1001 NASCAR Facts. John Close
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he set the world land speed record by piloting a Blitzen Benz to 131.724 mph on the sands at Daytona Beach. That made Oldfield a star to the American public and led to acting roles and endorsements. Oldfield later became the first to turn a lap at more than 100-mph average at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1916. An advocate for safety, Oldfield was a pioneer in the use of driver safety restraints, roll cage use, and tire development. Oldfield retired in 1918 but stayed connected to motorsports until his death in 1946.
39 The son of a Michigan governor, William Durant wasn’t dreaming of an automotive empire when he took over the Buick Car Company in 1904, but that’s exactly what happened. He used Buick as the cornerstone to General Motors Holding Company, founded September 16, 1908. By combining Buick, Oldsmobile, and later Cadillac and Oakland (Pontiac), Durant formed the first automotive super-company. A self-made millionaire, Durant believed that avoiding duplication was the automobile’s ticket to profitability. It is said that Durant was prepared to spend $8 million to acquire the Ford Motor Company in 1909, but that deal never happened. Later, with finances stretched to the limit, Durant was forced out of General Motors in 1910 only to return to the business a year later after partnering with Louis Chevrolet. By 1914, Durant had bought out Chevrolet and set his sights on taking back General Motors. In 1916, Durant had acquired enough stock to again become president of GM and during the next four years grew the car company to a staggering size. Durant lost control of General Motors again in 1920. His next automotive project, Durant Motors, lasted through the 1920s before falling victim to the Great Depression in 1933. Having lost millions on stock investments when the stock market crashed in 1929, Durant declared bankruptcy in 1935. In the end, the man who created General Motors worked as a bowling alley manager before his death in 1947.
40 Considered the first great American gasoline-powered engine builder, Ransom Olds patented his first gas “hit and miss” engine in 1886 and founded America’s first car company, the Olds Motor Vehicle Company, in 1897. Olds was the first to outsource parts and mass-produce cars, specifically the Olds Curved Dash Runabout, producing 425 vehicles in 1901. These vehicles featured transmissions from Horace and John Dodge, engines from Henry Leland (the founder of Cadillac and Lincoln) and bodies from Fred Fisher, who went on to General Motors design fame. In 1902, Olds put his car brand on the auto racing map when he and a stripped down Runabout named The Pirate won the first official timed event on the shores of Daytona Beach, Florida. In later years, his Olds Rocket 88 became the engine of choice for modified and late model stock cars as well as in NASCAR; the brand won five of the first eight NASCAR Strictly Stock races during the inaugural 1949 season. The high point for Oldsmobile’s racing success came in 1955 when Tim Flock delivered the brand’s only NASCAR Manufacturers’ Championship. Olds also founded REO Motor Company and the first line of mass-produced trucks in 1908, and later designed and produced the first gas-powered lawnmower in the 1940s. Olds died in 1950 at the age of 86.
41 While most historians remember September 26, 1909, as the start of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union strike in New York City, NASCAR fans celebrate it as the birth of NASCAR founder William Getty France; the son of Irish immigrants Emma Graham and William Henry France. As a teenager, the Washington, D.C. native would joyride his father’s Model T on a banked board track in Maryland. Later, in the midst of the Great Depression, France moved his family (now consisting of wife Anne and son Bill Jr.) to Daytona Beach, Florida, to escape the brutal winters of the north. There, he became ingrained in the emerging Daytona racing culture and the rest, as they say, is history.
Bill France Sr. grew NASCAR from an idea to one of the most successful professional sports enterprises in America. (Photo Courtesy Ed Samples Jr. Collection)
42 One of America’s early racing stars, Joe Tracy, rivaled Barney Old-field as the country’s top driver at the turn of the 20th Century. A regular competitor in the early Vanderbilt and Bennett Cup races, he is the only driver to participate in the first five Vanderbilt Cup and Elimination events from 1904 to 1906. Tracy participated in the 1904 Daytona Beach Tournament races and drove a Peerless to a second-place finish in that 5-mile event. He retired after the 1906 season, and was retroactively awarded the 1906 National Driving Championship in 1951.
43 You won’t find William Klann’s name in any NASCAR record book, but his name will forever be linked to the American automobile just the same. “Pa” Klann, a machinist at Ford, brought the concept of the automated assembly line to Henry Ford. Klann visited the Swift Meat packing slaughterhouse in Chicago where he was impressed with the factory’s deconstruction line and the efficiency of one person doing the same job. Klann took the idea to Detroit where he and Peter Martin, head of Ford production at the time, “flipped” the concept, making the first modern moving automobile assembly line. This new system allowed Ford to mass-produce inexpensive cars.
44 Long before lending his name and design instincts to an American car brand, Louis Chevrolet was a top race car driver. Born in France on Christmas Day 1878, Chevrolet first moved to Canada and then to Brooklyn, New York, in 1899. Initially a mechanic, Chevrolet began driving race cars in 1900 and by 1905, was beating Barney Oldfield, Henry Ford, and others in high-profile races. His victories drew the attention of William Durant, president at General Motors, who then hired Chevrolet to drive for his Buick race team. Chevrolet not only delivered on the track, but also in the shop where he designed a car under his own name. The vehicle featured an industry-first 6-cylinder, center-of-floor gearshift, and an emergency brake mounted under the dash. Launched in 1912, the new Chevrolet sold nearly 20,000 cars its first three years.
Chevrolet was unhappy, often clashing with Durant, forcing him to leave the company in 1914. He then founded Frontenac Motor Corporation with his brothers, Gaston and Arthur. Using a Ford Model T as the base chassis, the Chevrolet brothers built three Frontenac race cars, one for each to drive in the 1915 Indianapolis 500. While none of the cars finished, Chevrolet was determined to build a winner, a feat he accomplished when Gaston Chevrolet and Tommy Milton won back-to-back Indy 500s in 1920 and 1921. Meanwhile, Louis competed in the Indy 500 four times, his best finish a seventh-place in 1919. Unfortunately, an economic downturn forced Chevrolet and Frontenac out of business in 1922. Chevrolet continued building cylinder heads for the now “Fronty-Fords” until the Ford Model A all but put him out of business. In the end, Chevrolet never cashed in on the financial success of the brand bearing his name although he returned to the company as a consultant in the 1930s. Chevrolet was forced to retire after suffering a brain hemorrhage in 1938. He lived out his final years in poor health passing away on June 6, 1941. He is buried across the street from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Holy Cross Cemetery.
45 The career of Hall of Fame Driver Wendell Scott highlights the history of African-Americans in NASCAR. While Scott is a NASCAR pioneer, others laid the groundwork for his entrance into motors-ports. Dewey Gadsen, better known as Rajo Jack, was part of that group. Barred from top competitions in the 1920s and 1930s because of his color, Rajo Jack competed in “outlaw” races on the West Coast. He sometimes claimed to be Native American or a Portuguese driver named Jack DeSoto so he could be allowed to race. Among his biggest wins was the 1936 AAA National Championship 200-mile stock car event at Mines Field in Los Angeles. He also won 300-milers at Oakland and Ascot Speedways in the 1930s and raced into the 1950s before ending his driving career. Gadsen died of a heart attack in 1956 and his death certificate identifies him as Rajo Jack.
46 Frank Lockhart had Daytona International Speedway grandstand named honoring him as one of the great drivers of the 1920s. Born in Ohio, Lockhart mastered the dirt and board tracks of California before moving to IndyCars in 1926; he promptly won the Indy 500, making him the fourth rookie to capture the event. Lockhart won four additional IndyCar events in 1926 and finished second in the AAA National Championship standings. During the off-season, Lockhart, along with John and Zenas Wiesel, designed and produced a manifold to cool the fuel between the carburetor and supercharger. Lockhart secured a patent for the part now commonly called an intercooler. The intercooler provided a significant jump in horsepower and propelled Lockhart to a new world land speed record of 164.02 mph during a pre–Indy 500 test on Muroc Dry Lake in California.
Lockhart and his Perfect Circle Turbocharged racer