Speaker 1: Guess what, Well, what's that? Mango?
Speaker 2: So I'm not really into car racing, you know this?
Speaker 2: I mean I have watched Talladega Nights. I'm also familiar
Speaker 2: with Pixar's Cars movie and Cars two. So actually not
Speaker 2: how I say that. Basically, I'm an expert, but.
Speaker 1: I think you are an expert. That's fair to say.
Speaker 2: But as we were looking into the strange origins of
Speaker 2: NASCAR and F one this week, I actually stumbled into
Speaker 2: this story about TLC's Nascar Wives reality show.
Speaker 1: Have you heard about this? I haven't. Was this like
Speaker 1: Jersey Shore or Real Housewives or what? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I mean that was kind of the idea. But they
Speaker 2: wanted to play on stereotypes and have all the usual
Speaker 2: drama you have baked into these things, and the hope
Speaker 2: was that would appeal to all the NASCAR fans out there.
Speaker 2: But they actually had to cancel the show because the
Speaker 2: wives gone along too well.
Speaker 1: Isn't that great? That actually kind of makes me like
Speaker 1: NASCAR even more.
Speaker 2: I know, but today's show is really for outsiders like us,
Speaker 2: Like what makes NASCAR and F one racing so appealing?
Speaker 2: And why do people bring their yachts to one type
Speaker 2: of car race? While family's caravan to the other. And
Speaker 2: that's what today's show is all about. So let's dive in.
Speaker 1: Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm
Speaker 1: Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good
Speaker 1: friend Mangesh hot Ticketter and on the other side of
Speaker 1: the soundproof glass, he's the only guy who wears driving
Speaker 1: gloves while seated at a soundboard. Now that's our friend
Speaker 1: and producer Tristan McNeil.
Speaker 2: I mean, in all fairness to Tristan, his chair does
Speaker 2: have wheels on it.
Speaker 1: That's a good point. I didn't think about that well
Speaker 1: either way. It's nice when he gets into the spirit
Speaker 1: of the day's topic. And you know, as you might
Speaker 1: have guessed, for this episode, we're headed off to the
Speaker 1: races and we're going to take a look at two
Speaker 1: of the world's most popular motor sports. Now we're talking
Speaker 1: NASCAR and Formula One. But even though those sports may
Speaker 1: seem similar on the surface, each one has its own
Speaker 1: very distinct style, history and fan base. So today we're
Speaker 1: going to break down the differences. And I really tried
Speaker 1: to get a sense of how these vastly different racing
Speaker 1: institutions have managed to share the road for I guess
Speaker 1: it's about seven decades now.
Speaker 2: So you know, a few years back, I was chatting
Speaker 2: with our friend Dan Riley, who's written some amazing stories
Speaker 2: on F one for GQ, and one of the things
Speaker 2: he told me was that when this F one champ
Speaker 2: came to the US, he was actually taking selfies of
Speaker 2: himself in Penn Station in New York City and no
Speaker 2: one recognized him. He's like this insane superstar. And apparently
Speaker 2: the TV audience for the races there is like five
Speaker 2: hundred million viewers, which is like five Super Bowls. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's incredible. But in the US he's totally anonymous. Actually,
Speaker 2: the other thing he told me was that Dan actually
Speaker 2: got to sit in the passenger seat as the driver
Speaker 2: drove on an F one test course in Jersey City,
Speaker 2: but he was driving a mini van, and he said
Speaker 2: he was terrified, Like the driver knew exactly how to
Speaker 2: handle all the curves and corners and straightaways, but he
Speaker 2: was in total control. But still, minivans shouldn't go that fast.
Speaker 1: Oh, that is terrifying. I can't say that I've ever
Speaker 1: driven my minivan as fast as he was probably driving.
Speaker 1: But you're right, I mean, they have such different audiences.
Speaker 1: I actually remember going to Austin one year. I think
Speaker 1: we were presenting it south By Southwest that year, and
Speaker 1: I was talking to the clerk at the rental car
Speaker 1: place and just made a comment just in passing that
Speaker 1: south By has to be one of the worst times
Speaker 1: of year for you, right, And he actually said, it's
Speaker 1: nothing compared to when they have the F one races,
Speaker 1: because you know, not only is there this insane crowd there,
Speaker 1: but all these rich people just come in and buy
Speaker 1: up all the houses so they have a place to party.
Speaker 1: I was like, so what do they do with them
Speaker 1: after that? And he said they actually just sell them
Speaker 1: a couple months later. Like the audience is just that rich.
Speaker 1: It's kind of insane. But that's what makes the comparison
Speaker 1: between the two sports so interesting. And I didn't realize
Speaker 1: before this episode that NASCAR and F one they actually
Speaker 1: pretty much came up together mid century. And you know,
Speaker 1: NASCAR was officially incorporated in the US in nineteen forty eight,
Speaker 1: and then Formula one was just a couple of years
Speaker 1: later than that in Europe.
Speaker 2: That's crazy, Like I never would have imagined that NASCAR
Speaker 2: was older than Formula One. But yeah, it is interesting
Speaker 2: to think about those like early post war years and
Speaker 2: how I guess like the whole world was just itching
Speaker 2: to get back to friendlier competitions, and I'm sure they
Speaker 2: were also curious to see what some of the new
Speaker 2: technology could do when it was put to more fun uses.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, there's a lot of obvious stuff that's
Speaker 1: similar between the two. But I do think we should
Speaker 1: probably talk about, you know, what sets NASCAR and F
Speaker 1: one apart from each other before we get too deep
Speaker 1: into their history. So for starters, we definitely need to
Speaker 1: take a look at the cars themselves, since that's ultimately
Speaker 1: where the biggest differences lie. So, you know, right off
Speaker 1: the bat, it's easy to tell an F one car
Speaker 1: from a NASCAR just by the shape of the car.
Speaker 1: You've got these nascars that look a little bit more
Speaker 1: like the kind of car you see on the road
Speaker 1: every day, you know, the boxy, more enclosed kind of
Speaker 1: sedan type vehicle. And you know, I actually think your
Speaker 1: car may even have the Giant Tide logo on the front.
Speaker 2: I mean, how great would it be if like Giant
Speaker 2: Cup and these starts sponsoring people's daily commutes like if
Speaker 2: teachers didn't have to pay for the gas to go
Speaker 2: to work because it was all covered by folgers or something,
Speaker 2: it'd be.
Speaker 1: Great, nice idea.
Speaker 2: In fact, to the car design. You know, I love
Speaker 2: boxy cars as a former Volvo station Wagon driver, but
Speaker 2: F one racers are the ones that look completely different
Speaker 2: than what you or I would drive, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean there may be what most people would think
Speaker 1: of when you're trying to picture a race car, and
Speaker 1: they have that kind of that narrow, open cockpit design
Speaker 1: and the wheels that stick out to the sides and
Speaker 1: the big spoiler on the back, and overall they tend
Speaker 1: to just look more sleek than their NASCAR counterparts. And
Speaker 1: that sleek design is actually crucial because in F one racing,
Speaker 1: the aerodynamics that's really of equal importance to the power
Speaker 1: of the engine. So everything about the car is designed
Speaker 1: to minimize the drag and maximize the speed. And this
Speaker 1: also means that Formula one cars tend to be much lighter.
Speaker 1: So looking at it's about fifteen hundred pounds on average
Speaker 1: for an F one car, and that's compared to over
Speaker 1: three thousand pounds for a typical NASCAR so it's twice
Speaker 1: as heavy when you're talking about a NASCAR.
Speaker 2: That's funny, And I've actually read that like F one
Speaker 2: drivers tend to be lighter, like they're like five eight
Speaker 2: in size and on the lighter side. But like looking
Speaker 2: at that weight comparison, like my expectation would be the
Speaker 2: F one cars would be faster than.
Speaker 1: NASCAR cars, right, well not really. I mean the lighter
Speaker 1: weight and sleeker design of the F one racers means,
Speaker 1: you know, they can actually achieve these high speeds with
Speaker 1: less powerful engines, but they do tend to be a
Speaker 1: little bit faster than nascars, and both kinds of vehicles
Speaker 1: top out in the range or around two hundred miles
Speaker 1: an hour. But you can actually push an F one
Speaker 1: to two hundred and five or even as high as
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifteen miles an hour without as much trouble.
Speaker 2: Well, that's crazy, and that is terrifying to me, like
Speaker 2: those sorts of speeds. But you know what's funny is
Speaker 2: like I was thinking about the cars cars to actually
Speaker 2: a Pixar, and I just assumed that they made the
Speaker 2: F one cars in the NASCAR cars about the same
Speaker 2: speed because it would appeal to American audiences. I didn't
Speaker 2: realize that it would be like factually accurate that they're
Speaker 2: the same.
Speaker 1: But cars too is very factually accurate them credit well,
Speaker 1: Vixar is.
Speaker 2: Great at that, Like even up like that movie, they
Speaker 2: actually used the number of balloons that would lift that
Speaker 2: house like they oh circulated with engineers.
Speaker 1: But that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2: But I do think there's something that's like exponentially more
Speaker 2: dangerous about driving than anything else we do in our day.
Speaker 2: And I can't imagine like driving at two hundred or
Speaker 2: two hundred five miles per hour. It just seems insane.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, an F one racing in particular,
Speaker 1: it was actually a pretty deadly sport when it first started.
Speaker 1: In fact, just looking at the numbers, there were thirteen
Speaker 1: drivers that were killed in the first decade of Formula
Speaker 1: one races alone. But thankfully, you know, these safety standards
Speaker 1: have been greatly improved over the years. And actually no
Speaker 1: one has died behind the wheel of an F one
Speaker 1: car since nineteen ninety four, so we're talking decades now
Speaker 1: since there's been a fatality.
Speaker 2: That's pretty impressive. I wouldn't have imagined that. And of course,
Speaker 2: if we're going to talk about the danger aspect of
Speaker 2: high speed motorsports, we should also talk about something that
Speaker 2: goes hand in hand with it, which is the spectacle
Speaker 2: it provides, right, because, like you said at the top
Speaker 2: of the show, so these are two of the biggest
Speaker 2: motorsports in the world, both in terms of revenue and
Speaker 2: in fan bases.
Speaker 1: All right, So I looked at this on the Formula
Speaker 1: one side, and it really is an international sport in
Speaker 1: terms of its audience. So you've got twenty or so
Speaker 1: annual races that make up the Grand Prix series and
Speaker 1: those actually take place in nineteen different countries, which is
Speaker 1: pretty remarkable, and you got up to three hundred thousand
Speaker 1: people gathering for a single event. Now, in terms of
Speaker 1: overall viewership, you know, it's what you mentioned earlier. You've
Speaker 1: got nearly half a billion people that watch at least
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes of F one racing at some point during
Speaker 1: any given season, and that's according to BBC's top Gear.
Speaker 1: But you know, when you add up all the revenue
Speaker 1: from ticket sales and advertising, that F one industry makes
Speaker 1: roughly about one and a half billion dollars a year.
Speaker 2: Which isn't too shabby. And okay, so F one racing
Speaker 2: definitely has global appeal on its side, but here in
Speaker 2: the US, there's no question that NASCAR reigns supreme. In fact,
Speaker 2: about seventy five million American adults consider themselves NASCAR fans,
Speaker 2: which is one in every three people. And wow, of
Speaker 2: that huge pool of fans, about three point five million
Speaker 2: cran the cells into speedways around the country every year. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: NASCAR races are also broadcast to one hundred and fifty countries,
Speaker 2: which helps drum up about three billion dollars in sponsorship money.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm curious, like, did you get a sense for
Speaker 1: who these fans are? I mean, and NASCAR fans tend
Speaker 1: to be stereotyped pretty hard. I mean, you know, as
Speaker 1: people from the rural South or Middle America who are
Speaker 1: white and lower income. But I'm kind of hoping there's
Speaker 1: a little more nuance there than most people might guess.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of interesting, and we'll talk about the
Speaker 2: statistics in a second. But I know we've both driven
Speaker 2: to the brickyard because we ended up on work trips
Speaker 2: in Indianapolis. But you know, you're so close to Talladega
Speaker 2: and Birmingham. Have you ever actually gone to a.
Speaker 1: Race I've never actually been to a race, and I've
Speaker 1: driven past Talladega so many times. It's right in between
Speaker 1: the two cities that I spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: in between, you know, Birmingham where I'm from, in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: where our offices are, and every time I go by,
Speaker 1: they have these massive flags that are flying nearby, and
Speaker 1: it's just such an interesting place and have always wanted
Speaker 1: to go to a race. But there is one thing
Speaker 1: that I observe every single time I go by there,
Speaker 1: and I'm really curious to look this up, but I
Speaker 1: think they might be in the running for the largest
Speaker 1: gathering of porta pottis in the world. I mean, it
Speaker 1: is unbelievable. If you drive by there on a race week,
Speaker 1: I swear it seems like there are just thousands of
Speaker 1: these things out there. So I kind of want to
Speaker 1: look into this at some point, just to see if
Speaker 1: they might have that claim to fame.
Speaker 2: I like that NASCAR, you know, followers are just like
Speaker 2: you and me. They also use the bathroom they too.
Speaker 1: You know, we're all alike, Mango. There's so much that
Speaker 1: makes us in common.
Speaker 2: So I didn't find any statistics about that toilet situation.
Speaker 1: You're talking about.
Speaker 2: But I did find some statistics on NASCAR fans in
Speaker 2: an Atlantic article, And while some of the stereotypes we
Speaker 2: commonly associate with NASCAR are born out by the numbers,
Speaker 2: some definitely aren't. So for instance, two political pulling groups
Speaker 2: found that nineteen percent of all American voters identified themselves
Speaker 2: NASCAR fans, and sixty percent of those fans live outside
Speaker 2: the southeast US.
Speaker 1: I definitely wouldn't have predicted that. So, like, nineteen percent
Speaker 1: of all American voters are NASCAR fans. That is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: All right, so it's maybe more geographically diverse than we
Speaker 1: might have thought. But what about other stuff like income
Speaker 1: and gender and ethnicity, Like, are NASCAR fans more diverse
Speaker 1: than those areas too?
Speaker 2: Well? Yes and no. So the stereotype about most NASCAR
Speaker 2: fans being white is certainly true, and in fact, according
Speaker 2: to Nielsen's data, NASCAR's audience actually has the highest share
Speaker 2: of white people among all broadcast sports. It's a whopping
Speaker 2: ninety four percent.
Speaker 1: Like I couldn't believe. Wow.
Speaker 2: But that said, NASCAR also boasts the highest share of
Speaker 2: female viewers. Thirty seven percent of its audience is made
Speaker 2: up of women and even in terms of finance, like
Speaker 2: there's a greater degree of variety than we've been told. So,
Speaker 2: for example, of the voters who self identify as NASCAR fans,
Speaker 2: forty two percent earned between forty thousand and one hundred
Speaker 2: thousand a year, which means like a good chunk of
Speaker 2: NASCAR fans are wealthier than the average American.
Speaker 1: And to be frank like f.
Speaker 2: One drivers have actually talked about it. They claim they're
Speaker 2: envious of some of the NASCAR audience because it's more
Speaker 2: of a sport that families can watch together and instead
Speaker 2: of something that feels like a little colder and just
Speaker 2: about status. And even the drivers like they're more approachable.
Speaker 1: M well, all right, So so public opinion maybe a
Speaker 1: little off base about NASCAR fans and in some ways,
Speaker 1: and I guess pretty accurate in others. And I do
Speaker 1: like that the sports styles itself is something made by
Speaker 1: and for ordinary people. I mean, you think about it,
Speaker 1: they're no Lamborghinis or Ferraris in the sport and said,
Speaker 1: you're gonna find these cars by like Ford and General Motors,
Speaker 1: And of course they've been modified after the fact so
Speaker 1: they can hold their own on these races. But there's
Speaker 1: still somewhat of a level of familiarity there, and I
Speaker 1: guess it does make the sport feel more approachable.
Speaker 2: No kidding. You know, I've never been to either a
Speaker 2: NASCAR or F one race, and I'd actually love to
Speaker 2: go to both. But my friend Jeremy once told me
Speaker 2: that you'd actually see Amish families come to Dover Downs
Speaker 2: to watch races, and I think that's kind of amazing, right,
Speaker 2: like something I never would have guessed. But I also
Speaker 2: don't think you'd find the homage going to F one races,
Speaker 2: right right. I knew you were talking about the wealth
Speaker 2: that would fly into Austin, but I read this one
Speaker 2: article that said the yachts people bring to Monaco or
Speaker 2: Belgium or wherever are one hundred and fifty million dollar boats,
Speaker 2: which is insanity, and you wonder, like why they're dropping
Speaker 2: so much on a boat, and the author's answer was, well,
Speaker 2: you need something to take to your private islands.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean it makes a good point. You got
Speaker 1: you got to get there somehow.
Speaker 2: I know. But like that audience feels like such a
Speaker 2: barrier of entry to me. I mean, like formula one
Speaker 2: just feels as elitist as it.
Speaker 1: Gets Yeah, I mean that that sounds pretty accurate. And
Speaker 1: I've heard the sports compared, like you know, like hot
Speaker 1: dogs versus or dervs or sometimes you know beer versus
Speaker 1: champagne when you're thinking about the difference between the two.
Speaker 2: So obviously I get the connection between beer and Nascar,
Speaker 2: but like champagne actually has a connection with Formula one, right, oh, definitely.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, the idea of popping champagne bottles
Speaker 1: has long been asssociated with huge wins or winning championships
Speaker 1: in sports, and actually that active celebration got it start
Speaker 1: from F one racing. So this goes back to nineteen fifty.
Speaker 1: This is when the first French Grand Prix was held
Speaker 1: in the country's Champagne region, and naturally, because of where
Speaker 1: it was held, the winner of that year's race was
Speaker 1: presented with this bottle of the region's trademark beverage. And
Speaker 1: actually that's a custom that's still around today.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a little like how Federer won a
Speaker 2: milking cow for winning a tennis tournament in Switzerland.
Speaker 1: I think, did that really happen? Yeah, you didn't know
Speaker 1: what to do with it. I can imagine like you're
Speaker 1: gonna pack it and take it on the plane or what.
Speaker 2: But so so the winner just emptied the bottle into
Speaker 2: the crowds or something like that. Seems like something that
Speaker 2: would have really ticked off the audience.
Speaker 1: Well not really. I mean, the first time an F
Speaker 1: one racer sprayed the crowd with the champagne happened. It
Speaker 1: was really more like a decade later. I think it
Speaker 1: was in the sixties, and the locals were okay with
Speaker 1: it because you know, this was actually a mistake. And
Speaker 1: so Nick Carvel had this great article on it in GQ,
Speaker 1: and he described the event this way, says, upon winning
Speaker 1: the twenty four Hours of Laman in nineteen sixty six,
Speaker 1: Joe Sipherd accidentally sprayed the crowd as the bottle of
Speaker 1: champagne had been sitting out in the sun, causing pressure
Speaker 1: to build up inside the magnum. The next year, Californian
Speaker 1: racer Dan Gurney deliberately copied Stiffer's gesture when he won
Speaker 1: the same race, and a tradition was born, which is.
Speaker 2: Awesome, but like a magnum, like that's two wine bottles, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, actually it's even more nowadays. So currently F
Speaker 1: one winners receive a full Jeroboama champagne for the big win.
Speaker 1: So wait, what's a jeroboe. Well, it's actually the equivalent
Speaker 1: of four standard wine bottles, So all the better to
Speaker 1: soak the crowd with, I guess. But if for anyone
Speaker 1: who wants to re enact their favorite F one victories,
Speaker 1: the official champagne of the league is the gh Mom
Speaker 1: cordon Rouge, so you can score your own Jeroboama of
Speaker 1: it for about, yeah, like four hundred bucks.
Speaker 2: Okay, so I can definitely see why the NFL just
Speaker 2: sticks with buckets of Gatorade. But you know, Formula one
Speaker 2: isn't the only motorsport with boozy roots, and in fact,
Speaker 2: it is actually a strong case for thinking of NASA
Speaker 2: car as an unintended product of the prohibition era.
Speaker 1: You know, I've read something about this before, but I
Speaker 1: didn't really get the full story. So do you mind
Speaker 1: just kind of walking us through this?
Speaker 2: Definitely, But first let's take a quick break.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Part Time Genius and we're talking about
Speaker 1: the ins and outs of NASCAR, So mango drinking and
Speaker 1: driving definitely don't go well together. But you were actually
Speaker 1: saying there's a connection between the two that somehow gave
Speaker 1: rise to NASCAR.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, decades before NASCAR came along, Apple Ashian bootleggers
Speaker 2: began running homemade whiskey up and down the East Coast
Speaker 2: during Prohibition. And many of these guys were family farmers
Speaker 2: who'd fallen on hard times and turned to moonshine as
Speaker 2: a way to keep their heads above water. And of course,
Speaker 2: desperate or not, what they were doing was very, very illegal,
Speaker 2: so it helped to have a car that could make
Speaker 2: some serious tracks whenever they cross paths with Federal Asians.
Speaker 2: And so the biggest godsend for these bootleggers actually came
Speaker 2: from Henry Ford in nineteen thirty two, and that's because
Speaker 2: that's the year he debuted the V eight engine.
Speaker 1: This is kind of a weird connection though, because it
Speaker 1: wasn't Ford a teetotaler. I mean, I actually think I'd
Speaker 1: read that he made all his employees take a temperance
Speaker 1: pledge just to work in his factories.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, so he wouldn't have been too pleased to
Speaker 2: learn that his flagship engine was basically driving the bootleging business.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the V eight was perfect for it.
Speaker 2: Like it was fast enough to evade the law and
Speaker 2: tough enough to withstand the strain of all those mountain roads.
Speaker 2: And of course bootleggers didn't stop there for added security.
Speaker 2: They actually started souping up their cars with all these
Speaker 2: features straight out of like a speed racer cartoon.
Speaker 1: What I mean, like, I'm imagining the ability to like
Speaker 1: press a button and spray oil all over the road
Speaker 1: or stuff like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I know you're joking, but I mean oil, slicks,
Speaker 2: smoke screens, you name it. Like they even rigged up
Speaker 2: that classic gag where like a bucket of tax is
Speaker 2: spilled out onto the road. Now way straight out of
Speaker 2: Super Mario cars. Seriously, except like they were high tailing
Speaker 2: away from the cops. And also, this is a little aside,
Speaker 2: but I remember this from mental Floss that when like
Speaker 2: bootleggers would be on the run and have to flee
Speaker 2: their cars, they actually had these shoes made that had
Speaker 2: hoofprints on them, So basically they'd leave these deer tracks
Speaker 2: in the mud instead of shoe prints. Isn't that like
Speaker 2: super crafty?
Speaker 1: It is crafty, But I think we've got a little
Speaker 1: off track here, Like, so what does this have to
Speaker 1: do with NASCAR?
Speaker 2: Well, before prohibsion even ended, some of the bootleggers had
Speaker 2: started having these informal races, you know.
Speaker 1: Just for kicks. That does make sense. I mean, you've
Speaker 1: got all these tricked out cars, it does seem like
Speaker 1: it'd be pretty tempting to have some fun with them, exactly.
Speaker 2: And then in the nineteen thirties, like bootleggers started taking
Speaker 2: their moonshine mobiles to local race tracks and even county fairgrounds,
Speaker 2: and that's where they really started to build an audience
Speaker 2: and eventually like tens of thousands of people would show
Speaker 2: up to some of these races.
Speaker 1: All right, so this is kind of like the birth
Speaker 1: of stock car racing in America. But the actual formalized
Speaker 1: NASCAR league does it also have its ties with bootleggers.
Speaker 2: It does, so, so racing had become an organized sport
Speaker 2: by the nineteen forties, and most of the people involved
Speaker 2: in it had connections to bootlegging in one form and another.
Speaker 2: There's actually a great book about this called Real Nascar,
Speaker 2: and it talks about just how much of the sport
Speaker 2: owes to moonshiner's. So the author rights quote what most
Speaker 2: chroniclers of stock car racing and NASCAR have failed to
Speaker 2: note is that a large percentage of the early mechanics,
Speaker 2: car owners, promoters, and track owners had deep ties to
Speaker 2: the illegal alcohol business. It would not be an exaggeration
Speaker 2: to say that the sport was built on the proceeds
Speaker 2: of the manufacturer transport and sales of hundreds of thousands,
Speaker 2: if not millions, of cases of liquor, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: that's amazing. So even if they weren't bootleggers themselves, like
Speaker 2: the mechanics definitely knew they were working on bootleggers cars,
Speaker 2: and similarly, all these track owners they were taking cuts
Speaker 2: from illegal sales in exchange for use of their track.
Speaker 1: That connection definitely goes much deeper than I would have expected.
Speaker 1: So what about the drivers though, Like, did any bootleggers
Speaker 1: go on to become NASCAR drivers? Absolutely?
Speaker 2: And one of the most famous is Junior Johnson, who
Speaker 2: came from a long line of North Carolina bootleggers and
Speaker 2: went on to become a NASCAR Hall of Famer and
Speaker 2: team owner. There's actually a great old story about him
Speaker 2: in Esquire, and he and plenty of other former Moonshiners
Speaker 2: were recruited as drivers in the late forties by a
Speaker 2: fellow stock car driver, this guy named Bill Franz Senior,
Speaker 2: and France actually became an important figure in all this.
Speaker 2: He started promoting his drivers at different races in the
Speaker 2: Daytona Beach area, but he was soon annoyed by how
Speaker 2: much the racing rules varied from one event to another.
Speaker 2: So in December of nineteen forty seven, France actually called
Speaker 2: a meeting of all the top stock car drivers and
Speaker 2: he got the mechanics and owners to come in as well,
Speaker 2: and they all discussed how to standardize the rules, and
Speaker 2: by the end of the meeting they agreed to form
Speaker 2: the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, which is NASCAR.
Speaker 1: So that's what it stands for. Okay, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2: And and Bill Franz Senior became the first president of
Speaker 2: NASCAR once the league was officially incorporated, this is in
Speaker 2: February nineteen forty eight. Under his leadership, the sport began
Speaker 2: to distance itself from its boot like roots, and they
Speaker 2: started going after corporate sponsorships and you know, building a
Speaker 2: wider audience. And by the time his son, Bill Franz
Speaker 2: Junior took over the presidency in nineteen seventy two, NASCAR
Speaker 2: had become this incredibly popular regional sport in the South.
Speaker 2: But it was Bill Junior who really made the sport huge.
Speaker 2: He had this three decade run as president, and that's
Speaker 2: when the sport transformed into a multi billion dollar global industry.
Speaker 2: That's what you know of it today.
Speaker 1: And I'm guessing like sponsorship probably played the biggest role
Speaker 1: in this transition. Huh.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So the turning point of that actually came in
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy and that's when Junior Johnson approached the RJ.
Speaker 2: Reynolds Tobacco Company. So Johnson had retired as a driver
Speaker 2: by at this point, but he stayed in the league
Speaker 2: as an owner, and he hoped that the cigarette company
Speaker 2: might want to sponsor his car in the upcoming season.
Speaker 1: So, I mean, why would this be an unprecedented move?
Speaker 1: Was it just that it was a tobacco company or what.
Speaker 2: So I looked into this because I was confused about
Speaker 2: it too. But the thing is, like President Nixon had
Speaker 2: actually signed a bill in April nineteen seventy they had
Speaker 2: banned all cigarette advertising on TV beginning of the following year,
Speaker 2: so Johnson knew the company would be looking for new
Speaker 2: ways to spend its advertising budget the next year. And
Speaker 2: of course Johnson liked to live dangerously, you know, like
Speaker 2: cigarette advertising didn't bother him at all.
Speaker 1: But RJ.
Speaker 2: Reynolds was a long shot. Like until that point, most
Speaker 2: of NASCAR's sponsorships were limited to local or regional businesses,
Speaker 2: and a company as big as RJ. Reynolds would that'd
Speaker 2: be like a huge win for the sport. But instead
Speaker 2: of just sponsoring like one car, Reynolds decided to turn
Speaker 2: down that offer and they put their money behind one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars championship series called the Winston Cup. It
Speaker 2: was this super smart marketing move for them, and until
Speaker 2: two thousand and three it remained the top series in
Speaker 2: NASCAR until it took on a new sponsor. It became
Speaker 2: the next Tel Cup, and then like it changed hands
Speaker 2: to the Sprint Cup. And I think it's now like
Speaker 2: the Monster Energy Cup.
Speaker 1: The Monster Energy Cup. All right, Well, you know, if
Speaker 1: boos and cigarettes acted as NASCAR's backbone for the first
Speaker 1: what three or four decades of its existence, like, how
Speaker 1: do we eventually get from this to Tide and Monster
Speaker 1: Energy drinks?
Speaker 2: So that change actually happened in the mid eighties, and
Speaker 2: this is when Procter and Gamble decided to sponsor a
Speaker 2: few cars with brands like UH, Crisco and Folgers. And
Speaker 2: this is when Tide comes into the mix as well.
Speaker 2: And once other companies had heard how the logo branded
Speaker 2: cars had boosted P andng's sales, they all decided to
Speaker 2: throw their hats in the ring as well. So, you know,
Speaker 2: you fast forward thirty years and everything from like Cheerios
Speaker 2: to Spam to even the cartoon Network is out a car.
Speaker 2: It's amazing, and they've paid pretty handsomely for that honor.
Speaker 2: Like I think a primary sponsorship, which is when the
Speaker 2: logo is on the hood of a car and it's
Speaker 2: also on the racing team's uniforms, that runs between ten
Speaker 2: and twenty five million dollars.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, I mean, And so is it worth it
Speaker 1: for these companies to spend that much money?
Speaker 2: You know, you always ask these things, and I looked
Speaker 2: into it. But the market research bears out like NASCAR
Speaker 2: fans are apparently three times more likely as non fans
Speaker 2: to buy products from companies that sponsored their sport of choice.
Speaker 2: Part of the reason is that they're so attached to
Speaker 2: the drivers that they're also attrached to the driver sponsors.
Speaker 2: But another big part is just how much exposure these
Speaker 2: brands get. So like the Las Vegas Review Journal reported
Speaker 2: that the average screen time for a car's primary sponsor
Speaker 2: during a race is about twelve and a half minutes. Like,
Speaker 2: imagine how many millions of dollars it would cost to
Speaker 2: eric commercial that long. And that exposure only goes up
Speaker 2: if a sponsor's driver wins or sadly Rex's car like
Speaker 2: In fact, a pr man for the Richard Childress Racing
Speaker 2: team once told a reporter quote, if you crash, crash fabulously,
Speaker 2: and make sure your logo is not wrinkled up.
Speaker 1: So class. All right, well speaking which we should probably
Speaker 1: take some time now to talk about the history of
Speaker 1: NASCAR is more posh counterpart, But before we do that,
Speaker 1: let's take a quick break.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to parton genius. All right, will, So, what's
Speaker 2: the story behind Formula One? Like? Was it started by
Speaker 2: smugglers or maybe some jewel thieves?
Speaker 1: You know, that might be a nice story, but there's
Speaker 1: actually no criminal component for this one. And instead what
Speaker 1: we get with Formula One is a professional racing league
Speaker 1: that really gradually grew from those pioneering car races in France,
Speaker 1: that these were taking place back before nineteen hundred. I mean,
Speaker 1: think about that, these were the earliest days of motor racing.
Speaker 2: So explain this to me, Like, if racing was that
Speaker 2: popular from the start over there, why did it takes
Speaker 2: so long for F one to be formalized.
Speaker 1: Well, it's actually because the beginning of World War two.
Speaker 1: You know, you had European racing that had continued growing
Speaker 1: in popularity through the early decades of the twentieth century,
Speaker 1: and this was right up until the Germans began to
Speaker 1: dominate in the nineteen thirties. So although there were plans
Speaker 1: for an official Formula one championship, and they'd already been
Speaker 1: discussed by this point, they had to be set aside
Speaker 1: until after the war.
Speaker 2: So once again there's a pesky world war that spoils
Speaker 2: our fun.
Speaker 1: Spoils all the fun. But you know, by nineteen forty six,
Speaker 1: the term Formula one was formally defined and these plans
Speaker 1: were put in motion for the Sports owned Drivers Championship. Now,
Speaker 1: it did take a few years to figure out all
Speaker 1: the details, but it was in nineteen fifty that's when
Speaker 1: the very first F one World Championship was finally held
Speaker 1: and this was at the Silverstone Circuit in England.
Speaker 2: Okay, so don't laugh, but you just mentioned that Formula
Speaker 2: one was officially defined at one point, and it occurs
Speaker 2: to me that I have no idea what the term
Speaker 2: really means, Like, does it refer to a certain kind
Speaker 2: of fuel the cars use or maybe a certain kind
Speaker 2: of motor oil?
Speaker 1: Oh, good guesses, but actually not accurate on that. And
Speaker 1: I can't laugh at you because I didn't know this
Speaker 1: either until I looked it up. But you know, the
Speaker 1: formula and Formula one racing actually refers to the rules
Speaker 1: that govern the car's design. So you go back to
Speaker 1: the beginning on this. That formula was taken from the
Speaker 1: pre war regulations that really pertained the engine's capacity, and
Speaker 1: it was first known as Formula A. Now, over the years,
Speaker 1: the formula's been tweaked a good bit and now it
Speaker 1: counts for both like new technology and environmental concerns, but
Speaker 1: it's still based on the car's engine. So, for example,
Speaker 1: the current formula is built around this hybrid power unit
Speaker 1: that actually includes the turbocharge V six engine, but it's
Speaker 1: electrically assisted by this power generated from kinetic energy as well.
Speaker 1: Oh wow.
Speaker 2: And do most F one teams build and modify their
Speaker 2: own engines like NASCAR teams. Also, this isn't aside, but
Speaker 2: I think it's funny that F one is so fancy,
Speaker 2: like partially because I remember that in that documentary about
Speaker 2: Senna the driver, which is honestly so good, the way
Speaker 2: he came up in F one was by raising go
Speaker 2: karts like go cars feel so everyk in the world.
Speaker 1: I know, I love that. It definitely feels that way.
Speaker 1: But you know what's funny is that unlike NASCAR, there
Speaker 1: there really isn't much room for improvisation in F one,
Speaker 1: and I kind of wonder if the improv part is
Speaker 1: is maybe that American influence on the sport. But instead
Speaker 1: you've got these eleven official F one teams and they
Speaker 1: all get their power trains from one of four engine manufacturers.
Speaker 1: So you've got Ferrari, Honda, Mercedes, Benz, and Renault. And
Speaker 1: even if an F one team doesn't build their own engine,
Speaker 1: they're still responsible for much of the does of the car.
Speaker 1: And honestly, I mean that's the part that seems to
Speaker 1: count for the most and Formula one. Yeah, so one thing.
Speaker 2: I've always heard about f one is the huge emphasis
Speaker 2: that plays on like top of the line tech and
Speaker 2: this efficient design. Like some people swear that the whole
Speaker 2: thing is just this elaborate pet project of technicians and
Speaker 2: engineers masquerading as a sport. It's almost like the racing
Speaker 2: is secondary to these design teams getting to experiment and
Speaker 2: mess around.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I think for some there's probably a
Speaker 1: lot of truth to that. You know, many longtime fans
Speaker 1: really think the focus on the car itself has long
Speaker 1: since eclipse the actual drivers. And huh, this is something
Speaker 1: that first started happening back as early as the seventies,
Speaker 1: and these cars had steadily grown faster and more sleek
Speaker 1: since those very early days of the sport and all
Speaker 1: the r and D for this constant quest to reduce
Speaker 1: drag and increase cornering speeds. It was starting to get
Speaker 1: super expensive, you know, so much so that by the
Speaker 1: seventies there were really no private entries in this sport
Speaker 1: because it was just so expensive.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's almost a shame. Yeah, I'm curious though,
Speaker 2: like how much do these cars actually cost?
Speaker 1: So it varies, of course, but a good rule of
Speaker 1: thumb is to take a team's entire racing budget for
Speaker 1: a year and then cut that in half. So for
Speaker 1: the top teams, we're talking about spending upwards of two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty million dollars on the sport each year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's about one hundred and twenty five million of
Speaker 1: that that goes toward the car for that season. And
Speaker 1: even the bottom teams are dropping huge dollars on this,
Speaker 1: anywhere from like twenty to fifty million dollars on average.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's insanity to me. So why are these expensive?
Speaker 2: Like are the materials just that pricey?
Speaker 1: Well, it's not so much the individual parts that cost
Speaker 1: so much. It's actually, you know, the entire labor force
Speaker 1: needed to design and develop and build, and then even
Speaker 1: beyond that, just to constantly modify the product, and this
Speaker 1: massive amount of cash needed to keep pace with the
Speaker 1: wealthier teams. It's actually really starting to affect the outcomes
Speaker 1: of the races. I mean, if you look at the
Speaker 1: highest ranking teams in the league, they also happen to
Speaker 1: be the ones with the most money. And then on
Speaker 1: the other end of the spectrum, the last place finishers
Speaker 1: are typically the poorest teams. And there's no coincidence to that.
Speaker 2: So I remember hearing that the cash prizes in Formula
Speaker 2: one are among the highest in all of organized sports.
Speaker 2: So couldn't it just be that the winning teams are
Speaker 2: the richest because they're the ones that just keep getting
Speaker 2: all the prize money.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, if all the teams were starting on
Speaker 1: even footing, that might be the case. But in reality,
Speaker 1: I mean, they're different deals for different teams, and some
Speaker 1: of the longest running ones get tens of millions of
Speaker 1: dollars just for showing up to the race. It doesn't
Speaker 1: even matter if they win, huh.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: And if you go back from like nineteen eighty one
Speaker 1: all the way up to say twenty thirteen, all the
Speaker 1: teams competed under the same financial deal. But then once
Speaker 1: you started to see happening like these car manufacturers and
Speaker 1: long running legacy teams, they started angling for these special
Speaker 1: privileges and unique deals. And so the league finally cave
Speaker 1: to this pressure because it was actually afraid these big
Speaker 1: names would just walk away from the sport. So there
Speaker 1: was this really interesting article in the New York Times,
Speaker 1: and it was pretty insightful on the way that it
Speaker 1: looked at this. This was back in twenty sixteen, and
Speaker 1: there's one part that sums up the problem pretty nicely,
Speaker 1: and I'll just read this to you. It says today,
Speaker 1: even among the top teams, financial success does not correspond
Speaker 1: directly with success on the track. Mercedes does not receive
Speaker 1: as much money as Ferrari, the Italian team that's been
Speaker 1: around since Formula One start in nineteen fifty and that
Speaker 1: received seventy million dollars a year because of that legacy.
Speaker 1: Ferrari's special payment just for taking part is more than
Speaker 1: the total earnings of the bottom five teams and last year.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I mean, that's a little discouraging, And I
Speaker 2: do wonder if the average F one fan knows about
Speaker 2: these dealings, right like, it seems like the kind of
Speaker 2: thing that could really turn people off the sport.
Speaker 1: Well definitely, And it all goes back to that sense
Speaker 1: that the cars are the true stars in F one,
Speaker 1: not really the drivers. And it's kind of a tough
Speaker 1: pill to swallow for a lot of sports fans because
Speaker 1: there's so much of their enjoyment that comes from reveling
Speaker 1: in human ability. So it is kind of tough when
Speaker 1: they're treated as almost interchangeable in the car itself is
Speaker 1: really the only constant, So I guess that makes sense.
Speaker 2: And I'd say that's only partially true, right, Like there
Speaker 2: are obvious stars of the sport, and you read about
Speaker 2: the seven minute pit stops where humans are making all
Speaker 2: these like microscopic changes to tire pressure and alignment to
Speaker 2: like corner a specific turn better. But I do get
Speaker 2: your point, right, Like nobody watches tennis to see their
Speaker 2: favorite racket in action.
Speaker 1: I don't know, there's nothing more beautiful than a really
Speaker 1: elegant racket anyway.
Speaker 2: You know what's funny, as Andy Roddick actually used to
Speaker 2: play with an old babbel At racket, but the company
Speaker 2: used to paint it to look like a new model.
Speaker 1: Which is oh really, it's so crazy playing with an
Speaker 1: old racket. That's pretty weird.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you just got accustomed to it, all.
Speaker 1: Right, Well, back to what we were talking about here,
Speaker 1: so that there is something I hope that the F
Speaker 1: one League does take note of. And this is for
Speaker 1: the fans sake, because there's really a lot of skill
Speaker 1: that goes into being a professional racer, and I don't
Speaker 1: think most of us recognize that half as much as
Speaker 1: we should.
Speaker 2: Really, Yeah, I found an Atlantic article that was kind
Speaker 2: of written in defense of motorsports, and there was one.
Speaker 1: Quote that really stuck with me.
Speaker 2: It was about stock car racing, but I really think
Speaker 2: it applies to all forms of motorsport, so I'm gonna
Speaker 2: pull it up. It goes quote, The athletes who drive
Speaker 2: these cars, and yes they are athletes, even though they
Speaker 2: are sitting down, must possess steel nerves, quick reflexes, highly
Speaker 2: developed small motor skills, and the mental acuity to develop
Speaker 2: elaborate plans for dominating a track crowded with cars that
Speaker 2: could kill them. And true fans understand the complexity of
Speaker 2: the sport and can discuss in great detail the combination
Speaker 2: of skills crucial for success.
Speaker 1: Well, that kind of feels like the perfect place to
Speaker 1: leave our discussion. But I do have a few more
Speaker 1: racing facts dying to share these, So what do you say?
Speaker 1: We had to the factop.
Speaker 2: So, I know people love to debate whether things like
Speaker 2: NASCAR are actually sports, but I don't think there's any
Speaker 2: debating that you have to be in good shape to
Speaker 2: withstand some of what your body's experienced. So I was
Speaker 2: looking into some of the numbers, and first of all,
Speaker 2: the temperature in the car, and a NASCAR race is
Speaker 2: often over one hundred degrees and on turns, the drivers
Speaker 2: are feeling up to three g's of force on them.
Speaker 2: That means three times the force of gravity. And also
Speaker 2: drivers are losing up to ten pounds in sweat over
Speaker 2: the course of a race.
Speaker 1: Ten pounds in sweat, Yeah, that's crazy. I was actually
Speaker 1: looking in Ato some of this too, And it's not only
Speaker 1: these things, but like a driver's heart rate typically stays
Speaker 1: between like one hundred and twenty and one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty beats per minute throughout the race. Now we're talking
Speaker 1: three hours from all these races, and so that's actually
Speaker 1: about the same as a serious marathon runner over that
Speaker 1: period of time. And I realized this is about f one.
Speaker 1: But some of the drivers can actually go two minutes
Speaker 1: without blinking, that's how intense their concentration is.
Speaker 2: That's amazing. So here's a funny one. I saw a
Speaker 2: fact that drivers in the major NASCAR races all have
Speaker 2: to pass physicals and a drug test, and I guess
Speaker 2: there's some sort of vetting process, but one thing they're
Speaker 2: not required to show is a driver's license. So technically
Speaker 2: you can have someone like tearing off the tracks and
Speaker 2: nearly like two hundred miles per hour, who actually wouldn't
Speaker 2: be able to drive to the grocery store after the race.
Speaker 1: I love the idea that that could possibly happen. Well,
Speaker 1: so I've often wondered about the beating that the car
Speaker 1: parts take during the races and how long these parts last.
Speaker 1: Did you know the F one car engines actually only
Speaker 1: last a couple of hours before they just blow entirely, Like,
Speaker 1: that's a little bit shorter than the fifteen to twenty
Speaker 1: years most of us expect that of our own car engines.
Speaker 1: And also, not surprisingly, the tires only last about sixty
Speaker 1: or so miles in each race. That's incredible.
Speaker 2: Did you know there are actually no air bags in Formula
Speaker 2: one cars?
Speaker 1: Wait? What is this just like to add an extra
Speaker 1: element of danger or what?
Speaker 2: No, it just turns out that there's so many other
Speaker 2: safety mechanisms that are more effective at keeping the driver safe. So,
Speaker 2: I mean, it would be nearly impossible for a driver
Speaker 2: to be ejected from the car because of how well
Speaker 2: they're strapped in, like the crazy protective helmets and the
Speaker 2: five point harnesses which keep the drivers from slamming into
Speaker 2: the front of the car, which is really the main
Speaker 2: point of an airbag. And all this on top of
Speaker 2: the fact that the drivers inside is survival cell that's
Speaker 2: designed to protect them in the vent of a crash.
Speaker 1: All right, well, here's another one I found. So there
Speaker 1: are small planes that take off at slower speeds than
Speaker 1: you'd find an F one car traveling during a race.
Speaker 1: The aerodynamic science involved in creating that downward force, you know,
Speaker 1: to keep them on the track. It's actually pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: And by the way, F one cars can go from
Speaker 1: zero to one hundred miles per hour back to zero
Speaker 1: in about four seconds. WI is it? That's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, as I heads up, one thing you do
Speaker 2: not want to take with you to a race if
Speaker 2: you get a chance to sit on the infield is
Speaker 2: shelled peanuts. And there are many superstitions in racing, like
Speaker 2: a friendly green cars are bad luck, But one of
Speaker 2: the weirdest is this one around peanut halls. So there's
Speaker 2: an article in Snopes that claims that the tradition possibly
Speaker 2: dates back to a race in nineteen thirty seven where
Speaker 2: peanut shells were found in a few cars that all
Speaker 2: happen to crash in the race, and there are a
Speaker 2: few other stories that have contributed to this, but trust me,
Speaker 2: don't bring those shelled peanuts. I know you love to
Speaker 2: crack over at baseball games.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, right, well, I've got to tell you about
Speaker 1: my favorite NASCAR driver of all time, and that's Dick Trickle.
Speaker 1: I mean, his name alone is pretty great and horrible
Speaker 1: at the same time, but so Dick loves smoking so
Speaker 1: much that he drilled a hole in his helmet so
Speaker 1: that he could smoke through his headgear. And he even
Speaker 1: had a cigarette lighter installed into his car because he
Speaker 1: didn't want to bother his pit crew every time for
Speaker 1: a light.
Speaker 2: That's pretty great. So I think you have to take
Speaker 2: home the prize with that one.
Speaker 1: Thank you know. I think we did a pretty good
Speaker 1: job in this episode of like debunking some of the
Speaker 1: stereotypes and then we just came right back to it
Speaker 1: with that last fact. But I'll take the victory either way.
Speaker 1: I know we're both that much more excited to try
Speaker 1: to get to a race. You know, we probably should
Speaker 1: have come up with a contest like the listener that
Speaker 1: gives us the best fact we would actually come to
Speaker 1: visit them and then they could pay for us to
Speaker 1: go to a NASCAR race, doesn't it seem great reasonable
Speaker 1: to me? Or let us get on your yacht and
Speaker 1: then we'll go to a Formula one race together. But
Speaker 1: either way, if we forgot some great facts, and I
Speaker 1: know we did, about either NASCAR or Formula one one
Speaker 1: or any other type of racing, we'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. As always, you can email us part Time
Speaker 1: Genius at HowStuffWorks dot com. You can also call us
Speaker 1: on our twenty four to seven fact hotline that's one
Speaker 1: eight four four pt Genius, or hit us up on
Speaker 1: Facebook or Twitter. We always love hearing from you, but
Speaker 1: thanks so much for listening. Thanks again for listening. Part
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