Early Nascar Questions

C

cordiecat

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Hi all!

I am doing some research on early nascar history-- and was wondering if any of you knew when garages became common in the nascar speedways. If you all have any recommendations for places to find historical info-- or the answer to my question, that would be awesome!

Thank you so much,
Liz
 
Welcome! Can we assume you mean physical structures with roofs, divided into individual stalls, at the tracks that host Cup-level races?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Welcome! Can we assume you mean physical structures with roofs, divided into individual stalls, at the tracks that host Cup-level races?
Click to expand...
Yes, that's correct. :) I heard that earlier venues were more open to the elements.
 
cordiecat said:
Hi all!

I am doing some research on early nascar history-- and was wondering if any of you knew when garages became common in the nascar speedways. If you all have any recommendations for places to find historical info-- or the answer to my question, that would be awesome!

Thank you so much,
Liz
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I would probably start with Racing Reference 1949, or 1971 to reveiw the tracks they raced on.
http://racing-reference.info/raceyear/1949/W

http://racing-reference.info/raceyear/1971/Wz

Assumptions are dangerous but almost every track that came off the schedule between 1971 and 1972, especially those under one mile had no covered garages.

I doubt that googling Nascar track garages will give you the needed details per year.

But a lot could probably be learned by Googling something like '1959 Daytona speedway aerial view'.
https://www.google.com/search?q=195...zjMLXAhVr0oMKHTf0D14Q_AUICSgB&biw=360&bih=512

You could enlarge the image and see if the covered garages are visible. If not Google 1960, then 1961 until you are able to locate them. If you see a new construction in one of those years that wasnt present before, you have accomplished your goal.
Then repeat the process on the other tracks.
 
You might want try searching the jalopy journal website. They are really into the mechanical vintage years. You might could even start a similar thread there, there are probably some old school types there that could rattle off the information.
 
Thans everyone! This has given me a great head start. :)
-L
 
Wikipedia often gets discredited but they will often have some great information. The paste at the end of the post is a good example.

On an unrelated note you can often Google Wikipedia with a tag like "the 1959 Daytona 500" and find a great breakdown.
You can do the same with a lot of less mentioned historical figures too.
Example" Eddie Sachs" and find some great information.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Motor_Speedway

For many years, teams were unable to park their transporters inside the infield, nor did the track have any significant garage area. Team transporters were parked in a lot outside of the track. During racing periods, crews and participants were landlocked by the track, and thus, unable to return to the transporters for spare parts, repairs, or rest. In the early 1990s, the infield was reconfigured and completely paved. Teams began parking the transporters in an orchestrated, extremely tight arrangement that takes several hours, and highly skilled drivers, to accomplish. Teams are now able to work out of their transporters in the same fashion as other facilities.
 
Interesting question. Now I'm wondering about some other historical changes. Like when did all the tracks get paved? When did the first camera get put on a car? Here's a tough one - when was the last stock bodied car? (I recall hearing in the 80s or 90s that the only stock part of the car was the roof).
 
Zerkfitting said:
Interesting question. Now I'm wondering about some other historical changes. Like when did all the tracks get paved? When did the first camera get put on a car? Here's a tough one - when was the last stock bodied car? (I recall hearing in the 80s or 90s that the only stock part of the car was the roof).
Click to expand...

Not all were paved, some were just dropped. Example dirt tracks Raleigh and Columbia was on the 1970 schedule, but not on the 1971 schedule.
Racing reference listed by the years has a column on the yearly spreadsheets "sfc" short for surface. D = Dirt

I have not done an exhaustive search but 1970 was the last year I found with dirt tracks.

http://racing-reference.info/raceyear/1970/W
 
Zerkfitting said:
Interesting question. Now I'm wondering about some other historical changes. Like when did all the tracks get paved? When did the first camera get put on a car? Here's a tough one - when was the last stock bodied car? (I recall hearing in the 80s or 90s that the only stock part of the car was the roof).
Click to expand...

A lot of it probably depends were you draw the line on what is the definition of stock.
This link has a lot if information about the evolution or changes.

http://www.streetmusclemag.com/features/interviews/when-stock-cars-ruled-nascar-and-why-they-left/
 
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