NASCAR continues its unique position in the sports landscape Sunday when it holds its biggest event at the beginning, rather than the end, of its season with the running of the 65th Daytona 500. Wait, you say, isn't this the 75th anniversary of NASCAR? Indeed, it is, but more on that later.
Daytona isn't even the first 500-mile stock-car race because the Southern 500 at Darlington preceded it. But it was on the sands of Daytona Beach, Fla., that Bill France Sr. started an auto racing circuit where drivers were in cars that looked and acted like the ones people drove to work, except faster. Some even drove their race cars to the track in the beginning.
There is little stock in stock car racing now. The cars are precision crafted and tested and cost a quarter-million to more than a half-million dollars. Since the cars can wreck, the big teams have plenty of extra motors and bodies.
