Stockcar
What is stock car racing? From bootleggers to NASCAR today
Stock car racing - via the NASCAR structure - has continued to evolve through its history long before the speed-seeking bootleggers. Learn more about the milestones along the way here.
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Stock car racing started with a simple premise: whose car is faster? Legend says prohibition inspired bootleggers - people transporting illegal alcohol - to modify their cars for optimal speed to outrun the police. Even after prohibition was repealed at the end of 1933, bootleggers kept the momentum going; they started racing each other for the thrill of it.
Today, drivers like Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen (affectionately called SVG) race under the company’s colors. They don their helmets, climb into their cars, and prepare to hurl their cars around an oval track or on a road course at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour.
Trackhouse unveiled new schemes for Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch
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How did stock car racing begin before NASCAR existed?
In the late 1930s, a young car enthusiast named William Henry Getty France took his family’s Ford Model T out for joyrides while his father was at work. When France left Washington, D.C. for Daytona, Florida during the Great Depression era, he started racing stock cars. By 1938, France was running track events and competing himself. World War II put a stop to organized racing for a while, and when it started up again France decided to dedicate his time to organizing instead of getting behind the wheel himself.
According to the Motorsports Hall of Fame, stock car race promoters were viewed as the disreputable sort, sometimes absconding with the money before the purse could be awarded or offering a subpar experience to ticket holders. France sought to change that with the idea that he could build an organization that delivered on its promises for both spectators and drivers.
From that mission, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing - or NASCAR, for short - was born at the end of 1947 after a meeting at the Streamline Hotel. France invited 40 drivers, car owners, promoters, mechanics and journalists to meet and hammer out standards that would legitimatize the sport.
“We must try to get track owners and promoters interested in building stock-car racing up,” France said, as reported by the NASCAR Hall of Fame site. “We are all interested in one thing – that is improving the present conditions. The answer lies in our group right here today to do it.”
NASCAR’s first official race was along the shores of Daytona Beach, Florida in February of 1948. Driver Red Byron won the series in a modified 1939 Ford; Byron had beaten France in a race two years before. The following year, NASCAR announced the Strictly Stock Division, and Byron became the first champion of that series. Today, it’s called the Sprint Cup Series.
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Daytona International Speedway Is Built on NASCAR’s Nascent Dreams
Daytona International Speedway is known as the World Center Of Racing
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France recognized the need for a superspeedway in Florida and pitched the idea for what became the Daytona International Speedway. Construction began in 1957 and the 2.5-mile, high-banked track hosted the first Daytona 500 in 1959. More than 41,000 fans attended the 61-hour event, and Lee Petty was crowned the winner after France reviewed video footage.
NASCAR dedicated $400 million to begin work on the Daytona Rising frontstretch renovation project in 2013. France passed away in 1992 and didn’t get to see his dream realized in such a huge fashion, but he surely would have appreciated the sheer numbers: 101,500 seats, 40 escalators, 17 elevators, 60 luxury trackside suites, and a frontstretch that spans nearly a mile in length.
The Daytona 500 continues to be the biggest, most important, and most prestigious race of the year in the stock car racing world. Take a look at the list of champions throughout the years to find legendary names among the winners, like Richard Petty, Mario Andretti, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Denny Hamlin.
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Significant Milestones in Stock Car Racing History
December 1, 1963 was a momentous day for NASCAR, when Wendell Scott beat Buck Baker at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida. Scott was the first Black driver to win a race in NASCAR’s premier series, collecting 20 top-five finishes. Eighteen years after the first Daytona 500, Janet Guthrie emerged as the first woman to compete in the race, finishing 12th overall.
Since then, stock car racing has continued to evolve as the sport changes. For instance, NASCAR began to mandate HANS devices after Dale Earnhardt died in a crash at the Daytona 500 in 2001. HANS devices have made great strides in motorsport safety, reducing the number of severe neck injuries and basal skull fractures in crashes. Around the same time, NASCAR incorporated Steel And Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barriers, which are also called soft walls.
Flash forward to 2013, when Danica Patrick made history as the first woman to win a pole in NASCAR premier series history. The following year, NASCAR Chairman Brian France (Bill France’s grandson) changed up the championship format by using a “Championship 4” playoff-style finale during which the highest finisher among the four eligible drivers at Homestead-Miami Speedway would be crowned champion.
Connor Zilisch racing in the Quaker State 400 at Echo Park Speedway
© Daylon Barr / Red Bull Content Pool
Stock Car Racing Today
For the 2026 season, NASCAR opted to change it up again, swapping out the playoff structure for the postseason Chase, which uses a championship procedure that the organization says will reward full-season consistency. The winner will emerge through a new points model that emphasizes race wins, encouraging drivers to build on success. Zilisch was a runner up in his series in 2025.
February 15 marks the start of the most recent season for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series at the 68th Daytona 500. The champion will ascend the podium on November 8 at Homestead-Miami after a coast-to-coast 36-race schedule. What’s next for NASCAR? More milestones to come.
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