by Jaimela King

Created on: May 26, 2007   Last Updated: November 24, 2008

Who would have imagined that a service station operator from Dayton Beach Florida, William H.G. France SR would become the engineer behind one of the largest spectator sports in history, NASCAR - The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.

Not even Bill France could have predicted that the December 1947 meeting he organized in Washington DC would lead to so much success. A sometime stock car racer and promoter, he saw the need for organization and leadership in a sport that, to that point, was a loosely run ad hoc affair. In 1948, the first NASCAR race was held in Daytona Beach and was won by Red Byron.

Showcasing some eight events on 1949, the first Winston Cup Series, a $5,000 winner's purse, and a growing enthusiastic fan base, NASCAR was off to a running start. This success led to huge improvements in stock car racing to cater to ever increasing crowds. Between the 1950's and 1960's speedways were built in South Carolina, Daytona Beach and outside Atlanta and Charlotte NC. Heroes like Lee Petty who won the first Daytona 500 in his 1959 Oldsmobile, Herb Thomas, Ned Jarrett and Bill Rexford, emerged to wow adoring NASCAR fans.

The 70's and 80's saw the winners fund grow to an astounding 1.3 million dollars, corporate sponsorships from Reynolds Tobacco Co, Anheuser-Bush, the NASCAR Budwiser Late Model Sportman Series, live television broadcasts and the emergence of drivers like the great Dale Earnhardt.

During the following two decades, Bill France Sr passed away in 1992 and the torch was passed unto his son Bill JR. Rising stars like Terry Labonte, Jeff Gordon, Ricky Craven, Rusty Wallace and many others, took to the tracks and became household names. New series like the Nascar Craftsman Truck Series were added. Anheuser-Bush took over sponsorship of the Late Model Sportman Series which is known today as The NASCAR Bush Series and NASCAR reached its pinnacle of Television broadcast.

Today NASCAR is bigger than ever, continuing to grow at an astounding rate with millions of loyal fans and numerous venues to play to. NASCAR rose from one man's simple dream to become the phenomenon it is today.

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