NASCAR: A darling of the South

Page 3 of 3 Humble beginnings to high industry NASCAR’s origins reach back to the first races in the 1940s, when, even after the repeal of Prohibition, the high taxes on hard liquor kept bootleggers busy, racing through the back roads of the South to peddle their products. Eventually the bootleggers began holding competitions to settle on bragging rights for the fastest vehicle running the moonshine. The races were held on Sunday afternoons, and the vehicles were regular stock cars (hence the association’s name) that had been altered for speed. In fact, the same cars were then used to run the moonshine on Sunday nights after the race was over. Word spread, and soon the races were being attended by scores of people rooting for their favorite racers. In December 1947, Bill France, one of the bootleggers/car owners, called together 35 of the race organizers, and by February 1948, they had come up with a list of rules and the name of the organization: The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. South Carolina has the distinction of being the location of Darlington Speedway, the oldest track on the NASCAR circuit. The track is a unique egg-shaped track (so shaped because the original landowner did not want the nearby pond altered when he transformed the former cotton field into the first super-speedway) and has earned a reputation over the years as “the track too tough to tame.” It is said that a driver hasn’t been properly initiated into the sport until he has earned his “Darlington stripes,” which happens when the car scrapes alongside the wall. It is said that Darlington is to NASCAR what The Masters is to golf, what the Super Bowl is to football and what the World Series is to baseball. Most of the drivers revere Darlington. For example, champion Jimmie Johnson calls it one of his favorite tracks, and in a TV interview discussing his favorite track, relative newcomer Carl Edwards named Darlington as the one where he “has a blast every time.” Today the sport boasts a complex system of rules and regulations, specially built cars using high-tech machinery and a sponsorship-based revenue model that overflows into merchandising of sports-related memorabilia to the tune of $2 billion annually. NASCAR demographics A study done by Scarborough Sports Marketing, which follows the demographics, shopping behaviors and media habits of NASCAR fans, determined racegoers spend a significant amount of money on automobiles, jewelry, athletic clothing and personal technology. • The fans are 15% more likely than the average consumer to plan to buy a new vehicle  during the next year and 16% more likely to spend $30,000 or more on the next vehicle purchase. • They are 19% more likely to have spent $500 or more on jewelry and 32% more likely to have spent $500 or more on athletic clothing in the past year. • They are 9% more likely than the national average to have a monthly cellular bill of $150 or more. In terms of personal technology and plans for purchasing, the study found that: • The fans are 24% more likely than the national average to plan to purchase a video game system in the next year. • They are 39% more likely to plan to buy a satellite radio subscription. • They are 18% more likely to plan to buy a personal digital assistant. • They are 14% more likely to plan to buy an MP3 player. << Start < Prev 1 2 3 Next > End >>