Legends of Racing

The foundation of any sport lies in it's history. With it's roots as regional entertainment in the Southeastern, US, Daytona Beach became known as the place to set world land speed records in the first decade of the 1900s. The beach became a Mecca for racing enthusiasts and in 1936 the course began hosting car racing events. Early race drivers were often involved in bootlegging. They ran moonshine down the twisty mountain roads to people during alcohol prohibition. The runners would modify their cars in order to create a faster, more maneuverable vehicle to evade the police, and came to love the fast paced driving. Pioneers like "Fireball" Roberts, Bill France, Sr., "Smokey" Yunick, Lee Petty, Marshall Teague, Ned Jarrett, Ralph Earnhardt, Glen Wood, Tim Flock, Buck Baker, David Pearson, and a host of others laid the groundwork for the sport through the early years. Their passion for racing and "tinkering with cars" have transformed the days of the old flat-top Fords and Hudson Hornets running on rutted dirt tracks to the sleek, technologically advanced race cars we see today running on paved ultra-modern speedways. Were it not for their energy spirit, and ingenuity, NASCAR would not have evolved to become the second most popular professional sport in terms of television ratings inside the U.S. today. Cup races hold 17 of the top 20 attended sporting events in the U.S. and 75 million fans purchase over $2 billion in annual licensed product sales. Internationally, NASCAR races are broadcast in over 150 countries.