Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately 0.25 to 2.66 miles. It originally used production-model cars, hence the name “stock car”, but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It originated in the southern United States; its largest governing body is NASCAR. Its NASCAR Cup Series is the premier top-level series of professional stock car racing. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil and the United Kingdom also have forms of stock car racing. Top-level races typically range between 200 and 600 miles in length.
The Mercury Comet is an automobile that was produced by Mercury from 1960–1969 and 1971–1977 — variously as either a compact or an intermediate car. In its first two years, it was marketed as the "Comet" and from 1962 as the "Mercury Comet".
The Plymouth Road Runner is a mid-size car with a focus on performance built by Plymouth in the United States between 1968 and 1980. By 1968, some of the original muscle cars were moving away from their roots as relatively cheap, fast cars as they gained features and increased in price. Plymouth developed the Road Runner to market a lower-priced, basic trim model to its upscale GTX.
The Plymouth Superbird is a highly modified, short-lived version of the Plymouth Road Runner with applied graphic images as well as a distinctive horn sound both referencing the popular Looney Tunes cartoon character the Road Runner. It was the factory's follow-up stock car racing design, for the 1970 season, to the Dodge Charger Daytona of 1969, and incorporated many engineering changes and modifications garnered from the Daytona's season in competition.
The Ford Galaxie is a full-sized car that was built in the United States by Ford for model years 1959 through to 1974. The name was used for the top models in Ford's full-size range from 1958 until 1961, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the excitement surrounding the Space Race. In 1958, a concept car was introduced called "la Galaxie" which incorporated the headlights into pods inline with the grille and a reduced front profile.
The Ford Torino is an automobile that was produced by Ford for the North American market between 1968 and 1976. It was a competitor in the intermediate market segment. The car was named after the city of Turin, considered "the Italian Detroit". The Torino was initially an upscale variation of the intermediate sized Ford Fairlane with a similar approach to the Ford LTD being the upscale version of the Ford Galaxie. Beginning in the 1968 model year the intermediate Ford line consisted of Fairlane and Torino models. The Fairlane name was utilized for the lower trim level models while the upscale models were called Torino. During this time, the Torino was considered a subseries to the Fairlane. By 1970 Torino had become the primary name for Ford's intermediate, and the Fairlane was now a subseries of the Torino. In 1971 the Fairlane name was dropped altogether, and all Ford intermediates were called Torino. This name was one of several originally proposed for the Mustang while in development. The Torino was essentially a twin to the Mercury Montego line.
The Ford Torino Talladega is a muscle car that was produced by Ford only during the first few weeks of 1969. It was named for the Talladega Superspeedway, which opened the same year. The Talladega was a special, more aerodynamic version of the Torino / Fairlane Cobra, produced specifically to make Ford even more competitive in NASCAR racing, and it was sold to the public only because homologation rules required a certain minimum number of cars be produced and made available.
Dodge produced three separate models with the name Dodge Charger Daytona, all of which were modified Dodge Chargers. The name was taken from Daytona Beach, Florida, which was an early center for auto racing and still hosts the Daytona 500, NASCAR's premier event. The original Dodge Charger Daytona was designed to beat the competition in NASCAR racing. It was the first NASCAR vehicle to reach 200 miles per hour, which was a major milestone at the time.
The B platform or B-body was the name of two of Chrysler's midsize passenger car platforms – at first rear-wheel drive, from 1962 through 1979; and the later, unrelated front-wheel drive platform, used by the Eagle Premier / Dodge Monaco, from 1988 through 1992.
The Mercury Montego is a nameplate that was applied to three separate generations of vehicles marketed by the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company. Taking its name from Montego Bay, Jamaica, the nameplate made its first appearance for 1967 in the Canadian market as part of the Mercury-derived Meteor model line. For 1968, the Mercury Montego made its debut across North America, becoming the Mercury counterpart of the Ford Torino intermediate-size model line for two generations.
William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, and farmer. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1976, 1977, and 1978. He was one of the preeminent stock car drivers from the 1960s to the 1980s and also competed in IndyCar events. His fame was such that a special model of the Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II was named after him.
The Dodge Charger (1966), also known as Dodge Charger (B-body), is a mid-size automobile that was produced by Dodge from 1966 to 1978, and was based on the Chrysler B platform.
The Mustang Boss 302 is a high-performance variant of the Ford Mustang originally produced by Ford in 1969 and 1970, alongside its more powerful sibling the Boss 429 Mustang. Ford revived the name for another two year production run in 2012 and 2013. It was produced for the Trans Am racing series.
Aero Warriors, also called aero-cars, is a nickname for four muscle cars developed specifically to race on the NASCAR circuit by Dodge, Plymouth, Ford and Mercury for the 1969 and 1970 racing seasons. The cars were based on production stock cars but had additional aerodynamic features.
The Mercury Cyclone is an automobile that was marketed by the Mercury division of Ford from 1964 to 1971. Introduced in 1964 as the Mercury Comet Cyclone, the Cyclone replaced the S-22 as the performance-oriented version of the Mercury Comet model line. The Cyclone became a distinct nameplate for the 1968 model year, as the Mercury Montego was phased in to replace the Comet.
The Boss 429 Mustang is a high-performance Ford Mustang variant that was offered by Ford in 1969 and 1970.
The 1970 Daytona 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series race held on February 22, 1970, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the 'Strictly Stock Division', and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the 'Grand National Division.' In 1971, when the series began leasing its naming rights to the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, it was referred to as the 'NASCAR Winston Cup Series' (1971–2003). A similar deal was made with Nextel in 2003, and it became the 'NASCAR Nextel Cup Series' (2004–2007). Sprint acquired Nextel in 2005, and in 2008 the series was renamed the 'NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' (2008–2016). In December 2016, it was announced that Monster Energy would become the new title sponsor, and the series was renamed the 'Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series' (2017–2019). In 2019, NASCAR rejected Monster's offer to extend the current naming rights deal beyond the end of the season. NASCAR subsequently announced its move to a new tiered sponsorship model beginning with the 2020 season similar to other US based professional sports leagues, where it was simply known as the 'NASCAR Cup Series', with the sponsors of the series being called Premier Partners. The four Premier Partners are Busch Beer, Coca-Cola, GEICO, and Xfinity.
The Generation 2 in NASCAR refers to the cars used between 1967 and 1980. The second generation of stock cars featured stock body with a modified frame, and modified chassis became part of the sport with entities such as Holman-Moody, Banjo Matthews, and Hutchenson-Pagan building chassis for teams.
NASCAR, the highest governing body and top level division for stock car racing in the United States, has used a range of different types of engine configurations and displacements since its inaugural season in 1949. The engines are currently used in the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, Camping World Truck Series, and the Whelen Modified Tour.
