NASCAR and drinking are often associated with one another, but the connection between them is much deeper than people think. In fact, NASCAR wouldn’t exist without alcohol, specifically bootleg liquor.
According to a recent Smithsonian article, many features of modern NASCAR driving were developed during Prohibition, when bootlegging was at its peak. The “runners,” who delivered moonshine from remote stills to customers, drove dangerously and at high speeds as a consequence of their job. As one example, the technique of quickly turning a car around in a controlled skid was known as a “bootleg turn.”
The idea of “stock” cars also comes from bootlegging, as the term originally meant normal-looking cars with souped-up engines and heavy-duty shocks that kept moonshine jars from breaking on unpaved, winding mountain roads. The idea was to have a car that could fit a lot of booze, look plain enough to avoid detection, and be able to outrun police cars if the need arose.
Once Prohibition ended, bootlegging declined, leaving all these daredevil drivers and their souped-up cars sitting idle. Since they were already accustomed to racing each other for fun and bragging rights, a group of them decided to make their hobby official, and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (aka NASCAR) was born in 1947 so races could be held under standardized rules.
These days, NASCAR doesn’t trumpet its past as an accessory to bootlegging, but they don’t hide it either. Junior Johnson, one of the first entries into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame, was a bootlegger who credited that profession to his success as a professional race car driver.
“When I sat down in that seat the first race I ever ran, it was a backseat to what I’d already been through,” Junior said. “I had did [sic] all them spinning deals sideways and stuff like that. It just made my job so much easier than anybody I had seen come along and go into it.”
—RealClearLife Staff
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