NASCAR fans can agree on little except that they enjoy racing.

The history of NASCAR is widely attributed to moonshiners trying to outrun the law…and the tax man in the southern portion of the United States.  But while the moonshiners were busy outrunning the revenuers, West coast racers were making their mark on history as well.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of NASCAR.  On December 14, 1947; Bill France Sr formed what would become known as NASCAR in a meeting at the Streamline Hotel Penthouse Club in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The first races in Daytona Beach were run on the beach itself.  It was a decade later that the races moved to the high banked track of Daytona International Speedway.

In the meantime, Bill France Sr met Hershel McGriff from Oregon at the Pan-American Road Race in Mexico.  Both men were there to participate in the five day 2,132 mile race.  McGriff went on to win the race; beating out several “NASCAR” drivers in the process.

The win earned McGriff an invite to the Southern 500 in Darlington.  In those days racers drove their cars to the track, raced it, and then (hopefully) drove home again.  McGriff drove his car from Oregon, raced his car, and drove back home to Oregon again.  He ended up finishing ninth in a field of 75 drivers.

That event helped Bill France to create a national sport.

And in 1951, NASCAR ran its first race outside of the south…in California at the half-mile track Carrell Speedway in Gardena before 9,000 fans.

In 1954 the Pacific Coast Late Model Circuit was founded and later became the Menard’s ARCA West Series where McGriff won the race at Bay Meadows Speedway in San Mateo.

This led to the creation of Riverside International Raceway which held its first NASCAR sanctioned event in 1958 – one year before the inaugural running of the Daytona 500 – and opened the season from 1970 to 1981.

And further cementing their west cost history, NASCAR crowned its first California champion in 1995 when Jeff Gordon won his first of four championships.

Today, there are NASCAR drivers born from all over the country and races in over a dozen states across the country.

Last year, NASCAR relocated the annual Busch Light Clash form Daytona to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for a three year deal.

This weekend, NASCAR begins its west coast swing with the final race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.  The two mile track is being converted to a half mile track.