Auto Racing And The Different Classes
Posted: Monday, August 09, 2010
by Dr. Carla Goddard
Auto racing traces its origin by some accounts back to the moonshiners that were trying to out run the law. Even before the moon shiners, however, there were racers trying to break speed records across the salt flats. In all reality, every type of racing has its own history, its own legends, and its own hero's.
Recently, I got to cover a Daytona Antique Auto Association Racing Exhibition. Every imaginable style of motorized vehicle hit the dirt track. At points you could not tell it was just an exhibition as cars slid side ways and went three wide. Growing up on dirt track racing at the "Unity Track" in Unity, Maine as I watched my dad tear around the small dirt track in his old beater had one effect on me. It gave me the racing bug. That "bug" has stuck with me as I eventually married a man into NHRA drag racing in the heavy 12 second class and a die-hard NASCAR fan.
Open wheel racing or Formula racing is an international sport. Here in the US the premier race is the Indy 500. Within this style of racing there are different styles of cars that race on certain styles of tracks such as champ cars, IRL cars, and Cart cars.
Endurance Racing such as the Rolex 24 is another style of racing. There are different classes here such as the Grand-Am and Le Mans series.
NASCAR is the premier stock car racing class of today. Even as these cars are supposedly based on the original manufacturers model, the new cars of tomorrow being raced this year are difficult for even a seasoned racer to tell the manufacturers apart. The old Bush series, now called the Nationwide Series, has all the up and coming racers of tomorrow. Even with in the Bush series there are sub classes going all the way down to grass root stock car racing on the dirt tracks across the country.
The trucks are not left out of racing. They have their own version of stock car racing in the Craftsman Truck Series all the way up to the Monster Truck Jam's series. There are also sprint cars, midgets, and kart classes in stock car racing.
The Drag Racers. There are classes within classes when you get into NHRA Drag racing series. From the heavy, pro mods, funny cars and super sports to name just a few. The Jet cars are a spectacular vision to watch, feel, and smell in person. An experience every racing fan should have. To further confuse classes within drag racing they also have divisions by time. For example, the heavy class in which I have driven in was a 12 second class in an 84' Chevy Nova.
There are road ralley's, off road racing and salt flat racing. By no means is this even a brief touch upon the different classes or styles of auto racing. There have been volumes written on each form of racing. This is only a brief glimpse into the world of auto racing.
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