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The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, or otherwise know as NASCAR, had a small start but now has grown into a major multimillion-dollar company. It all started in Daytona Beach, Florida, at the Streamline hotel, on December 14,1947. Bill Franc Sr. assembled some of the prominent racecar drivers of the era and wanted to have a national championship for stock car racing. Through the years, the sport has changed in many fascists. The cars have changed significantly. During the first year of NASCAR, cars were mostly pre-war machines. New cars were still in short supply as the auto manufactures struggled to get supply up to demand as they continued to shift factories from the productions of tanks, jeeps and other combat needs over to making cars for the public. In 1949, NASCAR debuted a new class of racing called “Strictly Stock.” These cars had to come directly off the dealership showroom floors. The only three things they were allowed to change was the following; bolster the right front tire by putting a steel plate to prevent the lug nuts from stripping off the tire, tape over the headlights, and strap down the trunk hood and doors. Today’s stock cars are no longer the same production machines that you can buy off the lot. They are custom built machines, mostly built from hand made parts. Comparing a modern stock car to its modern day showroom car can encompass many difference. Most production cars today are front-wheel-drive with fuel injection. If you are lucky, you can get a V6 as an option. NASCAR, at one time, did require the automakers to make a two-door production model; but as for the Ford Taurus and the Dodges Intrepid, I do not think we will see two door production models. The stock cars of today are throwbacks to the roots of the days of NASCAR; they all have a V8, a four-barrel carburetor, a four speed manual transmission, and are rear wheel driven. Just comparing the maximum horsepower between the two it outstanding. In a production Dodge Intrepid the maximum horsepower is 242 and on a Dodge Intrepid Stock Car it is in the neighborhood of 750 horsepower.
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