NASCAR was founded in 1948, before cars got awesome. Sure, many historians or car enthusiasts may disagree with that assertion but just look at these things. They don’t look like they’re breaking a top speed of 50 miles per hour. Nevertheless, these race cars managed to draw huge audiences, build a nationwide empire, and even impressively pile up.
Seriously, all I can think of when I look at most of these cars is the Three Stooges. These NASCAR clunkers look like vehicles that Moe, Larry, and Curly would be veering all over the road in. Keep that image in mind as you check out these vintage photos of early NASCAR events filled with cars that look like they’d be better for running errands than zooming around a track.
1
The Nash Ambassador from 1950 looks more like something you’d use to drop the kids off at school than take on a 2,096-mile race through Mexico.
2
Martinsville Speedway, 1960, colorized
3
Studebaker Commander, 1951. This thing has clearly taken a beating, give it a break!
4
Marshall Teague in his ‘Fabulous Hudson Hornet’ stock car, Daytona Beach, FL, 1951.
5
Bob and Fonty Flock, racing brothers. Circa 1940s
6
Red Byron, the winner of NASCAR’s first-ever NASCAR Cup Series (then known as ‘Strictly Stock’) in 1949. Colorized
7
William H.G. France before founding NASCAR, circa 1940s
8
A crash from a NASCAR race in the 1940s. How these cars moved fast enough to get into this situation is beyond me.
9
Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, 1938. Look at them go!
10
Another race car crash, like a turtle flipped on its back. 1950
11
NASCAR’s first season in 1948. Look at all that dirt those clunkers are kicking up!
12
A pre-war Ford coupe in the late 1940s
13
The first official NASCAR points race was in Daytona Beach in 1948. Careful that the tide doesn’t come in!
14
Old-fashioned cars vying for first place on Daytona Beach in 1956
15
NASCAR star Tim Flock, who ran moonshine before becoming a racer.
16
A driver poses by his car before the first Strictly Stock race in Charlotte, NC, 1949, colorized
17
This pace car was used in 1941, years before the founding of NASCAR
18
A Nash Ambassador sedan being used as a pace car in 1953, pursued by a legion of horse-and-buggy-looking race cars.
19
An early 1950s NASCAR crash.
20
Race cars kicking up dust circa 1950s. Check out the guy with his arm out the window like he’s driving a taxi.
21
Cars line up for the start of a 1957 NASCAR race. Looks like a traffic jam on the way to the grocery store.
