NASCAR Then and Now - Ben White [14]
In the early 1960s, manufacturer backing led to the creation of the first big shops, including the Chrysler-supported Petty Enterprises in Level Cross, North Carolina, and the Ford-backed Holman-Moody headquarters located in Charlotte. Over time, the successful and longstanding teams have grown to employ hundreds of people, and their headquarters have become attractions in themselves, with restaurants, gift shops, and guided tours for visitors.
Banjo Matthews stands at the center of his shop in Arden, North Carolina, during a busy day in the mid-1970s. Known as one of the sport’s premier car builders, the former driver and team owner also handled extensive repairs for other teams.
A member of the Holman- Moody team works on an engine in the mid-1960s. Cameras were rarely allowed in the engine department of the shop.
The Hendrick Motorsports shop is a state-of-the-art facility spread over several acres of carefully manicured landscapes.
Here are No. 24 and No. 48 Chevrolets in various states of assembly inside the perfectly neat and orderly Hendrick facility.
The Office
The cockpit is the place where NASCAR drivers can forget about the many demands of their daily lives. It’s the place where they can focus and do what they do best. Unfortunately, in years past the cockpit was also the place where some drivers lost their lives through violent crashes or deadly fires. In today’s safety- conscious era, it seems hard to believe that the racers of yesteryear didn’t even wear seatbelts, let alone fire-protection gear. (Many drivers felt they were better off being thrown out of the car than getting trapped in a burning wreck.)
The modern NASCAR Sprint Cup car was designed for maximum driver safety, with numerous innovations that have allowed drivers to walk away from even the most spectacular accidents. The sport will always have its dangers, but today’s NASCAR driver knows that when he climbs into that cockpit, he can feel assured that the chances of climbing back out in one piece are better than they have ever been.
This is Fred Lorenzen strapping on his helmet before a race in 1965. The view inside the cockpit of his Holman- Moody Ford shows that this car is a long way removed from the Strictly Stock family sedan, yet it is a far cry from today’s car. Note the black electrical tape, limited roll bar padding, and no headrest behind Lorenzen’s seat.
Jeff Burton is in the cockpit of his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet before the start of the Sprint Cup event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June 2009. Note the carbon-fiber seat—which was custom-built to fit Burton’s frame—with padding that wraps around Burton’s head, torso, and legs to keep him safe in the event of side impacts. The steering wheel (removable to allow an easier exit from the car) is set close to the driver in order to save his or her arms from the fatigue that comes with reaching out to steer.
Chapter 4 The Tracks
For the first 10 years of NASCAR’s existence, the sands of Daytona Beach, Florida, offered drivers a great surface for racing—that is, if practice, qualifying, and the race could be completed before the ocean’s tide came in during the late afternoon hours. Here Eddie Anderson is putting his No. 45 Nash through its paces on the Daytona Beach and Road Course in 1951.
At the two-mile high-banked Michigan International Speedway, there is plenty of room for fans to have a comfortable view of the action on the track. Built in 1969, the facility has progressively grown over the past three decades and now accommodates more than 100,000 fans.
From the Dirt Tracks to the Superspeedways
During the formative years of NASCAR, races were run on oval dirt tracks cut into open fields and cow pastures with guardrails hastily installed. Despite these tight confines, drivers raced three wide into turns and it was not unusual for a driver to find himself off track