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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

On December 14, 1947, Bill France, a racing enthusiast and member of the NSCRA (National Stock Car Racing Association), joined with thirty five of the leaders of all associations of auto racing to form NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing).

Dick Trickle was rookie of the year in 1989 at the age of 48 years old. He never won a Winston cup race, but he had five 3rd place finishes, 14 top 5 finishes and 32 top 10 finishes. All this was after having raced for 31 years in short track racing, and although it can't be verified, he is said to have won over 1200 feature races.

NASCAR ran its first official race on June 19, 1949 in front of a crowd of 23,000 fans at the Charlotte North Carolina fairgrounds. The winner of this historic race was Jim Roper taking home a $2,000 purse.

· The first NASCAR driver to complete the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same day was Tony Stewart, who finished both races in 1999.

In a race, a NASCAR driver maintains the same heart rate -120-150 beats per minute for 3-plus hours – the same as a serious marathon runner does for about the same length of time.

Temperatures in the car often exceed 100 degrees, reaching as much as 170 degrees by the floorboards.

Jerry Nadeau recorded the hardest crash - 128 Gs at Richmond International Speedway in May 2003 - since NASCAR began putting black boxes in cars in 2001.

"Wild Bill" Elliott aka "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville" was the first NASCAR driver to win the coveted cover of Sports Illustrated in 1985 after he won the first Winston Million. Wild Bill has another first ... the first driver to have his name on an officially licensed video game: "Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge

Lee Petty was the first driver to crash in a Winston cup race. He crashed at lap 107 in that first race at Charlotte on June 19 1949.

The King, Richard Petty, won 200 NASCAR races in his career. He won 7 stock car championships, won Daytona 7 times and is still to this day known as the greatest driver in in the history of NASCAR.

The first official NASCAR race was held at the Charlotte, North Carolina fairgrounds in 1949. Jim Roper won the first race, driving a 1949 Lincoln.

The first NASCAR driver to run a race over 250 miles, and lead start to finish was Daniel Dieringer in April 1967 at North Wilkesboro speedway

Michael Waltrip holds the record for the most starts without a win. When he won the tragic 2001 Daytona 500, it was his first win and the 463 start of his NASCAR racing career.

Stock car racing began in the southern United States in the 1920s during the age of Prohibition. In order to deliver to hundreds of markets across the south while avoiding capture by the police, bootleggers needed to have fast cars and be great drivers. Eventually, these bootleggers began to race against each other and the sport of stock car racing was born.

Richard Petty is credited with inventing the window net to help keep drivers arms inside the car to avoid injuries during a crash.

The gasoline-powered engines of NHRA Pro Stock cars produce about 1,200 horsepower, about eight times that of the average street car

The first two Daytona 500 races were not 500 miles. The race didn't become 500 miles until 1961. The first race in 1959 was won by Lee Petty, Richard Petty's father. The race winner was originally said to be Johnny Beauchamp. After reviewing the film and photos for 3 days, the winner was declared to be Lee Petty.

A fuel pump for an NHRA Top Fuel dragster and Funny Car delivers 65 gallons of fuel per minute, equivalent to eight bathroom showers running at the same time.

A study in "anticipatory timing" found race car drivers to possess the same ability to anticipate what was going to happen as a hockey goalie or a quarterback.

In 1976 Janet Guthrie became the first woman to compete in a Winston Cup race. She finished 15th in the World 600 race. She also qualified for the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500 in the same year-- 1977.

In 1960, the first television NASCAR report aired by CBS from Daytona

NASCAR drivers can lose 5-10 pounds in sweat during a race.

On straight-aways at 200 mph, in one second NASCAR drivers travel 293 feet, almost the length of a football field.

On turns, NASCAR drivers can experience 3 Gs of force against their bodies, comparable to the forces experienced by shuttle astronauts at liftoff.

A NASCAR Pit Crew consists of 7 members: front tire changer, front tire carrier, rear tire changer, rear tire carrier, jack man, gas man and the gas catch can man.