| Stock car racing was really born out of the desire of | | | | strengthened. Safety aspects for the drivers were |
| owners of customized stock (meaning: 'off the sales | | | | also introduced. Nowadays, the NASCAR instruction |
| lot') cars to show off their vehicles, craftsmanship and | | | | manual clearly defines all the alterations that are |
| driving expertise. The need to 'soup up' these stock | | | | allowed on contending cars. |
| cars came from the wish to escape the law | | | | These days it is a mistake to call NASCAR cars |
| enforcement agencies pursuing them when they were | | | | 'stock cars'; they are anything other than stock cars. |
| running moonshine or put another way, bootlegging. | | | | NASCAR cars are hand made. The frames are poles |
| For the period of Prohibition, a lot of moonshine | | | | apart from stock cars in that they are constructed |
| whiskey was being made in remote regions of the | | | | from tubes for strength; the tin is sheet steel and the |
| Appalachians and in particular the Allegheny Mountains, | | | | engine blocks begin as just that - a bare block. What |
| from where it was taken by private carriers in their | | | | the mechanics do with it after that is a closely guarded |
| own stock cars often to the southern states. Many of | | | | secret. |
| these drivers souped up their cars in order to have | | | | The safety of the driver is also taken very seriously. |
| more chance of escape. | | | | The driver is shielded from injury by a heavy roll cage. |
| When Prohibition was revoked in 1933, this bootlegging | | | | Strong round and square tubes make up the car's |
| continued in order to avoid paying duty, but it gradually | | | | framework, while thinner tubing is used at the front and |
| died out. However, the fire had already been lit and the | | | | back ends to absorb the impact of crashes by |
| drivers of these cars liked to race them in their spare | | | | crushing slowly. These are called clips and the front clip |
| time for pleasure and reward, especially in the | | | | will also allow the engine to fall away under the car, |
| southern states and particularly in North Carolina, | | | | rather than be pushed straight back into the driver. |
| where most of the stock car teams are still to be | | | | The bodies of NASCAR cars are not easy to make, |
| found. | | | | often taking ten days to finish. However, NASCAR |
| NASCAR was established by Bill French in 1947 when | | | | rules cover the general body shape and they provide |
| he created the first set of uniform rules and a | | | | thirty templates to make constructing a NASCAR car |
| championship scoring system so that an overall winner | | | | a little simpler. |
| of all the season's races could be worked out. | | | | But it does not stop there. There are different |
| However, the conditions in the early days were pretty | | | | regulations and templates for different sorts of races |
| crude. The cars were usually second-hand and worn | | | | on different tracks, because the cars that race on |
| and the track was just dirt and dust. Under these | | | | superspeedways are not the same as those used for |
| circumstances the cars quickly fell apart, so NASCAR | | | | short tracks or endurance races. |
| allowed competing cars to be customized or | | | | |