American Stock : The Golden Era of NASCAR 1936-1971Americans started racing mass-produced or "stock" automobiles the moment Henry Ford's second model T rolled off the assembly line. Stock car racing flourished among cash rich moonshiners in the south during Prohibition and it was not long before people began to pay to see these impromptu Sunday afternoon stock races on ovals carved from harvested corn fields. The building block years of NASCAR date from 1938 when "Big" Bill France took over promotion of the Daytona Beach races up to 1971 when he handed the reigns of NASCAR to his son Bill France, Jr. World War II put the brakes on racing but once victory was achieved, the sport benefited by the returning war heroes like Walter "Bud" Moore, "Red" Byron and "Smokey" Yunick. These soon to be NASCAR legends brought to France's fledgling outfit cutting-edge war technology that spurred technological development and revolutionized auto racing. France also recruited to NASCAR several women from the "Rosie the Riveter" generation. The lady drivers ran along side the men beginning in 1946. The most talented of them, Sara Christian, an Atlanta housewife, still holds the record for the highest finish ever by a woman in NASCAR! This is the only DVD series that takes a hard and gritty look at NASCAR's history from 1936 -- 1971, the early, formative years when the "Greatest Generation" managed to build stock car racing into what it is today -- the fastest growing spectator sport in America. The series includes four DVDs: The Early Years 1936 -- 1949; The Jet Age, 1950 -- 1959, the Wild Wild 60's, from 1960 -- 1971; and a bonus DVD, which profiles legends Wendell Scott and Curtis Turner. This exclusive DVD set also includes a private collection of rare and previously unpublished historic photos, quotes and printed historical summaries of each era, with the entire set packaged in a collectible metal film canister with circular companion book.
$249.95
