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Stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile sloped. It was called a "fast-back", and racing found mainly in the United States and because of this David Pearson and Richard Great Britain held largely on oval rings of Petty's Chargers dominated the series that between approximately a quarter-mile and 2.66 year. miles (about 0.4 to 4.2 kilometres) in length, but also raced occasionally on road The 1969 season was dominated by the Dodge courses. Ovals shorter than one mile (1.6 km) Daytona due to a radical body shape change. are called short tracks; unpaved short tracks This car exceed 200 MPH which was a are called dirt tracks; longer ovals are significant improvement over their typically known as superspeedways. Top level competitors (180 MPH was common at the time). races are generally 200 to 600 miles Richard Petty could not come to contractual (300-1000 km) in length. Average speeds in terms with Dodge before the 1969 season, but the top classes are around 160 mph (275.5 km when he saw the Daytona, he demanded that h), compared to 220 mph (354 km/h) in Plymouth make something similar, but they comparable levels of open wheel racing. Some declined (for the time being). He signed a NASCAR races can get up to speeds of 200 mph lucrative deal with Ford and they made the at tracks such as the Daytona International Torino "Talladega" which had enough Speedway  and  the  Talladega  Superspeedway. aerodynamic body improvements that it gave the Torino a higher top speed with no other Stock  Cars changes. It was not enough, however, to catch the Daytona. NASCAR feared that these A stock car, in the original sense of the increasing speeds significantly surpassed the term, is an automobile that has not been abilities of the tire technology of the day, modified from its original factory and it would undoubtedly increase the number configuration. Later the term stock car came of gruesome wrecks that were occurring. As a to mean any production-based automobile used result, the 1970 Homologation rules were in racing. This term was used to changed so that one car for every two U.S. differentiate such a car from a race car, a dealers had to be sold to the public to special, custom-built car designed only for qualify, hoping to delay the use of racing purposes with no intent of its ever aero-bodies  until  tires  could  improve. being  used  as  regular  transportation. For the 1970 season Dodge did not sell enough When NASCAR was first formed by Bill France Daytonas to compete with their aero-body, but Sr. in 1948 to regulate stock car racing, Plymouth managed to sell over 1,920 Plymouth there was a requirement that any car entered Superbirds, which were almost identical to be made entirely of parts available to the the Daytona. Petty came back to Plymouth in general public through automobile dealers, the 200+ MPH Superbird, and easily won in and that all cars must be from a model run of 1970, and '71. This led to several makes of which at least 500 cars of that model were proposed 1972 "aero-cars" having their sold to the general public. This is referred maximum engine displacement decreased to 5.8L to as "homologation". In NASCAR's early (358 cu.in.) or they could remain at 7.0L years, the cars were so "stock" that it was with a Restrictor plate to limit top speeds. commonplace for the drivers to drive As a result, Ford dropped out of NASCAR for themselves to the competitions in the car several  years. that they were going to run in the race. While automobile engine technology had Fans, drivers, and manufacturers alike remained fairly stagnant in WWII, advanced demanded a complete revamping of the rules. aircraft piston engine development had NASCAR responded in a way that they hoped provided a great deal of available data, and would make the cars safer and more equal, so NASCAR was formed just as some the improved the race series would be more a test of the technology was about to become available in drivers, rather than a test of car production cars. Until the advent of the technology. Trans-Am series in 1967, NASCAR homologation cars were the closest thing that the public The  Modern  Era could buy that was actually very similar to the cars that were winning the national 1972 brought so many rule changes, it has races. prompted many to consider this year as the start of the modern era of NASCAR racing. In The  Early  Years addition, R.J. Reynolds (the tobacco conglomorate) took over as the major sponsor The 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket V-8 with a of NASCAR racing (changing the name to the displacement of 303 cu.in. is widely "Winston Cup") and they made a significantly recognized as the first postwar modern larger financial contribution than previous overhead valve (OHV) engine to become sponsors. Richard Petty's personal available to the public, though all the major sponsorship with STP also set new, higher manufacturers were also in the process of standards for financial rewards to driving modernising their engine designs. The teams. The sudden infusion of noticeably Oldsmobile was an immediate success in 1949 larger amounts of money changed the entire and 1950, and all the automobile nature  of  the  sport. manufacturers could not help but to notice that its victories resulted in noticeably The 1973 oil crisis meant that large higher sales of the Oldsmobile 88 to the displacement special edition homologation buying public. The motto of the day became cars of all makes were suddenly sitting "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday". However, in unsold. From this point forward, stock cars spite of the fact there were several were quickly allowed to differ greatly from competing engines that were more advanced, anything available to the public. Modern the aerodynamic and low-slung Hudson Hornet racing "stock" cars are stock in name only, managed to win in 1951, '52, and '53, with a using a body template that is vaguely modeled 308 cu.in. inline 6-cylinder that used an after currently-available automobiles. The old-style flathead, proving there was more to chassis, running gear, and other equipment winning  than  just  a  more powerful engine. have almost nothing to do with anything in ordinary  automobiles. At the time it typically took three years for a new design of car body or engine to end up Modern stock cars may superficially resemble in production and be available for NASCAR standard American family sedans, but are in racing. Most cars sold to the public did not fact purpose-built racing machines built to a have a wide variety of engine choices, and strict set of regulations governing the car the majority of the buying public at the time design ensuring that the chassis, suspension were not interested in the large displacement , engine, etc. are architecturally identical special edition engine options that would on all vehicles. Ironically, these soon become popular. However, the end of the regulations ensure that stock car racers are Korean War in 1953 started an economic boom, in many ways technologically less and then car buyers immediately began sophisticated than standard cars on the road. demanding more powerful engines. Also in For example, NASCAR (the premier stock car 1953, NASCAR recommended that the drivers add organization in the U.S.) requires carbureted roll  bars,  but  did  not  require  them. engines in all of its racing series, while fuel injection is now universal in standard An excellent example of Homologation is when passenger cars. Also, the majority of Lee Petty won the national championship in production car engines use a double overhead 1954, when he raced a Chrysler New Yorker cam (DOHC) and four valves per cylinder, with the largest factory brakes available, while NASCAR vehicles are restricted to two using a Dodge automotive Hemi V-8 engine with valves-per-cylinder actuated by pushrods a heavy-duty Dodge truck transmission. Dodge using a single cam-in-block. Modern NASCAR was a division of Chrysler, and all of the engines are restricted to a maximum parts he used were available to the general displacement of 358 cu. in. (5.8L) even public. though there are still many production engines available to the public that are In 1955 Chrysler produced the C-300 with its noticeably larger. In addition, The Ford 300 HP 331 cu in OHV engine, which easily won Fusion, Dodge Avenger, Chevrolet Impala, and in  1955  and  '56. Toyota Camry that will compete in the 2007 season are all front-wheel-drive sedans, but In 1957 several notable events happened. The the NASCAR versions continue to use AMA banned manufacturers from using race wins rear-wheel-drive. in their advertising and giving direct support to race teams, as they felt it led to Engines, while still containing varying reckless street racing. This forced components from the various manufacturers who manufacturers to become creative in producing compete in the series, are of fixed race parts to help racers win. Race teams displacement, and are generally designed to were often caught trying to use factory ensure all entrants have near-equal vehicles. produced racing parts that were not really There are several categories of stock car available to the public, though many parts racing, each with slightly different rules, passed muster by being labeled as heavy-duty but the key intention of cars that look like "Police" parts. Car manufacturers wanted to production cars, but with near-identical appear compliant with the ban, but they also specifications underneath, remains true. The wanted to win. NASCAR tracks at the time were super-speedways continue to require the use mainly dirt tracks with modest barriers, and of a restrictor plate under each carburetor during the 1957 season a Mercury Monterey to limit top speeds, while the shorter tracks crashed into the crowd. This killed many do  not  require  them. spectators, and resulted in a serious overhaul of the safety rules which in turn The closest European equivalent to stock car prompted the building of larger more modern racing is probably touring car racing, though tracks. Also in 1957, Chevrolet sold enough these are raced exclusively on road courses of their new fuel injected engines to the rather  than  ovals. public in order to make them available for racing (and Ford began selling superchargers 'True' stock car racing, which consists of as an option), but Bill France immediately only street vehicles that can be bought by banned fuel injection and superchargers from general public, is sometimes now called NASCAR before they could race. However, even showroom stock racing. In 1972 (same year as without official factory support or the use the beginning of modern NASCAR era), SCCA of fuel injection, Buck Baker won in 1957 started its first showroom stock racing driving  a  small-block  V-8  Chevy  Bel-Air. series, with a price ceiling on the cars of $3,000. Some modern showroom stock racing In 1959 Daytona opened the first allow safety modifications done on showroom super-speedway with long straights and highly stock  cars. banked turns, which allowed much higher top speeds, and it was soon followed by the Stock  car  series Talladega  super-speedway. The most prominent championship in stock car In 1961 Ford introduced the FE 390 in a low racing is the NASCAR championship, currently drag Galaxie "Starliner", but 1960 and '61 called the Nextel Cup after its sponsor championships were won by drivers in (formerly known as Winston Cup after a 409-powered  Chevy  Impalas. previous sponsor). It is the most popular racing series in the United States, drawing Pontiac introduced their "Super Duty" 421 in over 6 million spectators in 1997, an average Catalinas that made use of many aluminum body live audience of over 190,000 people for each parts to save weight, and the Pontiacs easily race. The most famous event in the series is won  in  1962. undoubtedly the Daytona 500, an annual 500-mile race at Daytona Beach, Florida. The The  Golden  Age series' second-biggest event is probably The Brickyard 400, an annual 400-mile race held The desire from fans and manufacturers alike at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the for higher performance cars within the legendary home of the Indianapolis 500 of the restrictions of homologation meant that car Indy Racing League, an open-wheeled racing makers began producing limited production series. NASCAR also runs the Busch Series, a "special edition" cars based on high stock car junior league, and the Craftsman production base models. It also became Truck Series, a junior league where pickup apparent that manufacturers were willing to trucks are raced. Together the two car-based produce increasingly larger engines to remain series (Nextel Cup and Busch Series) drew 8 competitive (Ford had developed a 483 they million spectators in 1997, compared to 4 hoped to race). For the 1963 season NASCAR million for both American open-wheel series engines were restricted to using a maximium (CART and IRL). In 2002, 17 of the 20 US top displacement of 7.0 Liters (427 cu.in.) and sporting events in terms of attendance were using  only  two  valves  per  cylinder. NASCAR races. Only football drew more television  viewers  that  year. Also, even with heavy duty special editions sold to the public for homologation purposes, Besides NASCAR, there are a number of other the race car rules were further modified, national or regional stock-car sanctioning primarily in the interest of safety. This is bodies in the United States. The Automobile because race drivers and their cars during Racing Club of America (ARCA), American Speed this era were subjected to forces unheard of Association (ASA), International Motor in street use, and require a far higher level Contest Association (IMCA), and United Speed of protection than is normally afforded by Alliance Racing (USAR) all sanction their own truly  "stock"  automobile  bodies. forms of stock-car racing, on varying types of track, and with various levels of national In 1963 Ford sold enough of their aerodynamic and media coverage. Young drivers from these "sport-roof" edition Galaxies to the public series generally aspire to move to the Busch so it would qualify as stock, and with the Series or Craftman Truck Series in NASCAR. heavy duty FE block bored and stroked to the The International Race of Champions (IROC) new limit of 427, the top 5 finishers were series uses stock cars, but is usually all Ford. Chrysler had bored their 413 to perceived as being outside of the usual stock create the "Max Wedge" 426, but it still car racing scene because of its 'All-Star' couldn't compete with the Fords. GM's design. headquarters had genuinely tried to adhere to the 1957 ban, but their Chevrolet division Internationally, stock car racing has not had also constantly tried to work around it, enjoyed the same success as within the United because the other manufacturers had openly States. In Canada CASCAR organizes three circumvented the ban. In 1963 GM gave in and racing series (two regional and one national) openly abandoned compliance, and Chevy was that enjoy generally strong car-counts; the allowed to produce the ZO6 427, but it did base of the sport in Canada is the short-oval not  immediately  enjoy  success. region of Southern Ontario. In Europe there has been a persistent effort to introduce Then, in 1964 the new Chrysler 426 Hemi stock car racing. The Stock Car Speed engine so dominated the series in a Plymouth Association ASCAR or Days of Thunder is based Belvedere "Sport Fury", the homologation in Rockingham, United Kingdom, though the rules were changed so that 1,000 of any series has raced at the Lausitzring in engine and car had to be sold to the public Germany as well. Brazil also has a successful to qualify as a stock part, instead of just stock car racing series, with starting grids 500. This made the 426 Hemi unavailable for of 40 or more cars, and three brands the  1965  season. competing: Chevrolet, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen. Brazilian Stock Car also has two In 1965 Ford adapted two single-overhead-cams developing series. Argentina also have a to their FE 427 V8 to allow it to run at a popular stock series, called Turismo higher RPM (called the Ford 427 Cammer). Ford Carretera. Unsuccessful efforts have been started to sell "cammers" to the public to made in Australia, South Africa, and Japan as homologate it (mostly to dealer-sponsored well. privateer drag racers), but NASCAR changed the rules to specify that all NASCAR engines Stock car racing is also a popular local must use a single cam-in-block. But even event. Many tracks exist in the United States without the Cammer, the Ford FE 427 won in (and a few in Canada) catering to a wide 1965. variety of car types and fans. There are a few organizations that cater to these local In 1966 Chrysler sold enough of the 426 short tracks, such as ARCA, ASA and IMCA. Hemi's to make it available again, and they NASCAR also supports local short track racing put it in their new Dodge Charger which had a with their Elite Division and NASCAR Dodge low-drag rear window that was radically Weekly Series racing. 1 A B C D 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 105 106 107 108