The first Automobile racing happened mostly in Europe but when introduced in the United States took a very different form. The first American automobile race is generally held to be the Thanksgiving Day Chicago Times-Herald race of November 28, 1895. Press coverage of the event first aroused significant American interest in the automobile. This greatly helped improve american interest in the automobile who's industry was just beginning and would later drive the American economy. American motor racing developed differently than European racing. European motor racing has always been and still is about technological advancements which restriction on car speed and less restrictions on body and motor design. This was to done to increase safety in motor racing and also increase the innovations in automobiles. American racing originated and grew more as simply a test of speed. The most popular types of motor driving in the United States is NASCAR, Drag racing, and Indy racing.
Drag racing
Drag racing is simply a test of which car can reach a point in the road first. It originated When two people wanted to race their car and simply drove as fast as they could to the end of the street. This type of racing greatly encouraged a boost in production vehicle speed. In drag racing, the objective is to complete a given straight-line distance, from a standing start, ahead of a vehicle in a parallel lane. This distance is traditionally ¼ mile (400 m), though ⅛ mile (200 m) has become popular since the 1990's. The vehicles may or may not be given the signal to start at the same time, depending on the class of racing. Vehicles range from the everyday car to the purpose-built dragster. Speeds and elapsed time differ from class to class. Average street cars cover the ¼ mile in 12 to 16 seconds, whereas a top fuel dragster takes 4.5 seconds or less, reaching speeds of up to 530 km/h (329 mph). Drag racing was organized as a sport by Wally Parks in the early 1950's through the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association). The NHRA was formed to discourage street racing.
Indy Racing
One of the oldest existing purpose-built automobile racing circuits in the United States, still in use, is the 2.5-mile (4.02 km)-long Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. It is the largest capacity sports venue of any variety worldwide, with a top capacity of some 257,000+ seated spectators. Indy Racing is the most similar type of racing to European racing. The cars are specially built for the races and look significantly different than production vehicles. They have open wheels and are more aerodynamically built. However, they are built to reach much higher speeds than any other car, not to simply push the boundaries of technology.
NASCAR
NASCAR is by far the most popular type of racing in the United States. It very clearly originates from production vehicles as you can tell by the shape of the body but are extremely modified to be much faster and durable. NASCAR is a form of stock car racing which means that it has two seats and a windshield. Basically it is built to look similar to production vehicles. NASCAR also made production cars much more desirable to the general public which had a huge impact on the automobile industry as it started growing
https://static.nascar.com/content/dam/nascar/articles/2015/2/10/main/Harvick-Newman-Homestead-2014-main.jpg/jcr:content/renditions/original
Together these three forms of automobile racing were the foundation for the popularity and success of automobiles in modern America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_racing
http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/magazine/history-motor-sport
https://www.cio.com/article/2447688/it-organization/a-brief-history-of-nascar--from-moonshine-runners-to-dale-earnhardt-jr-.html
Hugo, I really liked how you detailed the history of the automobile through racing. I never knew how impactful street racing was on the development of vehicle speeds when cars were first being introduced. Also, I like how you provided information on racing today, showing how a practice that originated in the late nineteenth century is still relevant today. Thanks for such an interesting post!
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