NASCAR (the National Association of Stock Car Automobile Racing) was founded in 1947 when beach driver Bill France Jr. called for an organization to combat some of the problems the sport faced from unscrupulous promoters and such. The first NASCAR-sanctioned race was held on the beach at Daytona on February 15, 1948 -- Ford driver Red Byron took the checkered flag and began the NASCAR craze that has become a multi-billion dollar business in its almost 50 year existence.
They drove on beaches, little dirt tracks and big dirt tracks all around the South -- until the first asphalt supertrack was built in Darlington, South Carolina, followed by Daytona Beach, Florida, then Charlotte and Atlanta. Race fans followed like Deadheads on the trail of the Grateful Dead -- and what other sport exists where fans can camp at the center of the action?
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