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Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States held largely on banked concrete oval tracks of between approximately 1/2 mile and 2.66 miles (about 0.8 to 4.2 kilometres) in length, but also raced occasionally on conventional racing circuits. Ovals shorter than one mile (1.6 km) are called short tracks; longer ovals are typically known as superspeedways. Races are generally 200 to 600 miles (320-965 km) in length. Average speeds are around 160 mi/h (275.5 km/h), compared to 220 mi/h (354 km/h) in open wheel racing. (Some tracks are built to allow cars to travel at speeds close to those in open-wheel racing.)
A stock car in the original sense of the word is an automobile which has not been modified from its original factory configuration. This term was used to differentiate such a car from a race car, a special, custom-built car designed only for racing purposes with no intent of its ever being used as regular transportation.
When NASCAR was first formed to regulate stock car racing, there was a requirement that any car entered be made entirely of parts available to the general public through automobile dealers, and that all cars must be from a model run of which at least 500 cars of that model were sold to the general public. In NASCAR's early years, the cars were so "stock" that it was commonplace for the drivers to drive themselves to the competitions in the car that they were going to run in the race.
This was eventually modified, however, primarily in the interest of safety, as race drivers are subjected to forces unheard of by drivers of cars in ordinary use, and require a far higher level of protection that that afforded by truly "stock" automobile bodies. Modern racing "stock" cars are stock in name only, using a body template modeled after currently-available automobiles, but the chassis, running gear, and equipment have almost nothing to do with those of ordinary automobiles.
Modern stock cars superficially resemble standard American family sedans, but are in fact purpose-built racing machines built to a strict set of regulations governing the car design ensuring that the chassis, suspension and such are architecturally identical on all vehicles. Ironically, these regulations ensure that stock car racers are in many ways technologically less sophisticated than standard cars on the road. For example, NASCAR (the premier stock car organization in the US) requires carbureted engines in all of its racing series, while fuel injection is now universal in standard passenger cars.
Engines, whilst containing varying components from the various manufacturers who compete in the series, are of fixed size, and are generally designed to ensure all entrants have near-equal vehicles. There are several categories of stock car racing, each with slightly different rules, but the key intention of cars that look like production cars, but with near-identical specifications underneath, remains true.
The closest European equivalent to stock car racing is probably touring car racing, though these are raced exclusively on road circuits rather than ovals.
The most prominent championship in stock car racing is the NASCAR championship, currently called the Nextel Cup after its sponsor (formerly known as Winston Cup after a previous sponsor). It is the most popular racing series in the United States, drawing over 6 million spectators in 19971997 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of the Reef''. Events January January 3 NBC's Today Show Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time January 8 Mister Rogers receives a star on t, averaging over 190,000 people for each race not including televisionSee TV (disambiguation) for other uses and Television (band) for the rock band Television is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance. The term has come to refer to all the aspects of television p audiences. The most famous event in the series is undoubtedly the Daytona 500The Daytona 500 is a 200-lap, 500 mile, NASCAR race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. In stock car racing, it is the most important race of the year. Not only is Daytona NASCAR's biggest race, it is also the ci, an annual 500-mile race at Daytona Beach, FloridaDaytona Beach is a city located in Volusia County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 64,112. The wide smooth sands of Daytona Beach were open to drivers for many years and also used for high-speed testing and racing of car. The circuit's second-biggest event is probably the Brickyard 400The Brickyard 400 is an annual 400 mile (approx. 632 km) NASCAR race held each August at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. It is a full Nextel Cup points event. See also List of current NASCAR races Past Winners 2004: Jeff Gordon 2003:, an annual 400-mile race held at the Indianapolis Motor SpeedwayIndianapolis Motor Speedway located in Speedway, Indiana (a separate city completely surrounded by Indianapolis), is the oldest surviving auto racing track in the world, having existed since 1908. The original surface was crushed stone and tar, and when t, the legendary home of the Indianapolis 500The Indianapolis 500 is an American race for open-wheel automobiles held annually over the Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. Run for the first time in 1911, "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" is one of the oldes. NASCAR also runs the Busch SeriesThe Busch Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCAR's second division, and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organization's top level, the Nextel Cup. The series emerged from NASCAR's old Sport, a stock car junior league, and the Craftsman Truck Series, a junior league where pickup trucks are raced. Together the two car-based series (Winston Cup and Busch Series) drew 8 million spectators in 1997, compared to 4 million for both American open-wheel series ( CART and IRL). In 2002, 17 of the 20 US top sporting events in terms of attendance were NASCAR races. Only football drew more television viewers that year.
Besides NASCAR, there is IROC (International Race of Champions) and the IPower Dash series, formerly known as the Goodys Dash series. There is also stock car racing in Canada organized by CASCAR, and Australia once had the AUSCAR but it didn't enjoy success comparable to the V8 Supercars
Stock car racing is also a popular local event. Many tracks exist in the United States (and a few in Canada) catering to a wide variety of car types and fans. There are a few organizations that cater to these local short tracks, such as ARCA, ASA and IMCA. NASCAR also supports local short track racing with their Elite Division and Weekly Series racing.