The formation of NASCAR, which took place in 1949, is often linked to prohibition in the United States. However, this period, which saw the outright ban on alcoholic beverages throughout the United States, ended much earlier, in 1933. While some states maintained this ban for longer, such as North Carolina, cradle of NASCAR, at the end of the Second World War, alcohol had regained its place in the cultural landscape of the USA. However, in order to maintain the government's desire to reduce the consumption of these alcoholic beverages, a system of taxes was put in place, automatically causing an increase in prices.
It was then that a clandestine network of a totally artisanal and potentially dangerous alcohol, moonshine, was set up. At the time, anyone could become a moonshine distiller. Needless to say, health and control standards were absent… Certain alcohols, adulterated or simply poorly dosed, could cause total blindness or even death. But the business was lucrative, and this led many families to start making contraband alcohol.
In order to escape the local police, what did the smugglers do? They modified their cars, with more powerful engines, aiming to simply beat the police to top speed and escape. When they weren't carrying alcohol, young people from the region would meet up for impromptu races, which would later give rise to the creation of NASCAR, the National Association for Stock-Car Auto Racing, or National Association of Car Racing of Series in French.
Among the first leading drivers in the championship, we found a certain Junior Johnson. Winner five times in 1955, Johnson positioned himself as one of the favorites for the 1956 crown. However, in the Johnson family, unlike certain others, motor racing did not mean the end of smuggling activity. So in 1956, the FBI set out to arrest the patriarch of the family, or anyone assisting him in his desire to sell alcohol and not pay the required taxes. One evening in 1956, federal agents were waiting, and when Junior Johnson lit his father's still, all the evidence was there. He tried to escape, but this time it was among barbed wire that Junior ended his race…
Result, a prison sentence for alcohol smuggling, and a total of eleven months spent behind bars. Johnson was able to return to racing in 1958, racking up 45 victories until the end of his career eight years later. It was as team principal that he built his legend, with his drivers Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip winning a total of five titles at the highest level.
The 1956 conviction, however, continued to deprive Johnson of some of his basic civil rights. Thus, in 1981, he wrote to the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, asking for a presidential pardon. It would be five years before the pilot received “the greatest Christmas present of his life”, being pardoned by Reagan. If this does not result in a clean criminal record in the USA, the convicted person once again becomes a citizen like any other in terms of rights. Junior Johnson didn't completely stop being involved in the alcohol business, however, as in 2007 he leased the family recipe to a local distillery that produced “Midnight Moon Moonshine.” And as a commercial argument? The NASCAR legend's mug shot on every bottle…
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