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Article: Do hard driving, hard liquor mix in world of NASCAR sponsors.
- Article from:
- San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, CA)
- Article date:
- November 20, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 San Jose Mercury News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Mark Emmons
SAN JOSE, Calif. _ NASCAR drivers burn rubber on racetracks like Talladega, Darlington and Daytona these days. But decades ago, some of the sport's early stars did their best racing on backwoods roads of the rural South, hauling white-lightning moonshine in souped-up cars, outrunning law "revenuers."
The legendary Junior Johnson, anointed by author Tom Wolfe as "The Last American Hero," even spent 11 months in federal prison in the mid-1950s, saying afterward: "I learnt from it _ I wouldn't do" bootlegging "anymore."
Today, NASCAR is a multibillion-dollar industry that's billed as America's fastest-growing sport. It markets ...