RACING

Revving Up

Auto racing of nearly every kind -—Indy, stock car, drag, formula one, and more—enjoyed increased popularity as the 1980s sped to a close. The sport's steadily rising popularity could be indexed by the increase in the number of spectators attending races. Though the Indianapolis 500 routinely drew at least 300,000 fans over the course of the decade, attendance at other Indy car races rose from 654,000 in 1979 to almost 2.5 million in 1988. As for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), prior to the 1980s it was seen primarily as a southern sport. By the end of the decade, however, the sport's venues extended as far north as New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Michigan, and over 3 million people annually attended NASCAR Winston Cup races. In fact, a survey conducted by Goodyear in 1990 indicated that over 25 percent of Americans considered themselves auto racing fans, including 14 million women. All of which led one racing expert to quip that "NASCAR probably is Dixie's rebuttal to the Civil War." Moreover, the sport's increased popularity could also be measured by the increase in the number of people watching races on network and cable television, the fact that more and more races were held, and the myriad of corporate sponsors pumping money into the sport. Although many profited from the sport's ascendance, drivers and their crews were the most obvious beneficiaries. Over the course of the 1980s the aggregate winners' purse on the NASCAR circuit grew from $6 million to $21 million. One way of accounting for the sport's increased popular and commercial success is that more people began to recognize that, as writer Peter Golenbock put it, every "race brings excitement, drama, danger, and heartbreak, as well as an exhilaration that goes with watching sleek, colorful cars rocket at top speeds for hundreds of miles, sometimes only inches apart." Also, as author J. M. Fenster explained, auto racing "differs from other American sports in that practically every spectator partakes in its form every day. Driving a passenger car is monumentally different from racing a competition car, obviously—but not obviously to the imagination. Racing in this country has existed not to make heroes out of drivers but to make self-imagined heroes out of every fan." Even so, race car drivers have always attracted devoted fans and have been the sport's primary attraction. As Dick Berggren of Stock Car Racing Magazine put it, "Drivers do amazing things with their cars. There's also tremendous competition between old veterans and young guns, and there are heroes and villains at every race."

Long Live the King

According to writer Louis Franck, the reigning princes of auto racing in the 1980s were Indy drivers Danny Sullivan and Rick Mears and NASCAR drivers Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, and Rusty Wallace. But Richard Petty remained the king of the road, at least in terms of popularity and historical significance. A living legend, Petty has been described as "the Babe Ruth of stock car racing," in part because he was the sport's most dominant performer and in part because he paved the way for stock car racing's later popular and financial success. Universally acknowledged as NASCAR's first and biggest megastar, Petty was probably at the zenith of his career as the 1980s began. He had won seven NASCAR national championships and six Daytona 500s. Petty, however, was not content to rest on his laurels. In 1981, at the age of forty-four, he won his seventh and final Daytona 500. Three years later on the Fourth of July, Petty won his two hundredth race, the Firecracker 500. Though he failed to take another checkered flag, he continued to race until his retirement in 1992 and drew a huge following of fans wherever he raced. Petty's two hundred NASCAR victories were nearly twice as many as his closest competitor. He also held a host of other records, including most starts, most victories in a single season, and most consecutive victories. By any standard Petty's was a bountiful reign, for over the course of his thirty-five-year career he earned almost $7,500,000 in winnings. "The best race drivers have a way of transforming their cars into extensions of themselves, fusing man and machine into a single organism, pistons and heart beating as one at 15,000 revolutions per minute," wrote Bruce Newman of Sports Illustrated) reflecting on Petty's amazing career. "No driver ever got under the sheet-metal skin of a stock car better than Richard Petty, who revolutionized his sport, simonized his opposition and was canonized in his native South."

.16 of a Second

From start to finish the 1982 Indy 500 proved to be one of auto racing's most dramatic contests. Before the race officially began, as the field came out of the fourth turn toward the green flag for the start, an unfortunate series of events led to an accident that disabled four cars, one of which was driven by former Indy winner Mario Andretti. The race's conclusion, however, more than made up for the day's inauspicious start. With thirteen laps remaining, hard-luck underdog Gordon Johncock held a 12-second lead over the heavily favored former Indy winner Rick Mears, whose 207-MPH qualifying speed in the time trials set an Indy record. Steadily gaining on Johncock, Mears closed the lead to 3 seconds with four laps remaining. With two laps to go Johncock led Mears by a little less than a second. "Coming off the final turn, Mears chased Johncock down the straight toward the checkered flag," wrote Sam Moses of Sports Illustrated. "Mears swung out in a final, desperate attempt to slingshot past, but Johncock crossed the finish line slightly more than a car length ahead. As measured by the clock his margin was .16 of a second. It was the closest finish, and perhaps the most exciting, in the 66-year history of the 500." After the race the forty-five-year-old Johncock said, "There will never be another thrill like this." Soon thereafter Johncock had to speed home to see his ailing mother, who died hours later, never having learned of her son's victory. As for the second-place finisher, after losing by the narrowest margin in the race's history, Mears went on to win at the Brickyard (so-called because 3.2 million ten-pound bricks were used to pave the speedway) in 1984, 1988, and 1991 to join A. J. Foyt and Al Unser Sr. as the race's only four-time winners.

Spin and Win

Three years after Johncock's heroics Danny Sullivan and Mario Andretti raced wheel-to-wheel in another memorable duel at the 500 in Indianapolis. In the first turn of the 120th lap Sullivan attempted to pass the favored Andretti as the two were traveling approximately 200 MPH. Suddenly, Sullivan's car spun out of control to the right, narrowly missing Andretti, who skillfully drove to the left. Incredibly, after a 360-degree pirouette, Sullivan managed to control his car and continued to chase Andretti. "I thought that was all she wrote," said Sullivan. "But when the smoke cleared, I was headed in the right direction. I stuck it down in gear and took off." Twenty laps later, with sixty to go, Sullivan finally passed Andretti for good. At the finish line it was Sullivan by a mere 2.47 seconds. "When you start getting conservative, that's when you start getting into trouble," explained Sullivan after his first Indy 500 victory. Andretti finished second. "Second means nothing, especially here," said a disappointed Andretti. "When you get to a certain stage in your career, winning seems to be the only thing."

NASCAR

Indy drivers are often considered the original blue bloods of American auto racing, but during the 1980s stock car racers steadily gained on their Indy counterparts in popularity, purse winnings, and media exposure. There is little doubt that NASCAR was largely responsible for making auto racing one of the top spectator and fastest-growing sports in America during the decade. "Although there is not much that is actually 'stock' in a modern stock car," wrote J. M. Fenster, "all the entries are nominally based upon GM, Chrysler, or Ford cars." This points to a significant part of the sport's appeal: many fans seem to be able to identify with the cars. "I don't come to see any bang-up crashes," said one stock car racing enthusiast. "I like the close racing and the battle of those guys trying to get around each other at 180 mph. In baseball and football it's two teams against each other, but out here it's one driver against 40 others. And the cars look just like the ones people come to the track in." Another factor which contributed to NASCAR's popularity was that fans had some access to their racing heroes. "Going to a race is like going to a carnival," said one fan. "You can get passes to pit row before the start and meet the drivers and the crews. Try getting them to let you into the locker room at a football game." For NASCAR drivers and fans alike, the twisting two-and-a-half-mile high-banked course at the Daytona International Speedway is the zenith of stock car racing. "Daytona is stop number one on the NASCAR tour, the World Series and Super Bowl of stock car racing on opening day," wrote Peter Golenbock in American Zoom. "For race fans, it is Christmas and New Year's Day in February." The first Daytona 500 of the 1980s began auspiciously enough; Buddy Baker ran the fastest race ever: 177.6 MPH. Two-thirds of the decade's remaining races, however, would be won by either Bobby Allison, Bill Elliott, or Cale Yarborough—each a two-time winner. Yarborough, the first driver ever to qualify for the 500 at 200 MPH, is the man who best described the dangerous nature of his profession. "Driving a race car," he quipped, "is like dancing with a chain saw." At Daytona and all over the country it was an immensely popular dance.

Dragsters

Though less frequently covered by the media than Indy and stock car racing, drag racing and other forms of hot rodding became increasingly popular, annually drawing millions of people to thousands of races and auto shows. For the greater part of the decade the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) circuit was dominated by dragsters such as Don "Big Daddy" Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, Darrell Gwynn, Joe Amato, and Gene Snow. Garlits, who in 1975 became the first driver to clock 250 MPH in an NHRA contest, won fifteen major races in the 1980s, and Muldowney, Gwynn, Amato, and Snow all earned membership in the exclusive "4-Second Club"—that is, they had completed a quarter-mile race in under five seconds. The single most no-table achievement in the sport occurred in Bayston, Texas, on 9 October 1988, when Eddie Hill set a world record by completing a quarter-mile race in a remarkable 4.936 seconds. Hill's accomplishment failed to garner significant media attention, because drag racing "is not an enthusiasm everybody can appreciate, and in the grand scheme of things it would not make much difference if nobody had ever dreamed the dreams of hot rodders," argued racing historian Robert Post. "But we need to remember that their dreams are, after all, not much different from the dreams of enthusiasts for superconducting supercolliders and manned space stations." For Post and many others there is something akin to virtue in the never-ending quest for death-defying speed for its own sake.

Death and Danger, Speed, and Safety

Motor racing of all sorts has endured a long tradition of criticism. In the early days of auto racing, notes Fenster, "outside observers grew outraged at the death and violence common to the sport. It was called commercial murder, spectacle on a par with Roman gladiator fighting and feeding of Christians to hungry lions." At different times in the 1980s—usually immediately after a racing-related fatality—the chorus of critics who assailed the sport was equally vociferous. In the spring of 1982, for instance, after Indy drivers Gordon Smiley and Gilles Villeneuve were killed within a week of each other, the sport experienced an avalanche of attacks. "Who has died is always news," wrote Tom Callahan in Time magazine, "but death in auto racing never is: it is an expected part of the game." Veteran sportswriter Frank Deford added that "there are some psycho-social critics who say that people come to Indy just to see drivers get killed." There is little question that auto racing is—and always will be—extraordinarily dangerous; that is, no doubt, a large part of its appeal as a spectator sport. "Not even an observer feels entirely safe at the Speedway," wrote cultural critic Paul Fussell, "and indeed the spectators are in literal danger all the time—from hurtling machines, tires, and fragments, and from the deadly methanol fuel, which burns with a scarcely visible flame, consuming ears and fingers before on-lookers are even aware that the victim's on fire." Partially in response to these and other like-minded observations, racing administrators worked hard on ways to improve the sport's safety record, as well as its image. Despite advances in technology (such as lighter, stronger materials and state-of-the-art aerodynamic engineering) that led to faster cars, their efforts were successful; even as speeds increased, fatalities decreased. This was accomplished in various ways: significantly improved racetrack design, protective equipment (such as better helmets and fire-retardant suits), and various mechanical and fuel- consumption restrictions. Reflecting on the state of racing at the end of the 1980s, Louis Franck observed that "of all the trends observed in the last ten years, perhaps the most gratifying is the most contradictory, at least on the surface—faster racing and more safety." It was a trend that would continue into the 1990s.

Sources:

J. M. Fenster, "Indy," American Heritage (May-June 1992): 66-81;

Peter Golenbock, American Zoom: Stock Car Racing—From the Dirt Tracks to Daytona (New York: Macmillan, 1993);

Robert Post, High Performance: The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing, 1950-1990 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994);

Michael Silver, "A Day at the Races," Sports Illustrated (24 July 1995): 18-24;

Rich Taylor, Indy: Seventy-Five Years of Racing's Greatest Spectacle (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991).

AUTOMOBILE RACING

AUTOMOBILE RACING. On 28 November 1895, the Chicago Times Herald sponsored the first automobile race held in the United States. Its purposes were to test American cars and promote the nascent automobile industry. The winning speed, in a Duryea car, was 7.5 miles per hour (mph). The first series of races on American soil was organized in 1900 by Gordon Bennett, the owner of the New York Herald, with national automobile clubs of entrant nations choosing teams of three cars to compete on open roads. With a variety of mechanical and design improvements, race speeds had increased significantly and fatal accidents were not uncommon, involving both drivers and spectators.

The years from 1904 to 1910 saw the first Vanderbilt Cup street races on Long Island, organized by William K. Vanderbilt and held despite both legal threats and public misgivings. The first race, held on 8 October 1904 and sanctioned by the new American Automobile Association, had eighteen entrants on a 30.24-mile course mostly through Nassau County in New York. In 1906 the race attracted 250,000 spectators, but because of safety concerns it was canceled in 1907, resuming the following year after the Long Island Motor Parkway was built.

In 1908, the Savannah Automobile Club hosted the first American Grand Prize race. The original seventeen-mile course, built in 1904, was expanded to 25.13 miles. Present were sixteen thousand crowd-control marshals and thirty doctors. There were fourteen European and six American entries. The Gold Cup prize for the race was $5,000, twice that of the Vanderbilt Cup. Production cars were introduced to the American Grand Prize in 1909. Governed by the Automobile Club de France rules, the American Grand Prize was now the main American race entered by European drivers.

Also in 1909, the first closed-circuit dirt track was opened in Indianapolis, Indiana, by a group of automobile manufacturers to test the endurance of American-made automobiles, but this "stock car" testing course was later transformed into a racing speedway. The inaugural race was called the Indianapolis 500 and was run on Memorial Day in 1911. The Indy 500 continues to be run on Memorial Day every year.

In 1914, the Santa Monica speedway was established to host both the Vanderbilt Cup and the American Grand Prize. The 8.4 mile course along the Pacific shoreline included a ninety-degree left turn known as Death Curve. After a year in San Francisco, the races were again held in Santa Monica in 1916, the last time an American Grand Prize was held on a road course until the Vanderbilt Cup was held in New York in 1936.

The first major race after World War I was the Indianapolis 500 on 30 May 1919, in which Arthur Thurman was killed and Louis LeCocq and his mechanic were burned to death when their car overturned and caught fire. The Americans Howdy Wilcox and Eddie Hearne took first and second place, respectively. In 1921, American driver Jimmy Murphy won the French Grand Prix at Le Mans with a time of 4 hours, 7 minutes, and 11.2 seconds. The total distance was 322 miles at a speed of 79.04 mph.

The first world championship race was held in 1925 at the Indianapolis 500, a contest between manufacturers rather than drivers, but escalating costs subsequently forced manufacturers to abandon racing car production for nearly a decade. In 1928, racing rules changed from a strict formula based on engine size and weight to Formula Libre rules, with drivers in partnership with such racing car specialists as Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Bugatti, and in 1930, Scuderia Ferrari.

In 1935, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, the British racer Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first driver to go faster than three hundred miles per hour. On 12 October 1936, the first three-hundred-mile Vanderbilt Cup race at the new Roosevelt Raceway was held. For the first time, the European Auto Union and Mercedes entered drivers. The race was won by the German racer Bernd Rosemeyer driving for Auto Union. The Roosevelt Raceway was a post-depression attempt to resurrect international motor racing in the United States by Eddie Rickenbacker and a group of Wall Street financiers, who established the Motor Development Corporation to create a racing circuit for the best European and American drivers and automobiles. Designer Mark Linenthal, however, failed to deliver a suitable venue. Afterward, international road racing took place primarily in Europe until 1959.

Broad public interest in stock car racing lead to the formation of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) at Daytona Beach in 1947. Stock car racing enjoys wide popularity and is the fastest growing spectator sport in the world. The 1990s in particular saw major growth in the sport's popularity primarily due to NASCAR's proactive marketing efforts and television's hunger for ratings. With inventions such as in-car and bumper-mounted cameras, fans watching the races on television were able to feel as if they were in the middle of the action. Additionally, in a society enamored of superstars, race drivers, more so than other sports figures, are accessible to their fans, typically having come from small towns in the South and racing in venues that are far removed from Hollywood or New York City. In 2001, NASCAR had a broader television viewership than Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and the Women's National

Basketball Association. In 2001, Fox, NBC, and TNT (Turner Television) signed a six-year, $2.4 billion deal for NASCAR's television rights. (In comparison, NASCAR received only $3 million for its television rights in 1985.) Fox's television viewership in 2001 averaged 5.2 million fans per broadcast race (a 41 percent increase over the previous year), and NBC and TNT television viewership in the same year averaged 3.9 million viewers per race (a 35 percent increase over the previous year). NASCAR conducts stock car races under the auspices of its Grand National Division. The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), established in Westport, Connecticut, in 1945, oversees sports car racing in the United States. Additionally, the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), founded in Los Angeles in 1951, sponsors drag racing at the Winternationals in Los Angeles, the Springnationals in Bristol, Tennessee, a national meet in Indianapolis, and a World Championship race in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The NHRA, the SCCA, NASCAR, and the United States Auto Club belong to the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States (ACCUS), which is the U.S. representative to the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the controlling body of automobile racing worldwide since World War II.

In 1950, the first World Championship for drivers was held based on the results of the British, Swiss, Monaco, Belgium, French, and Italian Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. The Indy 500 was included to promote Grand Prix racing in America.

The U.S. Grand Prix, the first American Formula One (F1) race since the American Grand Prize series from 1908 to 1916, was held at the Sebring, Florida, air base in 1959. There were nineteen entrants, including six Americans. The American Bruce McLaren was the youngest driver to win an F1 race. In 1961, the U.S. Grand Prix was relocated to Watkin's Glen, New York, one of the best U.S. tracks, comparable to Monza and Silverstone. Watkin's Glen hosted Grand Prix races through 1980. The first U.S. Grand Prix West was held at Long Beach, California, in 1975. Other Grand Prix circuits included Long Island (1904–1910, birthplace of the Vanderbilt Cup); San Francisco (1915, on a 3.84-mile circuit constructed on landfill in the San Francisco Bay); Riverside, California (1960); Long Beach, California (1976–1983, considered the third best street course in the world after Monaco and Adelaide); Las Vegas (1981–1982, a "parking lot" course, that is, not a street course or circuit course built purposefully for racing, but literally a parking lot used as a race track); Detroit (three races in 1982); Dallas (1984–1985); and Phoenix (1989–1991, the last year a Grand Prix was held in the United States).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, Allan E. The History of the American Speedway: Past and Present. Marne, Mich.: Slideways Publications, 1984.

Macgowan, Robin, and Graham Watson. Kings of the Road: A Portrait of Racers and Racing. Champaign, Ill.: Leisure Press, 1987.

Christine E.Hoffman

See alsoAmerican Automobile Association ; Automobile ; Automobile Industry .

motor-cycle racing. Daimler's motor-bicycle of 1885 could reach 12 m. p. h. Britain lagged behind France and Germany in the development of racing at first but in 1907 Brooklands was opened and the first Tourist Trophy race in the Isle of Man was held. International competition was organized by the Fédération Internationale des Clubs Motor-cyclistes (FIM). Speedway racing was introduced into Britain from America in the 1920s and a league started in 1929. After considerable vicissitudes, it is now re-established and organized by the Speedway Control Board.

J. A. Cannon

motor‐cycle racing Daimler's motor‐bicycle of 1885 could reach 12 m.p.h. Britain lagged behind France and Germany in the development of racing at first but in 1907 Brooklands was opened and the first Tourist Trophy race in the Isle of Man was held. Speedway racing was introduced into Britain from America in the 1920s and a league started in 1929. After considerable vicissitudes, it is now re‐established and organized by the Speedway Control Board.

racing see horse racing ; automobile racing ; track and field athletics ; dog racing ; for boat racing, see motorboating ; rowing ; and sailing ; and for bicycle racing, see under bicycle .