Why do they call it “stock car” racing when the cars are anything but stock??
Not only that, but do they go faster with cows or sheep in them? 
Later,
K
Ray Dunakin said:Prior to the late 70's they were stock cars. Manufacturers would make a limited production "racing" model. If you couldn't buy one in the showroom, you couldn't race it. Ralph
Why do they call it "stock car" racing when the cars are anything but stock??
Ralph Berg said:Which is also why the '69 Charger 500, the '69 Daytona, the '67 Cyclone, the '68 Talledega, etc etc are so sought after today. The NASCAR rules in the late '60s said that the automakers had to make 500 similar (they could have a smaller engine) cars available to the general public to qualify to race... so they offered about 510..... In 1970 they upped it to 1000, so Plymouth built about 1300 Superbirds and sent them to the dealerships (Some were actually converted BACK into more or less regular Roadrunners at the dealerships because people didn't want to be THAT conspicuous). Then the rules were changed that the cars offered to the public had to be the same general configuration (V-8, rear wheel drive) which is a big part of why Chrysler wasn't in the game for a long time....
Prior to the late 70's they were stock cars. Manufacturers would make a limited production "racing" model. If you couldn't buy one in the showroom, you couldn't race it. Ralph
Cars are no longer anywhere near “stock” due to safety related rulings, and the fact that the ruling body wants the playing field as level as possible… so now, other than minor trim differences and the engine, you have a generic cookie cutter car.
Ralph is correct, they literally used to race cars more or less “Stock” right off the showroom floor, well, used car lot floor.
This was in the late 40’s and early 50’s. For all the ballyho and flag waving Nascar makes about being so wholesome its important to remember that the roots of Stock Car racing was the result of the end of Prohibition laws across the country, most all the earliest “good’ol boys” were in fact revinue runners! running moonshine and other blackmarket contraband during Prohibition and WW2. They tweeked and suped-up their cars motors and stiffened the suspensions so they could outrun the Feds on the rural dirt roads and deliver their hooch. At the end of prohibition these guys needed something to do to with all this knowledge of motors and suspensions so they began racing each other on dirt oval tracks or on beach fronts, Daytona for years was raced literally “on the beach”, they became very popular and grew enormously in attendance in the 50’s, the tracks got larger, then paved, but it was still a relatively primarily southern local interest sport until the advent of TV in the late 50’s, then it began to become more popular outside of the south.
They stopped racing “stock” cars back in the 50’s opting for highly suped-up rebuilt motors and rebuilt drivetrains, after one horrific car fire, safety began to be a serious issue and the stock interiors were removed and began to sport fixed seats, rollbars and the drivers fireproof suits. But the bodys remained more or less “stock” metal frames and bodies right off the showroom floor, but as the guts got more and more powerfull, the steels frames and bodies limitations became more apparent, somewhere in the 60’s they began reinforcing the stock bodies with tube steel underframing and crash cages, and during the 70’s they dropped “stock” bodys entriely in favor of completey custon built steel tube frames but retained the “Stock” models body shapes in the form of fiberglass bodies, this was done entirely for safety, as the speeds of the cars just got so high and the physics involves so tremendous they had to create crash frame shells that could allow a driver to survive hitting a wall at almost 200 mph!
Ah, I see. Thanks for the info.
Ray Dunakin said:Ray, methane is often used as a fuel booster. :P
Why do they call it "stock car" racing when the cars are anything but stock??