Editing NASCAR (section)

===Early stock car racing===
[[File:JuniorJohnson1985.jpg|thumb|upright|1985 photo of [[Junior Johnson]], 1950s NASCAR driver who began as a bootlegging driver from [[Wilkes County, North Carolina]]]]

In the 1920s and 1930s, Daytona Beach supplanted France and [[Belgium]] as the preferred location for world [[land speed record]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://phyvax.ir.miami.edu:8001/curtright/lsr_history.html |title=Table of Official Land Speed Record |access-date=December 24, 2007 |author=Cutright, Thomas |publisher=Department of Physics, [[University of Miami]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725165919/http://phyvax.ir.miami.edu:8001/curtright/lsr_history.html |archive-date=July 25, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url = http://stars.library.ucf.edu/ahistoryofcentralfloridapodcast/28/|title = Episode 27 Leather Cap and Goggles|date = October 1, 2014|access-date = January 27, 2016|journal = A History of Central Florida Podcast|last = Dickens|first = Bethany|archive-date = March 4, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210304155020/http://stars.library.ucf.edu/ahistoryofcentralfloridapodcast/28/|url-status = live}}</ref> After a historic race between [[Ransom Olds]] and [[Alexander Winton]] in 1903, 15 records were set on what became the [[Daytona Beach Road Course]] between 1905 and 1935. Daytona Beach had become synonymous with fast cars in 1936.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCQ/is_3_19/ai_110730198 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050101235028/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCQ/is_3_19/ai_110730198 |url-status= dead |archive-date= January 1, 2005 |title=Daytona beach: sun-seekers and race car fans flock to this Florida vacation haven |access-date=December 24, 2007 |author=Williams, Deborah |date= November–December 2003 |work= Travel America |publisher= Travel America}}</ref> Drivers raced on a {{convert|4.1|mi|km|adj=on}} course, consisting of a {{convert|1.5|-|2.0|mi|km|adj=on}} stretch of beach as one straightaway, and a narrow blacktop beachfront highway, [[Florida State Road A1A|State Road&nbsp;A1A]], as the other. The two straights were connected by two tight, deeply rutted and sand covered turns at each end.<ref name="Fast History-31">{{cite book|last=Fielden|first=Greg|title=NASCAR: A Fast History |publisher=Publications International Ltd.|location=Lincolnwood, Illinois|year=2005|page=31|chapter=Beachfront View|isbn=1-4127-1155-X}}</ref>

Stock car racing in the United States has its origins in [[rum-running|bootlegging]] during [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]],<ref name="mobmuseum">{{Cite web|url=http://prohibition.themobmuseum.org/the-history/prohibition-potpourri/nascar-and-prohibition/|title=NASCAR Rooted in Prohibition Bootlegging|website=Prohibition: An Interactive History|access-date=May 23, 2020|archive-date=May 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521075523/http://prohibition.themobmuseum.org/the-history/prohibition-potpourri/nascar-and-prohibition/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="historychannel">{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/news/how-prohibition-gave-birth-to-nascar|title=How Prohibition Gave Birth to NASCAR|first=Christopher|last=Klein|website=HISTORY|date=March 28, 2023|access-date=May 23, 2020|archive-date=April 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423102019/https://www.history.com/news/how-prohibition-gave-birth-to-nascar|url-status=live}}</ref> when drivers ran [[moonshine|bootleg whiskey]] made primarily in the [[Appalachia]]n region of the United States. Bootleggers needed to distribute their illicit products, and they typically used small, fast vehicles to better evade the police. Many of the drivers would modify their cars for speed and handling,<ref name="historychannel"/> as well as increased cargo capacity.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Billock|first=Jennifer|title=How Moonshine Bootlegging Gave Rise to NASCAR|magazine=Smithsonian|date=February 10, 2017|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-moonshine-bootlegging-gave-rise-nascar-180962014/|access-date=November 1, 2020|archive-date=December 22, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222132844/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-moonshine-bootlegging-gave-rise-nascar-180962014/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution|repeal of Prohibition]] in 1933 dried up some of their business, but by then the people of the American South had developed a taste for [[moonshine]], and a number of the drivers continued "runnin' shine", this time evading the "revenuers" who were attempting to tax their operations.<ref name="appstate"/> The cars continued to improve, and by the late 1940s, races featuring these cars were being run for pride and profit. These races were popular entertainment in the rural Southern United States, and they are most closely associated with the [[Wilkes County, North Carolina|Wilkes County]] region of [[North Carolina]]. Most races in those days were of modified cars. Street vehicles were lightened and reinforced.<ref name="Hinton-early">{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=4067951&type=blogEntry|title=Little Widow made a big impression|last=Hinton|date=April 4, 2009|publisher=ESPN|access-date=April 30, 2009|archive-date=November 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151102100615/http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=4067951&type=blogEntry|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=North Wilkesboro and the Roots of NASCAR |url=https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2013/05/18/north-wilkesboro-and-the-roots-of-nascar |website=This Day in North Carolina History |date=May 18, 2016 |publisher=N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources |access-date=May 18, 2019 |archive-date=May 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518143040/https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2013/05/18/north-wilkesboro-and-the-roots-of-nascar |url-status=live }}</ref>