| In order to understand the culture of the redneck | | | | quickly grew to the giant it is today. |
| man, it is necessary to understand the most | | | | Today's NASCAR, industrialized and streamlined and |
| Southern of sports: NASCAR. It's more than just cars | | | | watered down for general consumption, is only a pale |
| driving in circles at high speed, punctuated by the | | | | imitation of the free-for-all madness our bootlegging |
| occasional crash; it is an integral part of the modern | | | | ancestors first drove. |
| South. In order to really understand both, you must | | | | NASCAR Rules |
| know where NASCAR came from and why it exists. | | | | While the first NASCAR stock cars were completely |
| History of NASCAR | | | | unmodified stock cars, the same ones you'd buy off |
| NASCAR (the National Association for Stock Car | | | | the lot, today's cars are modified according to strict |
| Auto Racing) really started back just before | | | | safety and performance rules. |
| Prohibition, when hillbilly moonshiners up in the | | | | The rules in NASCAR are both simple and complex. |
| Appalachians found out that the revenuers' cars were | | | | Drivers in the top 43 of each race accumulate points |
| fast enough to get the jump on them. Illegal stills | | | | according to a set system. Cups are awarded |
| started getting busted, and shine makers started | | | | according to who has accumulated the most points in |
| going to jail. Instead of buckling, moonshiners moved | | | | a set group of races. The Sprint Cup (usually just |
| their stills further back into the woods and down in | | | | called the Cup, as it was previously the R.J. Reynolds |
| the hollers, and they started using cars. | | | | and the Nextel Cup) is the big prize, and is awarded |
| When Prohibition came into effect in 1920, | | | | after a set of 36 races. Other smaller cups are |
| moonshiners started looking beyond outwitting the | | | | awarded for other groups of races, and each major |
| tax-collecting revenuers and toward shipping 'shine to | | | | race has around $4 million total in prize money |
| the cities for real profit. Gangsters - Pretty Boy | | | | awarded for that race alone. |
| Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Capone - started making | | | | Points in the major races (but not all NASCAR races) |
| contact with these good ol' boys to see if they could | | | | are awarded not only to the race winner but to each |
| get a steady supply of alcohol for their speakeasies | | | | lap leader. If you've led at least one lap, you |
| and other businesses. And young men, usually the | | | | automatically get five bonus points; if you lead the |
| sons or nephews of established moonshiners, started | | | | most laps, you get an extra five, for ten bonus |
| working with stock cars to get the 'shine to town as | | | | points total. Points go to the driver who started the |
| fast as possible. | | | | race (replacement drivers get nothing) and to the car |
| These, our redneck forefathers, modified the cars | | | | owner. Races are generally prefaced either by |
| they ordered from magazines or purchased from | | | | qualifying trials or by heats, small races that get the |
| fledgling dealers in towns to run faster, harder, on | | | | crowd warmed up but don't count toward prizes. |
| rough and smooth surfaces. They experimented with | | | | Starting order is determined by qualifying time. |
| using 'shine as a fuel for a boost in speed, and | | | | The track, once started, is slowed down by yellow |
| invented many of the tricks used today in NASCAR. | | | | caution flags for fender benders, spills, etc.; if |
| Junior Johnson, one of NASCAR's earliest legends, | | | | something catastrophic happens, the red flag will |
| spent years running 'shine for his father using | | | | come down to stop the race until wreckage can be |
| scampish tricks later mimicked by Burt Reynolds | | | | cleared. Green flag means everything is fine. And in |
| characters and the Dukes of Hazzard. He invented | | | | most NASCAR races, you'll see drivers pull off for at |
| the famous bootleg turn, the 180-degree spinout | | | | least one pit stop; the pit crew works fast to fuel, |
| sending you careening in the opposite direction, that | | | | check, condition, and change tires because the time |
| is used in nearly every movie car chase today, and | | | | in pit counts against your time on the track. |
| later as a NASCAR champ discovered how to "draft" | | | | A NASCAR Date |
| another driver to increase his own speed and reduce | | | | So now you have that redneck sweetheart and you |
| fuel consumption. | | | | really want to impress him? Set up a date for one of |
| NASCAR was officially born in 1948, a merging of this | | | | the smaller NASCAR races, with barbecue and and |
| wild redneck tradition with the more upscale Grand | | | | chips for your refreshments. Beer is a must, and for |
| Prix racing imported from Europe, in which mostly | | | | that special touch, ask your liquor store for some |
| concept cars and special sports cars were raced. | | | | 'shine, which should be drunk straight but in |
| William France, a racing mechanic, had a notion that | | | | moderation. Dress any old way you want, park him |
| stock cars would draw crowds in America, and he | | | | on the couch, and let him explain all the finer points |
| incorporated NASCAR in Daytona, from which it | | | | of the race to you while you both enjoy the race. |