AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > February > 18 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USFrom humble beginnings to this
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
So NASCAR marches on. What you watched on television from Daytona Beach on Sunday afternoon was about as far removed from the first official NASCAR race as a space ship is from the covered wagon. It was June 19, 1949. Bill France and his partner Alvin Hawkins had come to Charlotte to put on their first race. You will read in the NASCAR press guide that it was run at the local fairgrounds track. It wasn’t.
They bulldozed a track out of the red clay off Wilkinson Boulevard and called it Charlotte Speedway. They already had the name, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, a geographical designation questioned by a local sports editor, who said, “How can you call it national when you’re not even out of Mecklenberg County?”
“You’ll see,” France said, “you’ll see.”
If there was ever another race run on that track, I can’t recall it, but the first NASCAR race was. Memory thwarts me when I try to remember how many people saw that race. I can’t recall, but I question the record book again when it enthusiastically described the crowd as “tremendous.” Those wooden bleachers would hardly have accommodated a crowd of “tremendous” capacity, all of whom went home wearing a coat of red dust and resin from the raw bleachers on their bottoms.
There were no motor coaches, no cameras, even from the local newspapers, no sexpots (bathing beauties in those days) strutting their stuff, no rock bands, in fact, no bands, but lots of red dust. Everybody spoke English, or a mountain version of it, no Spanish or Japanese as Sunday at Daytona. To enter the race, a fellow simply drove up in his car and plunked down a fee and he raced. At least that’s what Lee Petty, sire of the Level Cross, N.C., clan said.
I’ve also read that Richard Petty, who would have been 11 years old, was there with his papa. Lee said, “I took the family car and a couple of buddies of mine, and we drove over and entered the race.” His car never finished, but came to rest on a hillock above a turn, and Lee opened the door and sat there in a despondent pose. (No crawling through the window then.)
When I later asked him what he was thinking, he said, “I was wondering what I was going to tell my wife where I’d been with that car.”
The race was a sort of trend-setter for NASCAR, right down to this week at Daytona. Glenn Dunaway, a local fellow, finished first, but he was disqualified when something strange was found under the hood. (Sound familiar?) The official winner, then, was the guy who finished second, Jim Roper from Kansas. He never won another NASCAR race.
Pits crews were not certified mechanics, or tire-changers, if indeed, they changed tires, or if they had pits. Organization was not one of the freshly minted NASCAR’s features. In another way it was ahead of its time. There was a woman driver in the field, and Sara Christian finished 14th. Television would have made a big noise about her, but television was barely out of the crib.
Sunday you sat and watched the Daytona 500, utterly amazed at how far stock car racing has come. This, not the Indianapolis 500, in the Super Bowl of auto racing. The big race at the old Speedway now is a stock car race, The Brickyard 400. From that dusty half-mile dirt bowl on Wilkinson Boulevard in Charlotte to King of the Hill. From a few thousand spectators who didn’t mind a nose full of dust to fans as far as you could see at Daytona, thousands and thousands who won’t be out of the parking lot until dawn; racing teams operating out of motorized machine shops that will hit the road at full speed. You see, next Sunday they race in California. Whoever on Wilkinson Boulevard in 1949 ever woulda thunk it?
As this one ended, I’ll confess. I was pulling for Mark Martin. The old man. He would have been a perfect fit for that field in the first NASCAR race in 1949.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Furman Bisher
Comments
By Oil & Grit
February 18, 2007 10:01 PM | Link to this
Nice piece. I am a sports fanatic and years ago vowed to never watch NASCAR. Today I am a dedicated watcher and follower of the sport. NASCAR has done an excellent job of promoting its racers and bringing personality to the sport. The NHL could learn something from these gearheads.
By Disgusted
February 19, 2007 04:55 AM | Link to this
Cheat, Cheat, Cheat!!! The biggest cheated is NASCAR by picking and choosing who they want to win. Was there a wreck or not-why no yellow?
By Monkey Joe
February 19, 2007 07:56 AM | Link to this
Disgusted: NASCAR was in a no-win situation. If they threw the caution, fans would complain that they didn’t let Martin/Harvick duke it out to the finish. Others would question the exact point the caution was thrown. I believe NASCAR is always better off letting them settle it on the oval when safety is not a concern. If NASCAR “fixed” this race then they would have eliminated both Waltrip & Gordon from the race instead of simply penalizing them.
By WILLIE
February 19, 2007 09:27 AM | Link to this
I went to my first NASCAR race in 1963 at what use to be AIR, now Atlanta Motor Speedway! That was real racing!! Not like what LITTLE BRIAN FRANCE brings us now! With all the BS that went one last week at Daytona, it is very easy to tell who the “HANDS OFF” teams are! I believe that Rick Hendrix must own interest in NASCAR! Also TOYOTA thiught they could use SOUTHERN COMPANIES (NAPA and UPS) to buy their victories! There has always been cheating in NASCAR, but BIG BILL FRANCE treated everyone the same! Today whoever wins is up to NASCAR! I think they took lessons from the NWA!! Ithink it has become a joke especially with announcers like CLOWN WALTRIP!!
By Little Kaye
February 19, 2007 09:41 AM | Link to this
Big Bill always favored Ford over Chevrolet and the Dodge hemi
By Dan Cook
February 19, 2007 09:44 AM | Link to this
The commercials sort of threw me a loop, although I realize that you can’t stop a race to have a commercial the way you can a sit-com or soap opera.
By Red Neck
February 19, 2007 10:02 AM | Link to this
Fox TV must be losing their shirt on the telecasts of racin’. I turned the TV on at 1:00 and finally got sick of those hilbillies trying to hype this stuff they call racing and went ahead and did other things. I came back and the race was ending around 7:00. It is so silly.Just run the race and don’t try to coordinate who is going to win and throw thos mysterious cautions so the can bunch up and give Fox a nade for TV finish. Scripted.
By Red Neck
February 19, 2007 10:09 AM | Link to this
Does NASCAR and Fox actually think they have any black fan base to speak of? Do they actually think there are actually beautiful well built women who give a flip about the sport? Who are they kidding trotting out these commercials with little black kids thanking the likes of Wendell Scott and Wiily T. Ribbs? Their base is the redneck crowd, the good ole boys with rotten teeth and his fat chick that he drags along with him.