When Nascar really was 'STOCK'

You hear that many times by fans referring to the 'good ole days' and such. While I am not one to judge if Nascar was really 'better' back than, that is not the point of this blog. Since the first time I went to Daytona, and spent an afternoon driving down highway A1A and the 'beach course', I was intrigued by that history and even some of the 'nutty' things that took place in the past.


A few years later, I was fortunate enough to RV at Richmond near a gentleman who used to work with Curtis Turner. The stories he told one night were simply amazing even if only half of them were true. From not wearing seatbelts of any kind to racing with a MONKEY in your car!

This past summer while attending the Chicago Cup Race, I stumbled across a print of the 1956 Nascar Grand National Race won by Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, that I just could not pass up and is now framed on my 'game room' wall. Who would have thunk it, Nascar Racing from inside Soldier Field!!!

But back to the 'wackiness' of some of those 'good ole days', I friend sent me this link of a clip the other day from the 1960 season. What struck me was not the wreck itself, but the drivers getting out of their cars to help others, what they were wearing (or lack there of). The slowness of the safety crews and the over all nonchalantness of the whole situation (see the driver already out of his car and walking aorund, even though there are still cars wrecking?). Here take a look for yourself.



Now flash forward about 50 years, even those 'high tech' boys can do it



Hopefully we wont ever see these type of crashes again, but my guess is that we will.