mmarshall

I am no fan of alcohol, and, except in very few circumstances like wine in church services. I avoid it like the plague, and, at parties over the years, have often been a Designated Driver. I am, however, indeed a fan of NASCAR events, although sometimes arrogant and unscrupulous drivers like Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch can spoil it not only for us fans but for the image of the sport as a whole. I've never liked Formula 1 and/or winding road-courses, and have always considered true, pure racing to be Pedal-to-the-Metal action on large super-speedways like Daytona, Talladega, and Indianapolis, were some cars race neck-and-neck at 200 MPH or more. In fact, they would be even faster, except that, for years, officials have carburetor-restrictor plates in effect, at the very fastest tracks, to keep the speeds from getting truly insane...the restricted carburetors have limits on how much air/fuel mixture they can deliver to the engines. NASCAR now, though, may be in the process of converting to other means of restricting power.....some of the rules on the carburetor restrictions are being lifted.

The reason I mentioned alcohol, though, is that the NASCAR, as we know it, would probably not exist if it had not been for moonshiners. Some of you here in Car Chat (particularly the older members) already know that, but, for those of you who don't, here's the scoop:

Moonshining, stills, and illegal alcohol (without the taxes being paid on it) had been a way of life in the country, particularly in the southern regions of Appalachia (VA, WV, KY, TN, NC, AL), for centuries. But it was not until after World War II that better cars (though still quite primitive by today's standards), more power for the engines, better roads, and higher speeds on those roads, made quick transportation of the whisky by autos possible, though steep winding roads over the Appalachians could still be dangerous. In addition, just as some ex-fighter-pilots, when they no longer had their planes after the war, had turned to motorcycle-clubs and the free-roaming way of life, some others (and other veterans) looked to the street-rod scene and the old chopped Ford Deuce Coupes with high-peformance Ford and Chevy V8s. Others, such in areas with a lot of moonshining and bootlegging, saw larger sedans and wagons (that could carry more in bigger trunks) as a handy way to quickly transport illegal whiskey and hide it from both the tax-collectors and those in the mob/Mafia that wanted a part of the business. These mavericks used special engines, exhaust systems, tires, and other equipment to enhance their car's factory performance, though still using basically stock bodies. It was a risky and dangerous business, and they risked getting busted, but moonshiners were willing to pay good money to ensure that the contraband successfully reached its market of buyers. So, the practice of running the whiskey through the hills became legend.

When these whisky-tuners weren't actually on the road running the booze, or if they got bored with a temporary lull in business, they would get together and see who had the hottest cars and who were the best drivers......staging their own competition events. At the time, an enterprising businessman named Bill France had a vision that there was even more money to be made from building race-tracks for these drivers, inviting the general public, selling tickets, and putting on public racing-shows. From that, of course, evolved the big-money sport of stock-car racing that eventually went on with pro-football to become arguably the two most popular professional sports in the nation.


Hollywood did a classic film in 1958, with Robert Mitchum, on the life of moonshine-running in Appalachia, called "Thunder Road"....again, maybe some of you old-timers here may remember it. It depicted Mitchum as a Korean War hero who, as a civilian, turned to a life of running whiskey for his dad, trying to evade both the Federal authorities and the mob. The whiskey-running and car-chase scenes are some of the most realistic ever filmed, especially with the old cars of that era.

Toys4RJill

I don’t mind the odd alcoholic beverage every once in a while.

mmarshall

Sure.....opinions can differ on that. I did the thread, though, not to preach about alcohol, but to show where NASCAR actually got started....it actually traces its roots to an illegal business and an enterprising businessman who capitalized on those drivers. For years, the name Bill France was synonymous with stock-car racing.

Of course today's "stock" cars on NASCAR tracks are anything but stock. For example, a number of them, in actual production, are FWD, but NASCAR practice is to configure them in a RWD layout. Fuel-injection is generally N/A...they race with carburetors. And, of course, NASCAR events also expanded to include the Craftsman Truck series.

At one time, there was one NASCAR race with a winding road-course.....Riverside, CA (the last race was in 1988). But, in general, almost all of them are on enclosed oval or Tri-Oval tracks.

Mike728

This is well known. Didn't you ever watch The Dukes of Hazzard?

mmarshall

With all due respect, though it showed some connection to moonshining, that show was entertainment, not reality. Of course, one could also say that about the Thunder Road film...but that film is a little closer to reality. If you saw my opening statements, I know a lot of people are aware of how NASCAR started....this thread is not for them, but for those who were not (or are not) aware of it.

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

White Lightning starring Burt Reynolds is a good movie, takes place in Georgia I think.
I took a class on rebuilding Boxster engines in 2009 in Cleveland GA. The man that taught the class was born & raised on the large property where the class & his large workshop was located.
During breaks he told us that his grandfather made moonshine & he had been on the 10 most wanted list in GA for decades. The property was next to a railroad track,so he would lite the stills while a train was running by because it's very loud when it ignites. The biggest problem is buying all the sugar needed for making the booze. Looks very suspisious buying 100 lbs of sugar every week in a small town.
Eventually he bought a sugar cane farm in Florida to supply enough sugar. Often delivery drivers will come up his hill & say they have been there before. When the owner ask's them if he was delivering sugar, they are shocked that he could guess that. Also in the small town of Cleveland GA is Jacky Jones Ford which was a authorized Saleen dealer when I worked at Saleen. Jacky Jones had visited Saleen when Tim Allen was part of the race team. Jacky was telling stories about running moonshine & transtioning into racing later.

onihc

iTrader: (1)

Sonoma raceway and Watkins Glenn

mmarshall

Yes...good point. They started out as SCCA and F1 one tracks, but expanded to NASCAR when the sport got so popular.

Stroock639

but, if you have enough of it you become drunk... and then you're drunk!

Stroock639

i agree, laws are frequently dumb and politically motivated... thanks to prohibition and all its silliness people had to come up with clever ways to circumvent the law, which ultimately gave us nascar

also you don't like F1 because it's not "pedal to the metal" enough? an F1 car going Raidillon corner completely flat out pulling about 5 g's looks pretty pedal to the metal


i will happily concede though that F1 races can often devolve into just a bunch of cars driving around in a single file line, nascar definitely has many aspects of making it a better spectator event but the way F1 cars just stick to the road at ridiculous speeds makes them so cool to watch... 15 years ago in the glorious V10 era, F1 cars had a 3 liter non turbo engine that made about 950 hp and revved to about 19,000 rpm, i mean that's just impressive

jeff gordon certainly thought so lol

mmarshall

That's why I avoid it in the first place....Even at my age (I'm no Spring Chicken) I have never been drunk and never intend to.

Well, that's a big part of it, but it is actually a lot more than that. I didn't go into all the reasons why in this thread, because it would be somewhat off-topic......who actually gave us NASCAR.

That's because F1 cars are essentially airplanes in reverse.....the design of the bodies, air-dams, and wings creates tremendous downward-force on the tires, making them stick to the road like glue (and, of course, wearing the tires out). It does have a safety-effect in preventing skids/spins, but often doesn't require as much skill from the drivers as in the NASCAR machines, with don't produce anywhere near the same amount of downforce. The flip side of that, of course, is that most NASCAR tracks won't have the winding courses and constant braking/acceleration and tight turns of F1. But it is that constant high speed that, IMO, makes NASCAR entertaining to watch, if more hazardous for the drivers.

mmarshall

I don't want to get into the political side of NASCAR too much, but I wouldn't mind seeing a little more diversity in the driver-line-up. For decades, it has been virtually all-white, all-male, and (mostly) Southern or Midwestern in nature. Only a very tiny minority of the drivers are female (like Danica Patrick) or non-white.

SW17LS

I’ll drink to that

wasjr

I was about 7 when the movie came out. I don't remember the movie, but I do remember the chorus of the Ballad of Thunder Road song that went along with it.
In college a couple of guys would bring back some moonshine when they went home. It sure would clear your sinuses.