FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2022-222 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (December 14, 2022) – In Issue 2022-222 of Steve Kovacs Fun with Maps, we meet up with a little Stock Car Auto Racing history

VROOM, VROOM

Today is NASCAR’s 75th birthday – first meeting toward its foundation was on December 14, 1947 in the Ebony Room of the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Nearly 40 businessmen, promoters, race car owners and race car drivers met for 4 days to form what is now a billion-dollar business.  The participants would describe themselves as “a bunch of characters” and most made their money from bootlegging whiskey.

Their original slogan, “Where the Fastest that Run, Run the Fastest”, was penned by the man who brought the group together, William Henry Getty France, aka “Big Bill.”

Local race associations were quick to band together and join the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).  The first race took place on the Daytona Beach road course on February 15, 1948.

Florida is pictured in this map from 1865 by Johnson.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.