CRASH! The tires screeching and the brakes locked as the driver of the number 20 car collides with the outside wall. The car bounces off the wall and sends it flipping wildly through the rest of the field sucking half of the contenders into a massive pile up at the 2001 Daytona 500 Nascar season opener. Rewind a lap ago, the 43 car field was traveling at 200 mph cruising along unaware of the carnage the next lap holds. The sheer unpredictableness of what lies around the next corner keeps fan on their feet and drivers in their seats. But how did this multi billion dollar sport originate into the spectacular spectacle it has become now? During the Prohibition Era, the production, conveyance, and invasion of alcoholic beverages were highly illegal …show more content…
(Levinson, 2006). It became so popular, they began racing each other which laid out the blueprints for the sport. In the late 1940s, Bill France Sr. held a meeting with fellow drivers to form the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (Nascar). France became the President of Nascar holding 2 its first races in the sands of Daytona Beach. Red Bryon, a fellow moonshine runner, won the race and kickstarted the organization into attracting publicity. Several years later, the very first 500 mile race was held known as the Southern 500 held at Darlington becoming a monumental race. Nascar had a slow start, spectators at races were few and far inbetween until the very first race was broadcasted across radio and television. In 1979, a perfect storm was bred for Nascar and its viewers. A blizzard kept most people in the northern states indoors for the day, and with the first televised event on T.V., families tuned into watch the grueling Daytona 500. The first and second place cars collided and crashed on the last lap of the race which ended in a brawl