page_title: Stock car racing
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Stock car racing / History
caption_attribution_description: 1934 Ford Stock-Car Racer
context_page_description: Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly and most prominently in the United States and Canada, with New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Great Britain and Brazil also having forms of stock car auto racing. Traditionally, races are run on oval tracks measuring approximately 0.25 to 2.66 miles. The world's largest governing body for stock car racing is the American NASCAR, and its NASCAR Cup Series is the premier top level series of professional stock car racing. Top level races typically range between 200 to 600 miles in length. The cars were originally production models, but are now highly modified.
  Top level stock cars exceed 200 mph at speedway tracks and on superspeedway tracks such as Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
  Contemporary NASCAR-spec top level cars produce maximum power outputs of 860-900 hp from their naturally aspirated V8 engines. In October 2007 American race car driver Russ Wicks set a speed record for stock cars in a 2007-season Dodge Charger built to NASCAR specifications by achieving a maximum speed of 244.9 mph at Bonneville Speedway.
caption: 1934 Ford stock car racer with reinforcement in the front
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