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Daytona and the History of Auto Racing
It is difficult to think of Daytona Beach, Florida without thinking about auto racing. The two have gone hand-in-hand for over a hundred years.
The beginnings of stock car racing happened in Daytona in 1903. Ransom Olds and Alexander Winton raced on what became the Daytona Beach Road Course which is located in nearby Ormond Beach. In the next thirty five years, Daytona took over from European countries as the favored location to set land speed records with cars off the assembly line. Daytona Beach’s hard-packed sand was perfect for racing, providing one side of the 4 mile course.
Stock car racing got a boost during Prohibition when moonshine runners transported their wares from stills in the Appalachian Mountains. They required fast, compact cars in order to stay ahead of law enforcement and to navigate the dangerous turns in the mountain roads. These ‘shine runners frequently altered their cars to improve the speed and handling as well as increase the vehicles load carrying capacity for moonshine.
By the 1940’s, Prohibition was no longer, but the moonshine running continued. Local races began to pop up all over the South as car owners were eager to compare their modifications against others.
Bill France, Jr. was a racer based in Daytona Beach since 1936. He enjoyed the sport but realized that it needed to be cleaned up and organized. In the ‘30’s and ‘40’s, it was common to have theft rampant as promoters frequently did not pay the drivers as promised. However, it wasn’t until after World War II that France began to bring his plan together.
In 1947, Bill France met with other drivers and race enthusiasts in Daytona Beach and mapped out a plan for a race sanctioning body that would oversee the stock racing, develop the race schedule throughout the season and standardize the rules of the sport. The overall race schedule was called the National Championship Stock Car Series (NCSCS) and its first season ran in 1947 with $4,000 in total prizes (including $1,000 to the winner) given out. Attendance was over-capacity through much of the 40-event season and France realized what an opportunity there was for standardized racing.
In 1948, France created NASCAR- the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. The racing program was split into three divisions: Modified, Strictly Stock and Roadster. The Roadster series fizzled quickly as Southern racing fans preferred more traditional racing. The Modified division still runs today as the Whelan Modified Tour. It was the Strictly Stock division that really captured the excitement of the fans and that is NASCAR’s main focus today.
Over time, the cars did not stay “strictly stock”, as modifications for both safety and speed were allowed. The sport picked up steam with national television and radio broadcasting but still remained most popular in the Southern United States.
Today, NASCAR is headquartered in Daytona Beach but runs over 1,500 races in 39 states and in Canada and Mexico. The current president is Brian France, the grandson of Bill France Sr. who passed away in 1992. NASCAR is the largest sanctioning body for stock car racing in the country and, with a fan base of over 75 million, the future of the sport looks bright.
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