HARRISBURG, N.C. — It’s been 30 years since NASCAR stock cars first raced at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the inaugural Brickyard 400 was among a series of events in 1994 that reshaped American auto racing.
NASCAR’s premier stock car series was born in 1949 and featured a group of daredevil drivers battling in “stock” production automobiles. Racing primarily on the dirt tracks of the Southeast, several of the sport’s top drivers had honed their skills by hauling moonshine.
Headlined by the Indianapolis 500, USAC’s various open-wheel series were racing’s most popular divisions during the 1960s and ’70s, while NASCAR struggled to find its way. In fact, many believe if R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. hadn’t stepped in to sponsor and promote stock car racing’s premier series through its Winston brand after tobacco advertising was legislated off of television, NASCAR would not have survived the1970s.
But not only did the sanctioning body survive, NASCAR racing during the 1980s was so successful that it caught the eye of Hollywood, and millions of potential race fans were introduced to Cole Trickle, Harry Hogge and Rowdy Burns with the 1990 release of “Days of Thunder.”
Then, a series of events during the 1994 racing season were the next steps in NASCAR’s journey from a regional sport to a national phenomenon.
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