car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States and Great Britain held largely on oval rings of between approximately a quarter-mile and 2.66 miles (about 0.4 to 4.2 kilometres) in length, but also raced occasionally on road courses. Ovals shorter than one mile (1.6 km) are called short tracks; unpaved short tracks are called dirt tracks; longer ovals are typically known as superspeedways. Top level races are generally 200 to 600 miles (300-1000 km) in total length. Average top speeds in the top classes are around 160 mph (275.5 km/h), compared to 220 mph (354 km/h) in comparable levels of open wheel racing. Some NASCAR races can reach speeds of 205-210 mph at tracks such as the Daytona International Speedway and the Talladega Superspeedway.
Stock Cars

A stock car, in the original sense of the term, is an automobile that has not been modified from its original factory configuration. Later the term stock car came to mean any production-based automobile used in racing. This term was used to differentiate such a car from a race car, a special, custom-built car designed only for racing purposes with no intent of its ever being used as regular transportation.

When NASCAR was first formed by Bill France Sr. in 1948 to regulate stock car racing, there was a requirement that any car entered be made entirely of parts available to the general public through automobile dealers, and that all cars must be from a model run of which at least 500 cars of that model were sold to the general public. This is referred to as "homologation". In NASCAR's early years, the cars were so "stock" that it was commonplace for the drivers to drive themselves to the competitions in the car that they were going to run in the race. While automobile engine technology had remained fairly stagnant in WWII, advanced aircraft piston engine development had provided a great deal of available data, and NASCAR was formed just as some the improved technology was about to become available in production cars[citation needed]. Until the advent of the Trans-Am series in 1967, NASCAR homologation cars were the closest thing that the public could buy that was actually very similar to the cars that were winning the national races.

The Early Years
Before NASCAR was founded in 1948, moonshine runners during the prohibition era would often have to outrun the authorities. To do so, they had to upgrade their vehicles and eventually started getting together with fellow runners and making runs together. They would challenge one another and eventually progressed to organized events in the early 1930's. The main problem racing faced was the lack of a unified set of rules among the different tracks. The racers could not race at different tracks because it was not legal for them to race there[citation needed]. When Bill France saw this problem he set up a meeting at the Streamline Hotel in order to form an organization that would unify the rules[citation needed]. From this meeting NASCAR was founded in 1948.

The 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket V-8 with a displacement of 303 cu.in. is widely recognized[citation needed] as the first postwar modern overhead valve (OHV) engine to become available to the public, though all the major manufacturers were also in the process of modernizing their engine designs. The Oldsmobile was an immediate success in 1949 and 1950, and all the automobile manufacturers could not help noticing that its victories resulted in noticeably higher sales of the Oldsmobile 88 to the buying public[citation needed]. The motto of the day became "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday". However, in spite of the fact that several competing engines were more advanced[citation needed], the aerodynamic and low-slung Hudson Hornet managed to win in 1951, 1952, and 1953 with a 308 cu.in. (4.8 L) inline 6-cylinder that used an old-style flathead, proving there was more to winning than just a more powerful engine.

At the time, it typically took three years for a new design of car body or engine to end up in production and be available for NASCAR racing[citation needed]. Most cars sold to the public did not have a wide variety of engine choices, and the majority of the buying public at the time were not interested in the large displacement special edition engine options that would soon become popular. However, the end of the Korean War in 1953 started an economic boom, and then car buyers immediately began demanding more powerful engines[citation needed].

Also in 1953, NASCAR recommended that the drivers add roll bars, but did not require them. In 1955 Chrysler produced the C-300 with its 300 HP 331 cu in (5.4 L) OHV engine, which easily won in 1955 and 1956.

In 1957 several notable events happened. The AMA banned manufacturers from using race wins in their advertising and giving direct support to race teams, as they felt it led to reckless street racing[citation needed]. This forced manufacturers to become creative in producing race parts to help racers win. Race teams were often caught trying to use factory produced racing parts that were not really available to the public, though many parts passed muster by being labeled as heavy-duty "Police" parts. Car manufacturers wanted to appear compliant with the ban, but they also wanted to win.

NASCAR tracks at the time were mainly dirt tracks with modest barriers, and during the 1957 season a Mercury Monterey crashed into the crowd. This killed many spectators, and resulted in a serious overhaul of the safety rules which in turn prompted the building of larger more modern tracks[citation needed]. Also in 1957, Chevrolet sold enough of their new fuel injected engines to the public in order to make them available for racing (and Ford began selling superchargers as an option), but Bill France immediately banned fuel injection and superchargers from NASCAR before they could race. However, even without official factory support or the use of fuel injection, Buck Baker won in 1957 driving a small-block V-8 Chevy Bel-Air.

In 1959 Daytona opened the first superspeedway with long straights and highly banked turns, which allowed much higher top speeds, and it was soon followed by the Talladega Superspeedway.

In 1961 Ford introduced the FE 390 in a low drag Galaxie "Starliner", but 1960 and '61 championships were won by drivers in 409-powered Chevy Impalas.