daytona International Speedway in 1959.

--1st TV report by CBS in 1960.

--Buddy Baker surpasses the 200 mph limitation at Talladega in 1970.

--A Gallup poll reveals that 28% of Americans are “race buffs” in 1976.

The finish of World War II had an impact on the beginning of NASCAR. At the finish of the war, the call for for new autos in the United States of America made a considerable jump with the coming back of the troops. The manufacturing capability that developed the “weapons of war” switched to producing autos. Next came the arrival on the marketplace of fast, powerful and robust cars which were loved by the young population of the time. The American West was impassioned for the "sports" automobiles, the Midwest for those with uncovered wheels, whereas the South-east picked the stock cars. Many of these were modified to carry out the illegal alcohol traffic and utilized in the "contests" that sprung up all over the South.