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{{Useful Notes}}
[[File:
▲[[File:NASCAR_Logo_7255.jpg|frame|<small> [[Badass Boast|"Everything else is just a game."]] </small> ]]
{{quote|''"If the word "NASCAR" is in your wedding vows ... you might be a redneck."''|[[Jeff Foxworthy]]}}
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The organization (and sport of stock car racing) has its roots in the American [[Deep South]] during the Prohibition period, when 'moonshiners', as they were called, would soup up their cars so they could outrun the police. After Prohibition ended, these moonshiners found themselves out of a job and instead of looking for more illegal activity, began racing against each other. It also has roots in Daytona Beach, Florida, where some people would race on the hard-packed sand beaches. Many speed records were in fact broken on those beaches. By the 1940s, these races with the former moonshiners became popular entertainment in the rural areas of the South. After years of having to put up with (some) unscrupulous and (more) unorganized promoters, several drivers and promoters, headed by Bill France Sr, founded the organization in Daytona Beach in 1948. It's that rare American sports organization that has never had its predominance challenged (viz. USFL, World Hockey Association, etc.), which is testimony to France's business clout, vision, and force of personality.
The early years of NASCAR were mostly a period of growth. Most of the early tracks were short dirt tracks in the South. The first race of the "Strictly Stock" series (later to be known as the Sprint Cup, but then accurately named as the cars were ''stock'' right down to column-shifted transmissions whose linkages could not be rushed) was held in 1949 at Charlotte Speedway in North Carolina. The first series champion was a man by the name of Red Byron. The only track still on the series schedule from the 1949 season is Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. The first completely paved track and the first over one mile long was Darlington Speedway, which had its first race in 1950. In 1957, the new "fuelie" Chevrolets cleaned up so thoroughly that NASCAR banned fuel injection (a ban that persisted until the 2012 season, almost 20 years after [[
The 1960s and 70s were a time of growth for the organization and the sport of stock car racing. This is the time when the sport and organization really began to gain notice around the country and the world. Despite some races run in the Northern United States (and Canada) in the early years, stock car racing was still considered a Southern sport. However, with TV coverage, the sport began to find some popularity outside the South. In the 1960s, the Daytona 500 was usually taped and presented as part of ABC's Wide World of Sports package. However, in 1974, ABC began to broadcast the race itself live, starting with the halfway point. The first live, flag-to-flag coverage of the race was in 1979 by CBS, which included a memorable last-lap crash between Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough, which resulted in a fist fight between the two drivers and Donnie's brother Bobby. The 60s and 70s were dominated by Richard Petty, who later became known as "The King", winning 7 Grand National (now Sprint Cup) championships and 200 races total.
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{{creatortropes}}
* [[Alliterative Name]]: Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Scott Speed, Aric Almirola, and Junior Johnson just to name a few,
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: Fatalities in NASCAR haven't been nearly as frequent as in [[Formula One]], but [[wikipedia:List of NASCAR fatal accidents|they have happened]],Sadly true in the early years, particularly from about 1959-1964, when the factory horsepower race went into high gear and and new super speedways like Daytona and Charlotte allowed speeds to increase dramatically while safety standards lagged far behind technology. Drivers basically wrestled two ton machines at upwards of 150 mph in vehicles with manual steering, drum brakes that were prone to fading, no fuel cells, no inner liner tires, rudimentary roll cages, no window netting, no flame retardant driver's uniforms (they existed, but were not mandatory), basic seat belts and essentially football helmets. Serious injuries and deaths were not uncommon in this era.
** With Dale Earnhardt's death in the 2001 Daytona 500 as the most infamous. Ironically, Earnhardt's death would lead to NASCAR essentially inverting this trope, as the safety measures that have been developed in the years since his death, both in improved driver restraints and track crash barriers, have made the possibility of a driver death minuscule. However, these head and neck restraint systems were not mandatory until the end of 2001, when another driver was killed.
** Some other significant drivers who have also died-
*** Richie Evans who played a similar role in Nascar's modified division had been killed in a crash in 1985 at Martinsville. He had a total of 9 championships and had over 100 wins in the series sometimes racing more then once in a day and winning all the races.
*** Alan Kulwicki the winner of the 1992 championship died after a plane crash in 1993. Ironically, Davey Allison would die a few months later in a similar way, in a helicopter on the way to the track.
*** Incredibly averted [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z6eobQT2Es at Pocono in 2010] when Elliot Sadler went face-first into the wall (effectively hitting a building) at 160 miles per hour, on a nearly perpendicular angle. The front of the car, including the engine, was ripped completely off and scattered across the track, the estimated G-forces were the highest seen in a car accident, and the vehicle itself went from about 160mph to about 20mph in a braking distance of three feet. And Sadler got out of the car and walked away under his own power, though he needed to lie down to get his breath again afterwards.
* [[Ax Crazy]]: Kyle Busch, intentionally putting Ron Hornaday into the wall at 140 mph in a truck series race at Texas in 2011. Busch had had a long history of similar but less severe incidents that could at best labeled him an overly aggressive driver.
* [[Badass Driver]]: There have been so many, but [[Dale Earnhardt]] is probably the first one that comes to mind.
** Cale Yarborough known as one of the toughest and strongest drivers of all time. Partially, for his ability to win with "slow cars" that were very hard to drive. But what really makes him even more famously Badass was his fight with both the Allison Brothers during the 1979 Daytona 500 which was the first NASCAR 500 mile race to be broadcast on live television in its entirety. Combined with the fact that a blizzard swept through the East Coast, NASCAR acquired lots of fans who first witnessd Cale and Donnie Allison race hard for the lead on the last lap, wreck each other, then get out and fight. It also qualifies as a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for both Cale and NASCAR.
*** Not mention losing his father at age 10, sneaking into the second ever Southern 500 at age 12. Being a star High school football player and even played Semi-Pro ball for four seasons. And racing and football were both very dangerous in those days.
*** Cale was also a Golden Gloves Boxer, which may have been a [[Chekhov's Skill]] for the above mentioned fight.
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** [[Ricky Rudd]] was a driver who was not afraid of anyone or anything on and off the track.
*** Ricky Rudd holds the record for most consecutive starts of any other driver.
*** Ricky Rudd won a summer race after the cooling system broke in the car. He was given an oxygen bottle and taken to the hospital after the interview.
** In the recent era, Tony Stewart is the epitome of this. He even owns his own team, and his cars win races and contend for the championship.
** The Busch Brothers seem to flirt with this trope, but how been known to act like spoiled brats with they don't get their way which overall subverts this trope for them.
** Ditto for Harvick.
** Mark Martin might also qualify as a [[Badass Grandpa]] due to his excellent physical shape and competitveness.
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Carl Edwards is suspected to have another layer below his friendly public apperance, as seen in a shoving incident with teammate Matt Kenseth in 2007.
* [[Boring Invincible Hero]]:
** Jimmie Johnson, during the period when he won five Sprint Cup championships in a row.
** Jeff Gordon may have been this in the 90's. Jimmie doing so well might have rescued him from the scrappy heap. That is, if you consider Jeff Gordon [[The Scrappy]].
** Not likely, He hit the wall rather hard at Charlotte, and was demoted 5 places in the Cup standings
** Matt Kenseth in 2003. He won the championship, led the points standings for 33 consecutive weeks, and did it all while winning only one race. As a result, the Chase for the Sprint Cup (which went into effect the following season) was often mockingly referred to as "the Matt Kenseth Rule", implying that his championship season was so boring that a playoff format had to be implemented to prevent something like it from ever happening again.
* [[Breather Episode]]: The All-Star race.
* [[Catch Phrase]]:
** "Gentlemen! [[
** Darrell Waltrip's "Boogity boogity boogity! Let's go racin', boys!" (and variants thereof) at the drop of the green flag at the start of Sprint Cup races.
** "The Big One", an enormous chain-reaction wreck that takes out many cars at once. They can happen at any track, but Daytona and Talladega are especially known for them (see [[Power Limiter]] below).
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** Bear-bond is this turned [[Up to Eleven]], as it can be used to basically rebuild lost sections of sheet metal that would cause aerodynamic issues at larger tracks. (at short tracks, the effects of aerodynamic forces are minimal enough to allow the cars to maintain minimum speed without sheet metal covering the front end.)
* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: The Camping World Truck Series started in 1995 with almost all races on short tracks that did not have fully functional pit roads. As a replacement for pit stops there was a "halftime break" during which the race was stopped and pit stops were made with no position changes. The format was abandoned with the advent of superspeedways in the late 90s.
* [[Executive Meddling]]:
** The numerous and seemingly yearly changes to the Chase and points systems.
** Anytime there is a crew chief change, driver swap or crew swap due to lack of chemistry or performance.
** Any changes made to the cars to make the races more exciting.
*** This has become extremely evident at the 2012 Daytona 500, where the cars have vast restrictions, keeping them from doing the controversial two-car tandem that was prevalent at the previous year's race (for proof compare the [[DRIVE 4 COPD]] 300 (Nationwide race at Speedweeks) to the Daytona 500, both events of which are held at the same racetrack, at the request of the fans (Fan meddling anyone?).
** The officials are accused of using the caution flags to keep the field together and make racing more exciting. Most of the drivers feel they are there to entertain people anyway so outside of a select few they don't seem to care too much.
* [[Fail O'Suckyname]]: Dick Trickle.
* [[Family-Unfriendly Death]]:
** Russell Phillips was killed in a crash during a 1995 race at Charlotte, NC; the wreck basically pulverized him against the catch fence.<ref>See his article at Wikipedia if you want the details; [[YouTube]] has a video of the crash.</ref> It led to the invention of the Earnhardt bar to prevent the roof from coming apart as easily.
** Don McTavish's horrific fatal crash at Daytona in 1969. Tape-delayed race broadcasts warned viewers that accident footage would be shown.
** Fireball Roberts' crash at the 1964 World 600 at Charlotte.
** Before the window net was mandatory the driver's head could be seen hanging out of the car. Indeed, the window net was made mandatory because of an incident where Richard Petty slid halfway out of the car IN THE MIDDLE OF A BARREL-ROLL. (which he somehow survived)
* [[
* [[Gadgeteer Genius]]: Alan Kulwicki, NASCAR's last owner-driver champion with a single car team.
* [[Game-Breaking Injury]]:
** Hall of Famer Richard Petty once drove a then-Winston Cup race with a broken back.
** His fellow Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip ran two laps ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]) in a race with a shattered left femur.
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* [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3_8LsVfFxc Kurt] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw4XumzQNNA Busch] will get mad at something in a race, '''every race'''.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfaZR3ysMIA An hour's worth] of rage.
* [[I Call
* [[I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham]]: Most detractors become at least casual fans after attending their first race in person.
* [[Karma Houdini]]: Dale Earnhardt spinning out leader Terry Labonte to win at Bristol in 1999, among many other examples.
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** Less noticably, NASCAR has made other moves, whether regarding technical details (spoiler height, weight, et cetera) or track procedures (no racing back to the caution, and pit road speed limits), and can adjust these as it sees fit.
*** To be fair to NASCAR many of those rules are for safety.
* [[No One Could Survive That]]:
** Michael Mcdowell at [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kdKzFMh-rU Texas Motor Speedway in 2008]
** Dale Earnhardt in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHm060o3MV0 1996 Die Hard 500]
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** Jerry Nadeau was almost killed in 2003 at Richmond, after his throttle hung going into a turn. The head trauma he sustained ultimately ended his career and led to the installation of SAFER Barrier in the outside walls of every turn at the oval tracks.
* [[Only Known by Initials]]: Subverted with J.J. Yeley, whose full name is Christopher Beltram Hernandez Yeley.
* [[Overshadowed by Awesome]]:
** Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is this big time. However his father is considered by many as the greatest of all time.
** Anyone related by Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace or Darrell Waltrip.
** Subverted with the Busch brothers. Although Kurt won the Sprint Cup Championship fairly early in his career, he only has one more Cup victory and seven more poles than younger brother Kyle. Not mention how often Kyle wins in the Nationwide and Truck Series.
** The finish to the 2007 Daytona 500 is a few ways depending who you talk to about it. The ultra-close finish (0.020 sec.) of Kevin Harvick over Mark Martin could be overshadowed by the huge wreck behind them, or vice versa. The same can be said about Clint Bowyer crossing the finish line on his roof while on fire.
** Michael Waltrip's first win at the Daytona 500 in 2001, overshadowed by Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash on turn 4.
* [[Power Limiter]]: Restrictor plates function as these, limiting the car's maximum speed. They're only used at Daytona and Talledaga because of those tracks' size and steeply banked turns, which keeps cars from going off the tracks but causes cars to bunch up and almost inevitably leads to a Big One.
* [[Product Placement]]:
** A good 50% of a race car's paint job is gonna be covered by advertisements. The drivers' and pit crews' fire suits are likewise smothered in brand logos.
** Almost every major race has a big-time sponsor whose name is mentioned right along with the track.
** Most of the time, when a car comes in for fuel, it's going to be called "Sunoco racing fuel", with the company logo prominently displayed on the gas cans.
*** And the checkered flag. (Formerly, it was 'Unocal racing fuel' with the 76 logo on the flag.)
** "ServiceMaster Clean Caution" ...seriously. Someone sponsors the friggin CAUTION LAPS!
** Often sponsors and/or owners will advise the drivers to, during interviews, mention the sponsor or manufacturer at the first given opportunity ("Our U.S. Army Chevrolet was performing well today...", for instance)!
** Whenever a driver takes a drink of ANYTHING on camera, 99 times out of 100 you can expect the logo on the bottle/can to be carefully pointed toward the camera. Rumor has it every time they do that they get paid a bonus by that sponsor.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Sporting Event]]
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[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
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