The Early Laps of Stock Car Racing

The first organized, sanctioned American stock car race took place in 1908 on a road course around Briarcliff, New York—staged by one of America’s early speed mavens, William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. A veteran of the early Ormond–Daytona Beach speed trials, Vanderbilt brought the Grand Prize races to Savannah, Georgia, the same year. What began as a rich man’s sport eventually became the working man’s sport, finding a home in the South with the infusion of moonshiners and their souped-up cars.
Based in large part on statements of drivers, car owners and others garnered from archived newspaper articles, this history details the development of stock car racing into a megasport, chronicling each season through 1974. It examines the National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing’s 1948 incorporation documents and how they differ from the agreements adopted at NASCAR’s organization meeting two months earlier. The meeting’s participants soon realized that their sport was actually owned by William H.G. “Bill” France, and its consequential growth turned his family into billionaires. The book traces the transition from dirt to asphalt to superspeedways, the painfully slow advance of safety measures and the shadowy economics of the sport.

Betty Boles Ellison, a former journalist and noted historian, is a nationally recognized historical researcher as well as an established author. She prepared the script for the prize-winning documentary, Dreamers and Doers: Voices of Kentucky Woman. An avid and longtime historic preservationist, she is a board member of Friends of Kentucky Libraries, which provides support for the commonwealth’s public libraries.

Betty Boles Ellison
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 296
Bibliographic Info: 12 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7934-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1622-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Preface 1
Introduction 5
1. In the Beginning 9
2. Beach-Road Racing in Daytona 18
3. Whiskey Roots, Red Georgia Clay and Carolina Back Roads 25
4. Hardened Heroes 34
5. A Lily White Sport 41
6. Beer, Broads and Unadulterated Bull 49
7. NASCAR’s Early Years 56
8. Dollar Signs Everywhere 63
9. Drivers’ Revolving Door 72
10. The Finest Years 84
11. France Gets a Prize 91
12. Kiekhaefer Factor 96
13. Big Boys Come to Town 109
14. Whatever Happened to Marshall Teague? 118
15. Charlotte, Atlanta Join the Super Speedways 124
16. Caution Flags Everywhere 135
17. Those Dreaded Teamsters 145
18. Turner’s Back 159
19. The Man NASCAR Kept Overlooking 165
20. Big Boys Return 172
21. Who Was Running NASCAR? 187
22. Eastaboga and the PDA 194
23. Not as Easy as It Once Was 205
24. Money Infusion and Restrictor Plates 213
25. A New Boss Takes Over 225
26. Total Control 235
27. Ever Evolving NASCAR Rules 244
Chapter Notes 253
Bibliography 269
Index 273

• “The racing aficionado or sports history buff will find this text interesting”—ProtoView