Stock-car is a type of racing, which usually involves car derived from mass-production cars. Stock-car comes from the United States, it is there that Nascar the biggest competition of this kind takes place. Originally the word “stock-car” was used to only designate cars that had not been altered since leaving the factory.

Yet today, the cars used in stock car racing and especially NASCAR, have nothing to do with regular cars. The cars used in NASCAR are based on a tubular steel frame and only share a common outline with mass-production cars. In European stock-car races, unmodded based car with very powerful engines are still used to compete.

Nascar became famous for the shape of the racing tracks: fast and oval and its curved corners where aspiration is the key to victory. The number of cars on the track can reach 40 and often give rise to spectacular pile-ups at over 140 mph. This is the highlight of the show for the American public who is very fond of this kind of misadventure. The races are very long because the competitors have to race between 300 to 1000 kms.

In contrast with most forms of racing, car-to-car contact is generally accepted in stock car racing. This may happen in the form of forcing another vehicle out of the way, or pushing a competing vehicle forward for mutal benefit.

If Nascar is the biggest organizer of racing stock-car, there are others in Germany ,in the United Kingdom, in Brazil, Asia and even in New Zealand.