History of Nascar

Bill France Sr. was born in Washington, D.C. and lived there until his early 20s.   His father was a teller at Park Savings Bank in Washington, and his son might have followed in his footsteps with the exception that he had a fascination with the automobile and how it performed.   As a teenager, Bill Sr. would often skip school and take the family car to a nearby track and run laps until he had enough time to get the car, a Model-T Ford, back home before his father got home.   He held several hands-on jobs until he eventually owned his own service station.   He made a name for himself and built a customer base by getting up early in the wintry mornings and going out to crank the cars for white collar bureaucrats.

      In 1934 the Frances loaded up their car and headed for the south with a total of $25.   Where they were headed has never been clearly established but some say Tampa and others say Miami Beach.   Two days later they arrived in Daytona Beach.   Rumors say that they were broke and had to settle there while some say his wife had a sister in nearby New Smyrna Beach and still others say that their car broke down and they had no choice but to settle in and stay there.   However years later Bill Jr. stated that his mother did not have a sister living in New Smyrna Beach and that a broken down car would never stop his father from getting where he wanted because he was an experienced mechanic.

    The hard packed sand between Daytona Beach and its northern neighbor Ormond Beach was the site of the world-record automobile speed trials.   They started in 1902 and picked up speed right up to the '30s.   By then the speeds were approaching 300 miles per hour along the firm and smooth inviting sand. In the spring of 1935 Sir Malcolm Campbell was taking his Bluebird rocket car to Daytona Beach in hopes of running at 300 miles per hour for yet another land-speed-record.   Along with this and the weather and the smaller hospitable and more affordable area maybe this is...