| After the second world war stock car racing was | | | | grow bringing bigger crowds and faster cars which |
| very popular and drew big crowds. As its popularity | | | | led to the creation of the Darlington Raceway in |
| grew so did the number of make-shift tracks | | | | South Carolina. |
| increased. Due to the lack of a governing body often | | | | The first 10 years of NASCAR was an overwhelming |
| the rules varied from track to track and safety | | | | success with the drivers soon becoming super-stars |
| standards were inadequate. | | | | and heroes to the masses of fans that attended the |
| In 1947 Bill France organized a meeting at the | | | | races. The NASCAR race had outgrown the track at |
| Streamline Hotel to discuss introducing a governing | | | | Daytona beach and moved to Daytona International |
| body for the stock car races. Bill was born in | | | | Speedway with a 2.5 mile track banked at 30 |
| Washington D.C to his mother Emma Graham, an Irish | | | | degrees. The first competition that took place at the |
| immigrant, and father William Henry France. Bill France | | | | new track ended in a photo-finish that took the |
| usually organized races on the beach-road courses | | | | judges 3 days of deliberation to decide on the |
| and also raced in them himself. At the end of the | | | | winner, Petty. |
| meeting the National Association for Stock Car Auto | | | | Even with the new Daytona racetrack the thirst for |
| Racing was created. | | | | bigger and faster cars was still there and in 1960 |
| However the Cup Series, originally called the premier | | | | Frank opened the 2.66-mile Alabama International |
| division, did not start until 1949 and its first race was | | | | Motor Speedway which is also known as Talladega |
| held on 19th June 1949 at the Charlotte (N.C.) | | | | Superspeedway. The need for more tracks led to |
| Fairgrounds. It was a big success and attracted a | | | | new tracks being created throughout the country in |
| large crowd. | | | | places such as Brooklyn, Dover and Pocono. |
| In 1950 the plans were made to allow the race to | | | | |