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NASCAR: Then and Now: Reading Comprehension Grade 7

William France Sr. founded NASCAR in 1947 to establish rules and regulations for stock car racing after witnessing cheating among promoters. The first NASCAR race was held in 1949 in Charlotte, North Carolina. While early NASCAR cars were similar to normal street cars, today's cars have significant modifications to improve performance and safety. NASCAR has grown from a regional sport to a global enterprise with multiple race series and corporate sponsorships worth millions of dollars per car.

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410 views1 page

NASCAR: Then and Now: Reading Comprehension Grade 7

William France Sr. founded NASCAR in 1947 to establish rules and regulations for stock car racing after witnessing cheating among promoters. The first NASCAR race was held in 1949 in Charlotte, North Carolina. While early NASCAR cars were similar to normal street cars, today's cars have significant modifications to improve performance and safety. NASCAR has grown from a regional sport to a global enterprise with multiple race series and corporate sponsorships worth millions of dollars per car.

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                                                   Reading Comprehension Grade 7 

NASCAR: Then and Now


NASCAR is one of America’s most popular spectator sports and a multi-billion-
dollar industry. Its catalyst was William “Bill” France Sr. (1909-1992). Originally from
Washington D.C., the mechanic and auto-repair shop owner moved to Daytona
Beach, Florida in the mid-1930s. There, France became involved in racing cars
and promoting races. At that time, there was no single entity codifying and
enforcing the rules of car racing, and cheating by race promoters was rampant.
France called upon members of the racing community to discuss the situation,
and NASCAR, the result of his initiative, was officially incorporated in 1921. As its
first president, France played a key role in creating the sport of car racing as we
know it today.

When NASCAR began, drivers raced cars that were just like people drove
everyday, though today NASCAR cars differ a great deal from dealers’ “stock”
cars, employing many modifications and technologies that improve both
performance and safety. The first NASCAR race ― Strictly Stock ― was held on
June 19, 1949 at the Charlotte Speedway in North Carolina, in front of
approximately 13,000 fans. Glenn Dunnaway was the first to finish the 200-lap
race in his Ford; but it was Jim Roper (and his Lincoln) who collected the $2,000
prize when the discovery of illegal rear springs on his vehicle caused Dunnaway
to be disqualified.

The first NASCAR-based track was the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina,
which opened in 1951. Additional raceways were opened, including Florida’s
Daytona International Speedway in 1959. That year, Lee Petty won the first
Daytona 500, which went on to become NASCAR’s annual season-opening
race and one of its premiere events; but it was twenty years before the first
Daytona 500 was broadcast on National Television, an event whose popularity
was boosted when drivers Cale Yarborough and Donnie and Bobby Allison got
into a fistfight on camera at the end of the race.

France’s son took over the presidency of NASCAR from his father in 1972,
growing NASCAR’s regional popularity into a sport that is now appreciated
globally. NASCAR has grown to include three national race series as well as four
regional and two international race series. NASCAR has also become big
business, with individual corporations now spending from 5 to 35 million dollars in
corporate sponsorships per car.

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