#Stock car engines drivers#
Safety in 1948: In 1948, when stock car racing was starting out, the drivers had little to protect themselves from dangerous wrecks. The 5.87 liter engines are precision engineered to achieve speeds of more than 200 miles per hour without the use of turbochargers or superchargers. The engine in 2013: Today’s NASCAR vehicle engines can produce more than 750 horsepower, and are custom-made for racing. They were capable of less than 200 horsepower. The engine in 1948: Stock car engines of the 1940s were six or eight valve machines that came standard in the cars of the time.
The only stock pieces left on modern stock cars are the hood, roof and deck lid. The thicker tubes that surround the cockpit are referred to as the “roll cage.” The body is hand-made from thin steel to NASCAR template specifications. The body and frame in 2013: Modern NASCAR vehicle frames are made up of a series of circular and square tubes of different gauges. These were not specialized vehicles the car body and frame were both made from the same steel as other vehicles on the road at the time. The body and frame in 1948: When stock car racing started to become popular, the cars had so many original parts they often served as the driver’s main source of transportation. Let’s take a look at how the body, engine and safety features have changed from NASCAR’s founding in 1948 to today. What were once stock cars, which meant that they were slightly modified consumer vehicles produced on an assembly line, have become the hand-built, precision NASCAR vehicles we see today.
NASCAR racing has come a long way in the half-century since it was founded.