Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr was born April 29, 1951 and had a career as a NASCAR race driver racing in the top division. He is mostly remembered for his success in the Winston Cup Series where he won 76 races including the Daytona 500. His aggressive driving style gave him the nicknames of “Ironhead”, “Mr Restrictor Plate”, “The Man in Black” and “The Intimidator”.

Dale was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina to Martha Coleman and Ralph Earnhardt who was also one of the best short-track drivers in North Carolina. His father did not want Dale to follow him in a career in racing but Dale’s stubborn nature led him to drop out of school and race anyway.

Dale married three times and was first married when he was 17 to Latane Brown and had his first son with her in 1969, unfortunately they were divorced shortly after in 1970. A year later Dale met his second wife Brenda Gee who was the daughter of the NASCAR builder Robert Gee. Together they had a daughter, Kelley King, and a son Ralph Dale Jr but they were divorced shortly after the birth of their son. Finally in 1982 Dale married Teressa Houston who gave brith to a daughter, Taylor Nicole, in 1988.

Dale’s racing career started in 1975 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina at the longest racing circuit the World 600. In his first race he drove a Dodge Charger and finished in 22nd place.

Earnhardt’s rookie season was very impressive capturing 4 poles, having 11 Top 5 finishes and 17 Top 10 finishes. He also finished 7th in the points standings despite missing four races after breaking his collar bone. These impressive statistics were one factor that lead to him winning Rookie of the Year honors.

After his rookie season was over Dale Earnhardt started to his winning races with Doug Richert as his crew chief initially racing in the Busch Clash. Then winning at Atlanta, Bristol, Nashville, Martinsville and Charlotte leading to him winning his first Winston Cup championship.

1981 Osterlund sold his team to J.D Stacy which prompted Dale to leave and join Richard Childress Racing. Following a suggestion be Childress he joined Bud Moore and raced for 2 seasons in the #15 Wrangler Jeans Ford Thunderbird.

When the 1983 season ended Dale returned to Richard Childress Racing swapping teams with Ricky Rudd. During the 1984 and 1985 seasons he won five races and had ten Top 5 and sixteen Top 10 finishes.

Through the 1990′s he had many mores successful races and in 1995 Dale had one of the most controversial moments in his career. He was racing at the August Bristol race when he bumped Labonte’s car causing him to spin out of control. Although Dale won the race the spectators Booed and made obscene gestures.

Whilst racing in the 2001 Daytona 500 Dale was involved in an accident where he hit the barrier at the side of the track at about 150 mph. As the car slide across the track it was hit by #36 Pontiac driven by Ken Schrader. To observers the collision looked relatively minor however when Ken looked into the car it caused him to jump back and immediately summon the medical team. The death of Dale led to a plethora of changes to ensure the safety of the drivers.

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Jimmie Kenneth Johnson was born on September 17,1975 in El Cajon, California and now drives the #48 Lowe’s/Kobolt Tools Chevrolet Impala that is co-owned by Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon. In 2009 Jimmie became the only NASCAR Sprint Cup champion to win 4 consecutive races in the Sprint Cup Series championships. He was also named athlete of 2009 and ‘Driver of the Decade’.

Jimmie started his racing career on 50cc motorcycles at the age of 5 years old winning the 60cc championship by the time he was 8. He then moved into racing cars competing in many different leagues eventually leading to him meeting Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick. In 1998 he joined the American Speed Association (ASA) circuit finishing 4th and picking up a Rookie of the Year. Whilst racing for the ASA he also started racing in the NASCAR nationwide series. He won his first and only Nationwide Series in 2001 at the Hills Brothers Coffee 300 at the Chicagoland Speedway.

In 2000 whilst Johnson was racing at Watkins Glen his brakes failed sending him head on into the Styrofoam insulation and guardrail. Amazingly Jimmie was uninjured in the crash.

Jimmie has many notable achievements in his career such as being the only driver to win the Daytona 500 and Allstate 400 in the same year and the only driver to win three Coca-Cola 600s in a row.

In 2006 Johnson launched the Jimmie Johnson Foundation which is dedicated to assisting families throughout the united states and strives to help people fulfil their dreams.

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Richard Lee Petty was born July 2, 1937 and is the second generation of NASCAR racers. His father was Lee Petty who won the first Daytona 500 in 1959 and was also 3 time NASCAR champion himself. He is commonly referred to as ‘the king’ and has raced in the Championship 7 times which has only been achieved by one other driver, Dale Earnhardt. In his career he has won 200 races, 7 of which were the Daytona 500.

Richard’s family has racing in their blood with his son Kyle Petty also now a NASCAR racing driver. However unfortunately Richard’s grandson Adam Petty was killed in an accident at New Hampshire International Speedway on May 12, 2000 shortly after Richard’s father Lee. After the accident the Victory Junction Gang Camp was set-up and is now run by Adam’s brother Austin.

Richard Petty began racing in 1958 when he was 21 years old but didn’t compete in his first race until the following year at the Canadian National Exhibition Grounds finishing 17th.

As time progressed Petty became more successful finishing 2nd in 1960 and winning races in 1963. In 1964 he won the Daytona 500 leading in 184 of the 200 laps and winning his first Grand National championship. In 1966 he overcame a 2 lap deficit to win his second Daytona 500 race making him the first racer to win 2 Daytona 500 races.

In 1965 Petty joined the boycott of NASCAR due to the banning of the Hemi engine through a change in the rules. During this time Petty took to the drag racing circuits but it his drag-racing career ended when he had an accident injuring several people and killing a 8 year old boy. In 1967 Petty entered a 48 competitions and won 27 of them earning him the title ‘King Richard’.

In the 1970′s the Chrysler Corporation removed their funding support for Petty’s team. In 1972 STP took over the support for Petty insisting that he should change his trademark blue colors for something closer to the STP colors. After a night of negotiations Petty and the STP management team reached a compromise and he would go on to race a newly build Dodge Charger winning many races.

The 1990′s would see the end of Petty’s career with his last top ten position coming in 1992 in the Budweiser at the Glen competition. In 1992 he chose to race in every competition in his Fan Appreciation Tour which took his around the states participating in award ceremonies and special events.

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The Red Bryon’s real name was Robert “Red” Byron and he was born March 12, 1915. He was the first driver to win NASCAR Sprint Cup in 1949 – the first NASCAR race.

Byron was born in Colorado but moved to Anniston, Alabama when he was young. He started his successful racing career, at only 17 year of age, competing in races held in Talledega. When the second world war broke out he served in the Air Force as a flight engineer on a B-24 bomber. Unfortunately his plane was shot down and he suffered a very serious leg injury that would leave him with a limp.

In 1948 Byron began racing in the new NASCAR Modified Series and then went on to complete in the Strictly Stock series which is now the Sprint Cup.

By 1951 Byron’s health was beginning to decline and he decided to no longer race. He joined several car related projects trying to develop a car to win the Grand Prix, neither of which were successful.

Whilst Byron was managing the Sports Car Club of America on November 11, 1960 Byron suffered a heart attack and died.

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After the second world war stock car racing was very popular and drew big crowds. As its popularity grew so did the number of make-shift tracks increased. Due to the lack of a governing body often the rules varied from track to track and safety standards were inadequate.

In 1947 Bill France organised a meeting at the Streamline Hotel to discuss introducing a governing body for the stock car races. Bill was born in Washington D.C to his mother Emma Graham, an irish immigrant, and father William Henry France. Bill France usually organised races on the beach-road courses and also raced in them himself. At the end of the meeting the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was created.

Just 2 months after the meeting at the Streamline Hotel the first official NASCAR race was held on Daytona’s beach course February 15th, 1948. The winner was the Red Byron in his modified ford.

However the Cup Series, originally called the premier division, did not start until 1949 and its first race was held on 19th June 1949 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Fairgrounds. It was a big success and attracted a large crowd.

In 1950 the plans were made to allow the race to grow bringing bigger crowds and faster cars which led to the creation of the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.

The first 10 years of NASCAR was an overwhelming success with the drivers soon becoming super-stars and heroes to the masses of fans that attended the races. The NASCAR race had outgrown the track at Daytona beach and moved to Daytona International Speedway with a 2.5 mile track banked at 30 degrees. The first competition that took place at the new track ended in a photo-finish that took the judges 3 days of deliberation to decide on the winner, Petty.

Even with the new Daytona racetrack the thirst for bigger and faster cars was still there and in 1960 Frank opened the 2.66-mile Alabama International Motor Speedway which is also known as Talladega Superspeedway. The need for more tracks led to new tracks being created throughout the country in places such as Brooklyn, Dover and Pocono.