More than 50 pages longer than the previous edition, Sign Gallery 6 presents recentSigns of the Times competition winners, honorable mentions, and others in this expanded edition of electric ...
Dressing up a NASCAR event is big business.
By Steve Aust
The image of National Assn. for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) has undergone a Pygmalion-like transformation in recent years. The days when car owners ran low-budget enterprises from their hip pockets are long past. Now, the cars race on paved ovals, rather than early-era dirt tracks, and each speedway offers unique nuances, such as longer straightaways and steeper grades at the turns.
Moreover, husky good ol' boys have been supplanted (mostly) by svelte, telegenic drivers, which broadened NASCAR's appeal (translation: gearhead wives and girlfriends now watch and attend races in much greater numbers).
In August, four ST staffers – myself, Publisher Wade Swormstedt, Senior Art Director Jeff Russ and Editorial Assistant Curtis Penick – trekked north to the Michigan International Speedway to attend the Nextel Cup's GFS Marketplace 400 race. Our journey revealed a graphic cornucopia of cars, haulers and pit crews that bolsters the drivers' marketability and the sponsors' brands. Above all, the transformation has helped drive NASCAR into the cultural stratosphere alongside "traditional" spectator sports.
NASCAR background
In 1948, when Bill France Sr. founded NASCAR, the earliest cars were true "stock cars." Other than minor engine modifications, the cars racing on the beach course at the original Daytona International Speedway differed little from the comparable make and model on the showroom floor. The early cars raced on rough, dirt tracks, and a token modification permitted reinforced steel plates to prevent lug nuts from ripping into wheel rims.
In 1952, Pure Oil Co. developed the first racing tire, and two-way radios first linked drivers to their pit crews. Other '50s improvements included the "small-block" V8 engine, which minimized bulk and enhanced speed, and roll bars, which stiffened the cars' chassis and improved handling. By the early 1960s, several 50,000-plus-fan speedways were built in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and California.
Racetracks mushroomed across the country in the 1970s, and existing tracks also grew to accommodate six-figure crowds. As the industry became increasingly competitive, financially troubled carmakers, such as Hudson and Kaiser, dropped out, and GM, Chrysler and Ford streamlined the number of makes they entered into the field.
Through corporate sponsorship – Winston served as the longtime backer of the senior NASCAR circuit, before Nextel assumed the position in 2004 — Busch sponsors the second-tier racing series, and, through its Craftsman tool brand, Sears bought sponsorship of the truck-racing circuit.