Budweiser is the official beer of NHRA and was the official beer of NASCAR until 2007.

Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. ( April 29, 1951February 18, 2001 ) was an American race car driver, best known for his involvement in stock car racing for NASCAR.

He was the third driver in NASCAR history to win both the Rookie of the Year and Cup Series championship in his career, joining David Pearson and Richard Petty.

* In 2010, Dale Earnhardt was one of the five inductees in the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Junior Johnson, seen here in 1985, was a popular NASCAR driver from the 1950s who began as a bootlegging driver from Wilkes County, North Carolina.

Normally used an entry level formula, it has grown into a stand alone series, with National, State and Club events and Championships. The first NASCAR " Strictly Stock " race ever was held at Charlotte Speedway, on June 19, 1949. Where a racing class requires that the cars raced be production vehicles only slightly adapted for racing, manufacturers typically produce a limited run of such vehicles for public sale so that they can legitimately race them in the class.

His father, Lee Petty, won the first Daytona 500 in 1959 and was also a 3 time NASCAR champion.

Petty was born in Level Cross, North Carolina, the son of Elizabeth ( née Toomes ) and Lee Arnold Petty, also a NASCAR driver and the older brother of Maurice Petty.

In 1959, Richard was named NASCAR Rookie of the Year, after he produced 9 top 10 finishes, including six Top 5 finishes.

In Australia there was a formula that was quite similar to NASCAR, but it has now closed down, and a form of touring cars has taken its place.

When NASCAR was first formed by Bill France, Sr. in 1948 to regulate stock car racing in the U. S., there was a requirement that any car entered be made entirely of parts available to the general public through automobile dealers.

While automobile engine technology had remained fairly stagnant in World War II, advanced aircraft piston engine development had provided a great deal of available data, and NASCAR was formed just as some the improved technology was about to become available in production cars.

Until the advent of the Trans-Am series in 1967, NASCAR homologation cars were the closest thing that the public could buy that was actually very similar to the cars that were winning the national races.

In 1987 Bill Elliot's asphalt blistering qualifying time at Talladega brought about a change at superspeedways ( Daytona and Talladega ). Such high speeds and Bobby Allison's car going airborne into the catch-fence and injuring fans forced NASCAR to implement power-reducing measures, one of which was the mandated implement of below carburetor restrictor plates.

Although Earnhardt was not the first NASCAR driver to die in a wreck, he was arguably more famous than many other drivers that have died.

In NASCAR, the 6-point harness became popular after the death of Dale Earnhardt, who was wearing a five-point harness when he suffered his fatal crash ; as it was first thought that his belt had broken, some teams ordered a six-point harness in response.

Those trials were sanctioned and supervised by NASCAR. Note: between 1964 and 1966, Oldsmobile named its least expensive full size model the Oldsmobile Jetstar 88 which the Jetstar I was not related to, and priced $ 500 –$ 600 below the Jetstar I.

NASCAR was becoming increasingly dominant, and the IndyCar Series ' split from CART in 1996 put more emphasis on ovals regarding domestic open-wheel racing.

** Speed Channel ( USA, Canada, Caribbean and Latin America ): coverage is hosted by current NASCAR driver and former V8 Supercar champion Marcos Ambrose on a week delay except Surfers Paradise and Bathurst starting in 2011.

It has hosted nearly every type of road racing, from the Formula One United States Grand Prix ( 1961 – 1980 ), to one of the few races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series not conducted on an oval speedway.

A number of races were held at tracks that hosted only NASCAR regional events.

The Iowa Speedway hosted its first NASCAR Nationwide Series race in 2009.

From 2003 to 2010, the main 1 / 2-mile oval hosted the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown.

It was long known around the world as the home of the United States Grand Prix, which it hosted for 20 consecutive years ( 1961 – 1980 ), but it has been home to road racing of nearly every class for over 50 years, including Formula One, the World Sportscar Championship, Can-Am, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and the IndyCar Series.

Auto Club Speedway ( formerly California Speedway ) is a two-mile ( 3 km ), low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997.

In 2011 and 2012 the track hosted only one NASCAR weekend.

In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the IRL IndyCar Series.

At its peak, the facility hosted four major races each year: two NASCAR Nationwide Series races and two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races ( one per year prior to 2010 ).

Kentucky Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, which has hosted ARCA, NASCAR and Indy Racing League racing annually since it opened in 2000.

The track also hosted a NASCAR Grand National race on July 19, 1958, won by the Ford of Jim Reed, but is better known as the US debut of NASCAR legend Richard Petty.

WCTM aired local sports for a time, along with NASCAR coverage on weekends and the syndicated " Waxworks " nostalgia / big band program hosted by Gary Hannes.

Like its Inside Cup counterpart, which focused on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, the show focused primarily the NASCAR Busch Series, and, like Inside Cup, was hosted by Allen Bestwick, and used a 3-driver expert panel to analyze news and recent Busch Series action.

It hosted a NASCAR Nationwide Series event and a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on a 1. 25-mile ( 2 kilometer ) oval, a infield Road Course used by SCCA and various car clubs, and also has a quarter-mile drag strip that hosts an annual National Hot Rod Association event.

It hosted a race for the ARCA series but due to the lack of modern facilities and amenities, it has since served as a circuit for amateur and club racing, along with private testing, and also hosts NASCAR teams ' testing for Michigan International Speedway and California Speedway because of NASCAR conducting new 2006 restrictions prohibiting both tracks from being used for tests.

It also hosted the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series from 2004 to 2008.

Mansfield formerly hosted a wide variety of events, most notably the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ( formerly Craftsman Truck Series ), which raced at Mansfield on Memorial Day weekend since 2004.

In addition, Mansfield hosted two annual rounds of the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series as well as the NASCAR Camping World East Series and Whelen Modified Tour, the ASA Late Model Series, ISMA and MSA Supermodifieds and HOSS sprint cars.

Ralph won his one and only NASCAR Sportsman Championship in 1956 at Greenville Pickens Speedway in Greenville, South Carolina.

This accident, as well as a similar accident that led to the death of Russell Phillips at Charlote, led NASCAR to mandate the " Earnhardt Bar ", a metal brace located in the center of the windshield that reinforces the roof in case of a similar crash.

Park won the very next NASCAR Winston Cup race: The Dura Lube 400 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, NC held on February 26, 2001.

* 1987 – A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop restrictor plate racing the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.

NASCAR sanctions over 1500 races at over 100 tracks in 39 US states and Canada.

NASCAR has presented exhibition races at the Suzuka and Motegi circuits in Japan, Mexico, and Calder Park Raceway in Australia.

** NASCAR postponed the September 16 Winston Cup New Hampshire 300 race at Loudon until November 23.

* NASCAR postpones the New Hampshire 300 scheduled to be held at the New Hampshire International Speedway.

NASCAR tracks at the time were mainly dirt tracks with modest barriers, and during the 1957 season a Mercury Monterey crashed into the crowd.

Today, the anthem is performed before the beginning of all MLS, NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL games ( when at least one American team is playing ), as well as in a pre-race ceremony portion of every NASCAR and AMA motocross race.

ZZ Top performed at the 2008 Orange Bowl game in Miami, as well as the Auto Club 500 NASCAR event at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

* June 19 – Glenn Dunnaway wins the inaugural NASCAR race at Charlotte Speedway, a 3 / 4 mile oval in Charlotte, North Carolina, but is disqualified due to illegal springs.

The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series motor race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

For NASCAR Grand National winners at Daytona from 1949 – 1958, see Daytona Beach & Road Course. Mario Andretti, born in Italy, is the only driver to win the race not from the United States.

NASCAR uses transponders and cable loops placed at numerous points around the track to determine the lineup during a caution period.

** Dover International Speedway, a NASCAR race track located at Dover Downs

However, touring cars are, at least notionally, derived from production cars while today's NASCAR vehicles are based on a shared, custom, design.

For 2012, GT3 cars will be allowed, with spec wings and splitters, as long as they pass a test at the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, thus allowing GT3 cars to run with few modifications relative to other series ( NASCAR, the parent company of Grand-Am, does not permit anti-lock brakes or traction control to be used on Grand-Am GT cars ).