Lesson 1: An Overview of NASCAR
This brief overview of NASCAR racing covers the top three series that make up some of the world's best stock car racing. It delves into the history of the sport and offers a limited explanation of how it grew into the big money sports entity that it is today, and also explains the differences between the racecars and trucks in the Nextel Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Truck Series.
NASCAR, an Overview - Part 1
NASCAR is the world renowned abbreviation for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. There are several different racing series or divisions that make up NASCAR, with different sizes of cars and engines in each division. Sitting at the top of the NASCAR divisions is the Nextel Cup Series, which derives its name from the sponsorship it receives from the Nextel Wireless Telephone Company. Nextel Cup replaces Winston Cup which got its name from the Winston cigarette division of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. that sponsored the series for over 30 years beginning in 1972. The Cup Series is the elite in stock car racing with the best drivers and the fastest and most powerful cars. Cup racing also draws the most recognition and pays the most prize money to its team owners and drivers for their accomplishments at each of the more than 20 tracks that are sanctioned by NASCAR for the Cup races.
At the beginning of the 2003 season, R. J. Reynolds apprised NASCAR that they were seeking to opt out of their recently renewed contract to sponsor the Cup Series. They imparted that the tobacco settlement that was made between the states' attorneys generals and the tobacco companies had made it hard to market their Winston cigarette product in sports related venues and rendered them unable to sponsor the Cup Series to the best of their ability.
At this time, NASCAR officials began searching for a replacement for the Cup Series sponsorship. The search was narrowed down to companies that were acceptable to family surrounds which included the Coca-Cola Company, a couple of major credit card companies, and few others that fit the generality.
In late spring of the 2003 season, NASCAR made the decision to contract the Nextel Wireless Telephone Co. to sponsor the Cup Series. At the time, Nextel was listed as fifth in wireless company market shares throughout the United States. The announcement was made in June of 2003 and the ball began rolling for Nextel to take over the series sponsorship at the end of the 2003 series. This immediately enhanced Nextel's credit rating and allowed the mediocre wireless company to expand its operations into major cities and small towns nationwide, enhancing the rise in its market share within a few months.
When the 2004 season got under way in Florida with Daytona Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway, Nextel's sponsorship was firmly entrenched within the NASCAR structure and was quickly expanding its billboards and logos throughout the venues.
The second best series in NASCAR is the Busch Series which ran its first full season in 1982. The Busch Series receives its name from the sponsorship derived from the Anheuser Busch Corporation. Usually drivers work their way through this series on their way to the Cup Series. A large share of the Busch Series drivers work their way up through the ranks from NASCAR’s third best division, the Craftsman Truck Series. This series is sponsored by Craftsman Tools and is the newest of the three top divisions, getting its start in 1995.
As strange as it may seem, NASCAR got its start as a result of the prohibition era in the United States when the sale and consumption of alcohol was deemed illegal in 1919. This prompted people to make their own alcoholic beverages, until 1933, when prohibition was repealed. Some enterprising individuals, especially in the South, continued to make their own whisky and sold enough of it to cover the cost of its production. By selling it they had to transport it from secreted “stills” in the mountains, to the towns and cities where eager customers awaited their wares. This was the birth of the “Moonshine Runners” who “souped” up their cars by enhancing their engines and suspensions to get away from the agents of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearm (ATF) law enforcement division of the United States Department of Justice. These runners became local folk heroes and legends of their time. They soon decided to get together on Sunday afternoons and race their cars to see who had the best car and who the best driver was.
As these Sunday afternoon race meets progressed, more racetracks were built, and more race track owners and promoters loomed upon the scene. The Sunday afternoon race meets became weekly events that drew large crowds and paid money to the drivers for their finishing positions in the races. A lot of these promoters proved to be unscrupulous in nature and were known to cheat the racers out of their promised purses. One of the promoters who hailed from Daytona, Florida was Bill France Sr. Bill operated a service station, built and raced stock cars, and promoted races throughout the South. It was his idea to create an association that would protect these new race drivers from crooked race promoters. The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was born in 1947, and sanctioning its first racing season in 1949.
The new association made sure that racetracks were safe for the drivers. If a track barrier or fence was damaged during a race, it would have to be repaired before a NASCAR race was held at the track again. The rules of racing were made consistent from track to track. Before NASCAR came along, each track had its own rules that were subject to change at a moment's notice at the whim of the track owner or promoter. The association created a uniform points system to measure a driver’s performance during the season, and a set schedule featuring the same drivers which paved the way to the crowning of a national champion each season. One of the best benefits of the national association was the creation of an insurance and benevolence fund that protected drivers who were injured to the extent that they were unable to continue racing.
During NASCAR’s early years the number of races and venues varied. In 1949, NASCAR’s first full season, they ran a total of eight races. Seven races were run on dirt tracks and one was run on Bill France’s road course at Daytona Beach. During the early 50’s they ran in the neighborhood of 40 races per season, and as the decade progressed, they were running an average of 55 races by the mid 50’s. The number of races really fluctuated during those years of dirt track racing. In the 70’s the number of annual races sank back down in the upper twenties. In the early years though, there were as many as 75 cars in one race, which is a stark contrast to the set limit of the 43 cars in today’s races.
As time progressed and the dirt tracks were no longer used and the number of annual races in the Sportsman’s Grand National Division, which is what the Nextel Cup Series used to be called, was in the neighborhood of the upper twenties to the lower thirties. The same number of annual events continued until the 21st century when new venues were created that swelled the annual schedule up to 36 races in the 2002 season.
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