Word: speedway
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...next year the city sponsored its first stock-car race. It was a financial flop. But one of the drivers was Bill France; after finishing fifth, he decided to concentrate on promoting races. By last week, France had made Daytona the capital of stock-car racing, his Daytona International Speedway was the sport's No. 1 emporium and he himself was indisputably king of the stocks...
...hundred thousand fans to an estimated 12 million, and instead of gasoline money, drivers now compete for $3,500,000 in prizes. New tracks have sprung up all over the country-Charlotte, N.C., Atlanta, Riverside, Calif. But the showplace is still Bill France's own Daytona International Speedway...
...Built in 1958, the $3,500,000 Speedway is really two tracks: a two-mile road course for sports cars and the stock-car "trioval"-a roughly triangular, 2½-mile circuit with two high-speed turns banked at 31° and a third turn banked at 18°. The banking, the perfectly smooth asphalt paving, plus the track's unusual width -three cars can race abreast-make it the fastest race track in the world. In qualifying trials for last week's tenth annual Daytona 500, the top 13 qualifiers ran the course at more than...
...December. The device is so accurate that in New York, out of 1,000 motorists arrested through VASCAR, not one has yet disputed his citation. How accurate? Well, Indiana, which has 21 of the units and has ordered 100 more (at $895 each), tested the computer against the Indianapolis Speedway's ultrasophisticated electronic timers during the trials for the last 500-mile race. Timing the Indy race cars at speeds of up to 150 m.p.h., VASCAR was within decimals of the official track clocks...
There was clearly a screw loose somewhere, but luckily not in the car. Down the straightaway of the Indianapolis Speedway at 160 m.p.h. whooshed the revolutionary, turbo-powered machine that had run away with the last "500" until breaking down eight miles from the finish. The driver: TV Comic Johnny Carson, 41, whose racing experience has consisted mostly of running after taxicabs in the rain. Carson came away from the stunt with (in descending order of surprise) his life, six usable minutes of film for his show, and increased respect for big-car racing. "Boy, you put your life...