National Stock Car Racing Association

Last updated
National Stock Car Racing Association
Sport Stock car racing
Category Auto racing
Jurisdiction United States
AbbreviationNSCRA
Founded1946 (1946)
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia
President Weyman Milam
Other key staff Bruton Smith
Closure date1951

The National Stock Car Racing Association (NSRA/NSCRA) was a sanctioning body for stock car racing that operated in the Southeastern United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Competing against several other sanctioning bodies, including NASCAR, NSCRA was considered to be the most significant challenge to NASCAR's dominance of the sport; however it proved incapable of competing with the larger sanction, and closed down midway through the 1951 racing season.

A sports governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sports governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport that they govern. Governing bodies have different scopes. They may cover a range of sport at an International level, such as the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, or only a single sport at a national level, such as the Rugby Football League. National bodies may or may not be affiliated to international bodies for the same sport. The first international federations were formed at the end of the 19th century.

Stock car racing Form of automobile racing

Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly and most prominently in the United States and Canada, with New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Great Britain and Brazil also having forms of stock car auto racing. Traditionally, races are run on oval tracks measuring approximately 0.25 to 2.66 miles. The world's largest governing body for stock car racing is the American NASCAR, and its Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is the premier top level series of professional stock car racing. Top level races typically range between 200 to 600 miles in length. The cars were originally production models, but are now highly modified.

Southeastern United States eastern portion of the Southern United States

The Southeastern United States is broadly, the eastern portion of the Southern United States, and the southern portion of the Eastern United States. It comprises at least a core of states on the lower East Coast of the United States and eastern Gulf Coast. Expansively, it includes everything south of the Mason–Dixon line, the Ohio River and the 36°30' parallel, and as far west as Arkansas and Louisiana. There is no official U.S. government definition of the region, though various agencies and departments use different definitions.

History

Founded in 1946 in Atlanta, Georgia by Sam Nunis and Weyman Milam, [1] the NSCRA was one of many small sanctioning bodies that appeared following the end of World War II to promote the fledgling sport of stock car racing. [2] Participating, along with the U.S. Stock Car Drivers Association and Bill France's National Championship Stock Car Circuit, in a decision to declare a consensus national champion for stock cars in 1946, [3] it remained a largely informal group, operating as a sanction for modified stock car racing, until O. Bruton Smith of Charlotte, North Carolina assumed responsibility for the group in 1948. [4]

Floyd Sam Nunis was a pioneering figure in American stock car racing, being involved in both the American Automobile Association and the National Stock Car Racing Association.

World War II 1939–1945, between Axis and Allies

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from more than 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 70 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock-car racing. Its three largest or National series are the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. Regional series include the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West, the Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR Pinty's Series, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, and NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series. NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states as well as in Canada, Mexico, and Europe. NASCAR has presented races at the Suzuka and Motegi circuits in Japan, and the Calder Park Thunderdome in Australia. NASCAR also ventures into eSports via the PEAK Antifreeze NASCAR iRacing Series and a sanctioned ladder system on that title.

Smith announced that the sanction would operate a "Strictly Stock" championship starting in 1949; [4] he offered lucrative purse money in an attempt to cherry-pick the stars of France's NASCAR, which had been founded in 1947 to replace the NCSCC and was running its first modified season in 1948. [5] [N 1] In direct competition, France announced his own Strictly Stock race, running it at Charlotte Speedway in June 1949 - a direct poke in the eye to Smith and NSCRA, as Charlotte was Smith's hometown. [7]

Modified stock car racing Racing events with modified factory autos

Modified stock car racing, also known as modified racing and modified, is a type of auto racing that involves purpose-built cars simultaneously racing against each other on oval tracks. First established in the United States after World War II, this type of racing was early-on characterized by its participants' modification of passenger cars in pursuit of higher speeds, hence the name.

Charlotte Speedway Race track

For the current NASCAR track in Charlotte, North Carolina, see Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The NSCRA Strictly Stock Championship ran for two years, with Ed Samples, a former moonshiner, winning the series title in 1949; Buddy Shuman, who had won the NSCRA modified title in 1948, took the series' stock car championship trophy in 1950. [8]

Ed Samples was a pioneering American stock car driver, who competed in NSCRA and NASCAR events in the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the winner of the 1946 stock car racing championship, and later won the 1949 National Stock Car Racing Association championship.

Buddy Shuman was a stock car driver who competed in the NASCAR Grand National Series. He raced between 1951 until 1955, achieving one victory, four top 5s, and 16 top 10s. Shuman is best known for winning his one and only race in 1952 at Stamford Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, the first NASCAR Grand National Series race held in Canada.

In late 1950, seeing as how the sport was still on a shaky basis and could not support two major sanctioning bodies, Smith and France agreed in principle to merge their respective organizations into a single, unified promotional body for the sport. [9] However, Smith was drafted in January 1951 to fight in the Korean War as a paratrooper; [10] in his absence, NSCRA's management, dominated by drivers, proved incapable of keeping the organization afloat amongst internal disputes, [11] and Milam was forced to close down the sanctioning body during the summer of 1951. [12] Samples was leading the NSCRA's point standings at the time of the closure. [13] The circuit's premier drivers, such as Cotton Owens, and tracks, such as Lakewood Speedway, joined NASCAR following NSCRA's closure. [12]

Korean War 1950s war between North and South Korea

The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following a series of clashes along the border.

Paratrooper Military parachutists functioning as part of an airborne force

A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into an operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World War II for troop distribution and transportation. Paratroopers are often used in surprise attacks, to seize strategic objectives such as airfields or bridges.

Everett "Cotton" Owens was a NASCAR driver. For five straight years (1957–61), Owens captured at least one Grand National Series win. Owens was known as the "King of the Modifieds" for his successes in modified stock car racing in the 1950s.

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References

Notes
  1. ↑ "National Stock Car Racing Association" had actually been the preferred name selected for the new sanctioning body created by France in 1947 at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida; Red Vogt pointed out that the name was already in use, suggesting "National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing" as an alternative, which was accepted. [6]
Citations
  1. ↑ Pierce 2010, p. 93
  2. ↑ Howell 1997, p. 22
  3. ↑ Thompson 2006, p.190
  4. 1 2 Thompson 2006, p. 283
  5. ↑ Edelstein 2011, p. 11
  6. ↑ Moriarty 1998, p.12
  7. ↑ Hunter and Pearce 1998, p. 32
  8. ↑ Thompson 2006, p. 309
  9. ↑ Thompson 2006, p. 335
  10. ↑ Zeller, Bob (July 2003). "Bruton and the Two Bills: A 50-Year Rivalry". Car and Driver . Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  11. ↑ Ingram, Jonathan (May 13, 2010). "Origins, Part 4 – France Tackles Bruton". SPEED Channel. Fox Sports. Archived from the original on July 19, 2010. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  12. 1 2 Pierce 2010, p. 136
  13. ↑ "Ed Samples Seeks First Victory at Lakewood Sunday". Rome News-Tribune . Rome, Georgia. June 10, 1951. p. 14.
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