Moonshine Research Paper

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Research History of Nascar & Moonshine Shine runner, lightning mover are just a couple of names for those who used to transport this illegal product, moonshine. Inspite of this, NASCAR was birthed as a result of shine running, this begs the question how did this magnificent sport come from such dire origins. This beverage was called moonshine because it would be transported at night time, so it earned the name moonshine because the shine runners would work underneath the moon’s shine transporting this alcoholic substance. These bootleggers, or moonshiners knew that getting caught transporting this illegal beverage meant jail time. So in order to evade government agents or law enforcement they manipulated their box cars to
be able to handle this beverage as fuel and literally turned their box cars into hot rods. By doing this they made their cars able to drive faster than the law enforcement, and they could literally drive through roadblocks. (1) The idea of racing these cars came from the moonshiners from each area.
All of them knew each other because the country towns where they cooked the moonshine were small so word got around easily due to the fact everyone talked to each other. One of the weeks they all argued about which car was faster, better put together, or who was better at evading law enforcement. The argument became so serious that one of the weekends they got together in a pasture and raced each other to see for themselves. They had so much fun doing it that they made it an every weekend event, these events became more popular and grew into what we call today NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing). NASCAR’s roots go all the way back from the 1920s to the early 1930s.
(2) In 1933 alcohol prohibition was lifted, bootlegging moonshine and whiskey became less popular due to alcohol being legalized again. (3) Though few people still ran moonshine, a lot of the business dried up leaving these runners bored with hotrods and lots of cash. (4) Racing cars then became more popular than ever and in 1938 a man by the name of William H.G. France (Bill France) organized a race on the sands of Daytona Beach, Florida. The winner of the race would receive prizes like a bottle of whiskey, a box of cigars, and a case of motor oil. France wanted to make this sport grow and in order for that to happen he knew that some organization would have to fund it and record all of the scores. In 1939 World War 2 began and his dream was smashed but not lost. 1948 William France realized what he needed and wanted to do, December 12th of 1948 he gathered promoters from northeast, southeast, and Midwest to Ebony Bar in Daytona, Florida where they spent the next three days figuring out rules and specifications for this sport and NASCAR was created. (2) Moonshine or bootleg whiskey has been around since the 17th century and has been produced all over the world in every country.
Different countries use different techniques, in Vietnam they use fermented rice, in Ireland they use potato skins, etc. In the United States of America, Wilkes County North Carolina was famous for the amount of bootlegged moonshine being produced. Pittsburg Pennsylvania was famous for the whiskey rebellion in 1794 where George Washington literally sent 13,000 troops to regain control of Pennsylvania again. There were Irish immigrants who lived in Pittsburg that began processing potato skin whiskey. Alcohol prohibition open the doors for organized crime to take place (underground saloons, moonshine cooking), it gave gangsters a way to make money illegally.
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Work Cited from::
(1) http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/auto_racing/story/146170.html#
(2) http://moonshinersjamboree.com/index.asp?where=historyofmoonshine&show=nascar
(3) http://fusionanomoly.net/prohibition.html
(4) http://appalachianhistory.blogspot.com/moonshine-and-nascar.html
(5) http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/moonshine4.htm

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Annotated Bibliography::
(MLA Format) In 1933 when alcohol prohibition was lifted the moonshine runners got bored and with all their profits would race their cars for fun and money. A long strip of roadway in Knoxville, TN was one of the first and main ones used. In 1933 the first stock cars (racecar) were invented and raced.
It all began when moonshine runners would soup their cars up and drive their cars with moonshine as fuel to get fast speeds and outrun law enforcement. http://appalachianhistory.blogspot.com/2007/03/moonshine-and-nascar.html  above contents
Runners would build reputation on out running law enforcement. They would race each other informally for bragging rights before prohibition and before NASCAR. This is how racing became so popular back in the late 1920s early 30s. http://www.cio.com/article/17142/A_Brief_History_of_Nascar_From_Moonshine_Runners_to_Dale_Ear nhardt_Jr.
Moonshiners from Georgia have been making moonshine since the late 18th century.
They would make it from various stuff like fermented potato skins, apples, oranges, peaches, etc. The Scots Irish immigrants brought the knowledge of making \ distilling homemade alcohol (moonshine, whiskey, brandy) with them when they moved to Georgia. http://www.southernhistory.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=10151&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 Moonshine can be harmful a lot of the times due to the way the alcohol is distilled. Some stills have been made with used car radiators as a condenser, other stills may just be dirty. They have found lead within moonshine stills. The kicker of the moonshine (contents which ferment) will actually melt the still or warp the metal on it after or during cooking the shine.
People use pillow cases and hang the kicker inside the still to make sure it will not melt or warp the metal still. This warping or melting of the metal is dangerous because people who would drink the moonshine will then be drinking the melted metal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonshine