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History

"The fastest of NASCAR's ""big four"" races, the Alabama 500 is run every October at the 2.66-mile speedway in Talladega, Alabama. The race was known as the Talladega 500 the first year it was run and became the Winston 500 in 1971, under the sponsorship of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. The first race, in 1970, was boycotted by the Professional Drivers Association, led by Richard Petty, because the surface of the new track was so rough that it was tearing tires apart during trials and qualification runs. The race went on even though most of NASCAR's top drivers withdrew. The caution flag was brought out every 25 laps to allow drivers to change tires without losing their places. The track was resurfaced before the 1971 race. Speeds at Talladega were so high, though, that NASCAR introduced restrictor plates for the first time in 1973 to slow the cars down. Reynolds withdrew its sponsorship in 2000 and the race was renamed the Alabama 500. Since 2001, it's been known as the EA Sports 500. The Talladega 500 is a NASCAR race run at the track during the spring."

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"Founded more than 50 years ago, NASCAR has become one of the hottest spectator sports in the world. In the years following World War II, stock car racing began to grow. Bill France Sr. promoted racing events on the famous beach course at Daytona Beach, FL. France saw the sport needed organizing and so started the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing in 1947. Under the direction of Bill France Sr. and later his son, Bill France Jr., NASCAR has become the fastest growing spectator sport in the 1990s. The first NASCAR-sanctioned race was held on the beach/road course at Daytona in February 1948. The following year NASCAR began the ""Strictly Stock"" division, which has become the racing division of NASCAR, known today as the Winston Cup Series. The first ""Strictly Stock"" event featured a $5,000 purse and was held on a two-mile circular course in southern Florida followed by a 150-mile race at the three-quarter-mile Charlotte Speedway. Eight ""Strictly Stock"" events in all were held in 1949. In 1950, the first NASCAR event on the newly constructed Darlington International Speedway in South Carolina was held. This banked, paved track had 75 cars take the green flag for the 500-mile race. In 1954, France announced plans to construct a 2.5-mile high-banked speedway in Daytona Beach, headquarters of NASCAR. Construction started November 1957, and the track was completed in 1959. Throughout the 60s and 1970s, interest in NASCAR continued to grow. Richard Petty, son of the first Daytona 500 winner, won the first of his seven Winston Cup championships in 1964. "