NASCAR is a big Sport right now and has been for a long time. It actually came about in southern states when moonshine runners had to out run the law so they fixed their cars to go really fast in order to be able to get away from them. These drivers got a reputation for their fast driving and their cars. They also started racing each other to get more driving experience and for entertainment.

The sport began as an organized sport in the 1940’s and has grown to be the multimillion dollar sport that it is today. When racing was first organized some of the moonshine runners would go to Daytona Beach and Atlanta and race in the first races. A driver named Big Bill France is responsible for organizing the sport starting a race at a hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1947. In 1948 the NASCAR race was in Daytona and Daytona is still a large race every year.

France became the leader of NASCAR in 1948 and another moonshine runner Robert “Junior” Johnson, after spending time in jail for illegal moonshine, became famous in stock car racing and was pardoned by President Ronald Reagan. He made millions in moonshine and was the first championship owner of a NASCAR racing team. Today he runs his own legal moonshine business and has sponsored drivers like Darrell Dierringer, LeeRoy and Cal Yarbough and Darrell Waltrip. Other big names include Terry Lebonte, Sterlin Marlin, Jimmy Spencer and Bill Elliott.

Thousands of NASCAR fans are not knowledgeable of how stock car races began. NASCAR currently ranks right after football as the second top professional sport.

NASCAR’s car racing creates substantial economic value for drivers who are in top positions or are the winners of the competitions. In 1948, Bill Francis, Sr. began this professional sport and family business due to his own avid car racing interests. He viewed NASCAR as a good business venture and a great outlet for fanatic high speed cars and drivers. He gathered drivers, mechanics, and the owners of the high speed cars to establish and implement rules and the point system for NASCAR’s official mandates for the National Association for Stock Car Racing. They established several categories for high speed racing that include roadster, modified, and stock. The initial NASCAR race transpired in 1948 on February 15, with Red Byron reaching the red checkered flag first. He drove a Ford for this very first event. Florida’s Daytona Beach is known for its long stretches of highways along the ocean, with a number of sharp winding curves that challenge any high speed driver. This famous road stretch is a course of 4.1 miles. Its many sponsors elevated the prize money and developed NASCAR into an immensely profitable racing circuit business.

Allegedly, car races started during the prohibition period of 1920 where drivers participated in moonshine runs. Since home brewed whiskey was illegal, the moonshine runners’ revved up their cars in order to out-drive the tax associates. These moonshine runners quickly learn ways to outfox and avoid the law officials. These drivers started to race each other to see whose car performed the quickest. At this time, car racing was not seen as a professional sport, since they were not formal challenges.

Jimmie Kenneth Johnson was born on September 17, 1975. He is an American stock car racer from California and it was Mark Martin, his fellow driver, who named him Superman. He started his career in 1996. He has won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series four times and he became the only driver to win it consecutively four times in 2009. As per the Associated Press, he was the Athlete of the Year in 2009 and also the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Driver of the year in the same year. Due to his exceptional career, he is being considered the best driver of the decade.

He was good with motorcycles from a very young age. In 1998, he joined the ASA, or the American Speed Association. Around this time, he also started participating in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He started racing full time in the Winston Cup Series in 2002. He had three wins in the season and led 838 laps. In that year, he won the MBNA American 400, MBNA 400, and Auto Club 500. He did not win the Rookie of the Year award in spite of his amazing statistics.

Johnson had a dream season in 2006 when he won five races. The successful season continued and in 2008 he won seven races; he won the same number in 2009 as well. In 2009, he won four consecutive championships and this made him the first player to do so in the history of NASCAR. Everyone hopes that he will win it again in 2010 and add another feather to his cap.

Bill France Sr. of Daytona, Florida, organized a meeting in December of 1947 to discuss problems facing stock car racing. This was the beginning of the sanctioning body for NASCAR.

The first NASCAR sanctioned race was held on February 15, 1948. Stock car legend Red Byron from Atlanta won the event in his Ford Modified. The National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) became incorporated six days later on February 21, 1948.

The premiere racing division of NASCAR, known today as the Cup Series, was established in 1949. On June 19, 1949, the event now called the Sprint Cup, the NASCAR Grand National, was held at the Charlotte, North Carolina fairgrounds, where Jim Roper of Great Bend, Kansas won the event.

The first Daytona 500 ended three days after it began. NASCAR officials took three days to study the photograph of the finish between Petty and Johnny Beauchamp, then declaring Petty the winner.

NASCAR becomes more interesting as the history of the motorsport becomes more well known. NASCAR is rich with history. There have been many memorable moments in the 71 years of NASCAR. In 1972, Bill Frances' son succeeded his father at the direction of NASCAR. In 1976, there was the historical finish at the Daytona 500 between Richard Petty and David Pearson, where Pearson won, driving across the finish line at 20 mph while Petty's car was immobile on the side of the track. The last decade of NASCAR has some highlights and some sad moments, such as the loss of Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 2001.

NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) is no doubt the most recognizable name when it comes to car racing. It sanctions the Nationwide Series, the Camping World Truck Series, and the Sprint Cup Series, as well as NASCAR local racing, the Whelen All-American Series, and the Whelen Modified Tour. NASCAR was first founded more than 60 years ago by William Henry France, Sr., and has since governed and watched over 1500 auto car racing events and tournaments in nearly 40 states. As of a year ago, William France III is the new CEO.

Moonshine is basically alcohol or distilled corn whiskey that is made from home. The act of producing or distributing moonshine in an unlicensed place is illegal. Now what does that have to do with NASCAR, you ask? It all starts with its origins.

Southern moonshine runners (or bootleggers) were driving around like blurs long before NASCAR racing was even born. Runners would get bored when there was nothing for them to run and with nothing but their cars to contend with, they used them to race each other and prove who was the fastest. Hiding the goods was hard enough without consideration of transport. Their "friendly bouts" drew attention and before long became early stock car races.

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