1001 NASCAR Facts. John Close
were often overrun by non-paying customers. This was certainly true at the first Daytona Beach and Road Course event; the City of Daytona lost an estimated $22,000 promoting the inaugural beach stock car race. The Daytona Elks Club took over the promotion of the race in 1937 and suffered the same financial fate. For the 1938 race, local gas station owner Bill France Sr. took over the promotion of the Daytona race and charged a modest 50 cents a ticket. In an effort to sell more tickets and run off non-paying onlookers, France posted signs stating “Beware of Alligators” around various parts of the ocean-side Daytona Beach track layout. France sold 5,000 tickets and split the profits with promotional partner and race car owner Charlie Reece. Based on that success, France decided to continue his promotional events and the first thing he did for the 1939 Daytona Beach race was double the price of admission from fifty cents to one dollar.
Race officials line up the competitors prior to the drop of the green flag at the first Daytona Beach Stock Car race March 8, 1936. (Photo Courtesy Ed Samples Jr. Collection)
The 1940s: Let’s Get Organized
The conclusion of World War II flew the green flag on a growth period of never before-seen economic prosperity and individual freedom.
Americans were flush with confidence after winning World War II. Meanwhile, the economy, in the depths of the Great Depression at the onset of the war, was at full steam.
People had money and were ready to spend it. Subsequently, families grew larger with the start of the Baby Boom while another boom in the construction of private homes also began.
Meanwhile, Detroit’s Big Three (Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors) didn’t disappoint. Dated pre-war designs were ditched for new vehicles featuring updated stylish exteriors and more-powerful V-8 engines. In the four years prior to the end of the decade, these new, sleeker models boasted an array of improvements such as keyed ignition starting, hydraulic disc brakes, turn signals, and torque converter–based automatic transmissions.
In addition, new cars were attainable to almost everyone as both GM and Ford pioneered in-house auto financing. Meanwhile, the first driver’s education classes made getting behind the wheel easier and less intimidating than ever.
The shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean was flooded with cars prior to the running of a Modified race on the Daytona Beach Road Course. (Photo Courtesy Ed Samples Jr. Collection)
Throw in a massive government initiative to build roads virtually everywhere in the United States, and the era of the American automobile took off on a journey that continues today.
Of course, all of this was good for stock car racing. During World War II, racing was all but dead, but with new vehicles quickly coming to market, unwanted 1930s and early 1940s cars were available and inexpensive. This fueled a renaissance of the sport across America almost immediately after the final shots of the war.
Meanwhile, forward-thinking impresarios such as Bill France Sr. envisioned organizing the sport on a more professional level and a new form of racing taking stock cars off the showroom floor and racing with little modification. This “Strictly Stock” idea was an immediate hit, but more important, the concept took racing from the track and put it squarely in the driveway of every American home.
To say this convergence of events forever changed stock car racing would be an understatement; the late 1940s made stock car racing, and NASCAR specifically, a part of the American sports landscape.
71 One of the biggest detriments to launching a Strictly Stock division after World War II was the lack of new cars. Out of production since 1942, auto manufacturers had to retool before they could offer the public more than warmed-over pre-war styles. That put the Strictly Stock racing idea on hold until 1949 leaving the modified division to do most of the racing from 1945 to 1949. These 1937-and-newer coupes and sedans were required to have a stock-appearing look by retaining full fenders and windshields. They were also required to use the original ignition system and gas tank. The engine rules were wide-open as there were no bore and stroke requirements (they could be made as large as the engine could withstand). New and/or multiple carburetors, ground crankshafts and cams, and high-compression heads were also allowed to produce engines that could carry the small, lightweight cars to speeds well over 120 mph.
Red Byron (22) and Swain Prichett (17) battle their way through a pack of cars at the Hall County Fairgrounds in Gainesville, Georgia, on July 4, 1947. (Photo Courtesy Georgia Racing Hall of Fame)
72 While new tubeless and radial tire designs were introduced and manufactured in the 1940s, most racing tires were still bias-ply rayon cord construction. The use of regular passenger car or truck tires got a boost in the late 1940s with the introduction of the 4-ply rayon cord tire. Although the thicker rubber carcass of the tires created more heat at high speeds, the double strength four-plies advanced both safety and speed because they stood up to the rigors of racing better than prior two-ply models.
73 NASCAR legend Ralph Moody’s first car (a 1940 Ford Coupe) is typical of the low-buck stock cars that competed throughout the South after the end of the war. Moody’s car remained stock to a large degree, with wheelwells enlarged for clearance and the doors welded shut for safety. Both front and rear bumpers were removed and replaced with steel “booger bars.” Under the hood, the mostly stock 239-ci Ford Flathead V-8 was bored out to a total displacement of 250 ci. Thanks to performance parts such as an Ed Iskenderian camshaft and a Stromberg 97 carburetor, the engine produced an estimated 100 hp. The power was delivered to the wheels through a stock 3-speed transmission and a Ford 3.78 rear-end gear. As with many stock cars of the day, Moody’s car retained its headlights so it could be driven home after the race.
74 Lee Petty was a hardscrabble farmer from Level Cross, North Carolina, when, at the age of 35, he decided to give stock car racing a try in 1948. Petty and his brother Julie built a stock car out of an old 1937 Plymouth coupe and entered it in a race at Danville, Virginia. Amazingly, Petty won and at his next racing event in Roanoke, Virginia, finished second. Buoyed by his success, Petty borrowed a Buick Roadmaster from Gilmer Goode and headed to Charlotte for the first NASCAR Strictly Stock race in 1949. The big car was no match for the hard-cornering racing conditions and Petty wound up barrel-rolling the new vehicle into scrap iron. After the race, Petty swore he’d never race a big, heavy vehicle again and when he returned for the third NASCAR Strictly Stock race at Occoneechee Speedway, it was in a 1949 Plymouth Business Man’s two-door coupe. Powered by an inline Plymouth 6-cylinder engine, the lightweight car, producing just 97 hp, proved to be a formidable racer as Petty posted five-straight top-10 finishes, including the brand’s first NASCAR win at Heidelberg (Pittsburgh) Speedway October 2, 1949. The $1,500 Heidelberg first prize, and more than $3,300 in season winnings, gave Petty the money and the resolve to continue racing Plymouths to six wins through the 1952 season. Petty switched his efforts to Dodge in 1953 after Chrysler Corporation introduced its new Hemi V-8.
75 The success of NASCAR’s new Strictly Stock division in 1949 was based on the premise that each car had to be as close as possible to what an Average Joe could purchase. Meaning, for the first season, 1947–1949 American manufactured cars were eligible to enter. Unlike today’s modern rulebook, however,