Stock car racing events routinely are the largest professional spectator sports events each year in the United
States in terms of attendance. Few of the cars that race
are strictly “stock.” Until recently stock car racing has
been largely ignored by the traditional sources of
sports news coverage.
History
The first automobile race in America was sponsored by
the Chicago Times Herald in November 1893. The first
track race was held in 1894 at the Rhode Island State
Fair before 50,000 spectators. Early automobiles were
so unreliable that most early contests focused upon
time trials, achieving top speeds under ideal conditions, or were endurance contests to demonstrate automotive reliability.
The first paved automobile racing track was the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The first race on the paved
surface was in 1909, while the now famous 500-mile
race on Memorial Day, now known as the Indianapolis
500, followed in 1911. Stock cars (all cars were “stock”
when racing began) were banned from the Indianapolis 500 in 1919, but stock car racing continued in the
Midwest.
Rules and Play
No American professional automobile race today is
conducted strictly with stock vehicles, with the possible exception of the increasingly popular vintage automobile races. Those racing automobiles closest to
showroom condition are not classed as stock cars at all,
but are sports cars raced in the strictly showroom class
of the Sports Car Club of America. Even these automobiles, however, may have altered tires, wheels, and suspensions. Among stock cars, the racing automobiles
closest to original manufacturers’ equipment specifications are the lowly hobby divisions of the various sanctioning organizations, the entry level in automobile
racing.
Two distinct types of stock car racing coexist in the
United States today. The highest level, in terms of prize
money, quality of competition, and fame, are several
sponsor-driven traveling circuits of competitors similar to golf and tennis circuits. Circuit races typically are
held at the nation’s largest paved tracks. The Winston
Cup circuit is the most prestigious and well known of
these race series. Some three dozen races are held during the year and the top ten finishers over the course of
the year generally win at least one million dollars each.
Public knowledge of stock car racing has become
increasingly focused upon the traveling race circuits, as
these events are the most likely to be televised and receive newspaper coverage. Perceiving the value of these
competitions, promoters have begun expanding the
traveling series to other types of events. NASCAR, for
example, now has pickup truck racing and several levels of circuit racing.
Most stock car racing takes place in weekly competitions at isolated short tracks featuring local part-time
and semiprofessional drivers. Track promoters typically join sanctioning organizations such as NASCAR
or IMCA (International Motor Contest Association)
who define the classes of competitors, keep track of
records, and make safety rules. Contesting vehicles are
placed in classes based on size, body style, and engine
displacement. The classes range from the entry-level
“hobby division,” which utilizes the smallest vehicles,
to the super-modified division, which has the most
powerful and most visually modified vehicles.
These race tracks typically range in length from 1/4
to 5/8 mile. Most tracks are banked dirt ovals with concrete grandstands on one or more sides and an interior
pit area open to anyone willing to pay the higher admission price. Some promoters began paving their
short tracks during the 1980s in an attempt to emulate
the big leagues.
Short track racing continues to be highly regionalized with little interaction between competitors.
NASCAR, founded in 1947, is the best-known and most
nearly national of the stock car racing bodies and sanctions races at all levels of competition. The new racing
organization created three classes of cars: strictly
stock, modified stocks, and roadsters. NASCAR has eight regional short track circuits covering every region
in the nation.
IMCA was the largest sanctioning organization in
1995, with races at 212 tracks.While sanctioning tracks
in 28 states, most of its racing venues are in a band
stretching from the northern Midwest southward to
Texas.
Stock Car Culture
Stock car racing evokes strong feelings in the American
public. These strong feelings probably stem from the
common belief that its participants, and to a degree its
spectators, come from the lowest levels of society. In
some respects, the devotees of the sport themselves
have encouraged this belief by creating “moonshining”
and other mythologies of the early days of southern
racing. Although these images of stock car racing are
changing as a result of expanded television and journalistic coverage, many of the myths about the sport’s
beginnings continue.
Indeed, the demographics of the sport’s typical
spectator suggest that the most ardent followers tend to
have less income and less education, and are less urban
than the general population, but even a casual visit to a
short track event would dispel the rumors of rowdy,
inebriated crowds of troublemakers. The low ticket
prices and rural nature of the sport tends to make most
short track racing a family outing with little of the antisocial behavior often assumed to characterize these
events.
Why this sport is so identified with the nation’s
rural underclass is unclear. Some suggest that this support stems from the alienation of these fans from traditional collegiate affiliations, a lack of experience with
most team sports, and a rural/small town association
that makes “big city” professional athletics anathema
to their lives. Others suggest that its fans can identify
with the Chevrolets, Pontiacs, and Fords on the major
league circuits.
Like other sports, the deluge of television contract
money increased prize money and incentives for advertisers to sponsor cars and races. This exposure has
put stock car racing at the brink of great change. Superspeedway racing has become a major sport with
traditional mainstream sponsors. The best drivers are
millionaires; team owners and car builders now operate complex business empires that typically extend into
automobile dealerships and other related automotive
activities. The costs of short track racing have increased and so have the potential rewards.
At the same time, in competitions, one rarely sees
cars driven off the used car lots with duct tape numbers on their sides. Even the audiences have changed
with the sport’s growing respectability. Simultaneously,
part of the traditional appeal of the sport, its “outlaw”
image, is rapidly fading.
—RICHARD PILLSBURY