The US business venture NASCAR plays a very important part in the country’s auto-racing life. The company created in 1948 is responsible for sanctioning and governing a lot of racing events.
Today NASCAR Racing is one of the most watched sports competitions in the United States. Since the establishment of the company at the end of the 1940s, it has grown into a global association, which sanctions more than a thousand car races across almost 50 countries on all continents. The company oversees and runs endurance racing championships, where drivers can drive cars for 24 hours without a break on the racetrack.
In NASCAR, the cornering areas on the track are heavily sloped toward the center to improve the car’s traction and prevent it from going off the track at high speeds. This allows NASCAR race cars to run at near-top speeds all the time. The highest average lap speed in NASCAR has been set at California Speedway at 388.537 km/h, which is the highest average lap speed in motorsports.
What is NASCAR?
NASCAR is an abbreviation standing for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, a company, which was established in the United States in 1948 and is focused on stock car racing. NASCAR holds a large number of different endurance championships, including those outside the United States – in Mexico, Canada, and Europe.
The original NASCAR logo was introduced in 1948 and stayed with the organization for almost seven years. It was a beautifully designed badge with two black car silhouettes facing to the center, placed on a black ground with two crossed raving flags in a red and white checkered pattern. The white arched ribbon with the bold black “NASCAR” inscription was like a bridge connecting two cars. Above the ribbon, in the negative space between two flags, the full inscription in black sans-serif letters was set in four levels.
The redesign of 1955 added a new color to the NASCAR palette. It was a wide yellow framing, repeating the shape of a racing track (horizontally stretched oval), outlined in black from both inside and outside. The two cars changed their colors to red, and the flags — to black and white. The flags also changed their placement and were now drawn on the left and right of the upper yellow track framing. The lettering from the internal part of the logo was now set in a strict sans-serif font, while the “NASCAR International” wordmark set around the frame’s perimeter, was executed in a bold and modern typeface.
In 1964 the logo was redesigned again, and this time it was redrawn in a gray and blue color palette with black lettering and accents. The gray cars in black outline were placed on a striped background resembling a car grille, in gray and black. The drags came back to where they originally were but kept the black and white palette from the previous version. As for the lettering, it was now set in white on two blue elements — “NASCAR” on the upper part of the logo, and “International” on the bottom, placed on an elegant blue ribbon underlining the composition.
For the new wordmark, the company’s designers chose a simple sans-serif font. The characters are slightly italicized, which is supposed to convey the idea of speed.
Currently the logo comprises four colors. In addition to yellow, red, and blue used for the angled bars, there is also the black color on the emblem. The background is white.