TJS1018

NEWS
but them also setting the formula for
still what works today.”
Flashing back 70 years to those
formative years wasn’t an easy task
for Schlesier and his team. Cars and
other artifacts from the time period are
scarce, and record-keeping was unreliable
back in stock-car racing’s infancy.
“You really have to dig deep into
the archives,” Schlesier says, noting
how his team mined old newspapers
and International Speedway Corporation’s
reserves to tell the story of NAS-
CAR’s post-war burst onto a motorsports
scene dominated by sprint cars
and Indianapolis-style racers.
“It started out as sort of a celebration
of the great sport that NASCAR
becomes, but then you realize that in
the first year, it’s anything but a done
deal,” Schlesier says, noting that the
racing periodicals of the day often
mocked stock-car racing as a regional
upstart. “We thought, let’s zero in on
that and really do good history, which
is 1948 isn’t the first year of a great
sport, 1948 is the year where the sport
could’ve been great or died instantly,
and then what are the different, crosscutting
factors that looked at that.”
For history buffs, “Proving Grounds”
brings that rough-and-tumble period
to life, showing NASCAR’s goal of becoming
an organizing source of stability
in an era of fly-by-night promoters.
It also shows the growth of primitive
technology with the dominant car of
the day — the 1939 Ford — and the
hardscrabble tracks that formed the
schedule that Bill France Sr. assembled
as the series went.
18 // TJS 2018
But the newspaper articles — supported
by race reports, canceled purse
checks and other well-preserved documents
— also tell the story of a dynamic,
back-and-forth championship
battle. Red Byron and Fonty Flock
traded the standings lead several
times with Byron eventually securing
the title. Both became early stars in
Strictly Stock competition, with Hall
of Famer Byron becoming the premier
series’ first champion.
Though relics from 1948 were not
easy to come by, several pieces of automotive
history help to anchor the exhibit.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Museum and Hall of Famer Ray
Evernham were among the contributors,
providing vehicles on loan from
their impressive collections.
The exhibit runs through January
2019.
MONSTER ENERGY
NASCAR CUP
SERIES AT DOVER
Sunday, Oct 7
2:00 PM
Dover International
Speedway
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500
Sunday, Oct 14
2:00 PM
Talladega
Superspeedway
SCHEDULE 2018
HOLLYWOOD
CASINO 400
Sunday, Oct 21
2:00 PM
Kansas
Speedway
FIRST DATA 500
Sunday, Oct 28
2:30 PM
Martinsville
Speedway