Auto Racing as a Professional Sport

Racing actually started in France. In 1895, the first real race was the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris. This race was won by Emile Levassor in a Panhard-Levassor car. The first United States race was held in Chicago, Illinois in 1895. The race was 54.36 miles and was won by Frank Duryea. In 1903, France stopped the racing because of nine car drivers getting killed. In the 1930s, the cars that were involved in racing turned from the most expensive cars in the race to actual racing cars.

The most popular well known auto racing is NASCAR. This is stock car racing. People travel from many different places to see the Daytona 500, which is the first race of the year in NASCAR. Some of the other auto racing associations are the Champ Car Circuit, Indy Racing League Circuit, and the Formula One.

An important part in professional auto racing is math. Math is used all the way from the design of the car to the pit stop. The designer of the car has to make sure everything weighs and measure to specifications. When they have the car ready to race, they use the qualifying races to help make any changes needed to win the race. Even the driver of the car uses math for their performance. The pit stops are timed so they can move as fast as possible for shorter pit stops to help win the race. Auto racing is a very popular sport that started a long time ago but it is also a dangerous sport that people will enjoy for many more years to come.