ISCRA

The International Stock Car Racing Association (ISCRA) is an American-based stock car racing sanctioning body. It is the largest sanctioning body for stock car racing in the United States. ISCRA currently sanctions and promotes three national series, the ISCRA Can-Am Cup Series, the ISCRA Sparco Pro Series, and the ISCRA Procore Truck Series, as well as multiple regional series, including the ISCRA XPOLogistics National Series and the ISCRA Permatex Modified Tour.

ISCRA was founded by Eugene Goldschmidt in 1972; his grandson Jeffrey has been the CEO since January 1st, 2011. The company is currently headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

Early Stock Car Racing
The early days of stock car racing in the 1940s and 50s were fragmented; dozens of series around the United States held championships that were limited to a handful of tracks in a state or county. As time went on, a handful of these series expanded into entire regions, leading to most of the United States having some sort of racing championship in their area.

Northeastern Stock Car Racing Series
The Northeastern Stock Car Racing Series (NSCRS) was formed in 1951 by a group of track owners who looked to create a racing series that focused solely on the northeast region of the United States. Some notable members of the NSCRS included Stafford Motor Speedway, Thompson Speedway Motorsport Park, Seekonk Speedway, Oxford Plains Speedway, and Lime Rock Park. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the series began to grow further south, abandoning their northeastern roots for larger tracks like Charlotte Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Rockingham Speedway. By 1970, the NSCRS encompassed most of the eastern seaboard, holding races from Maine all the way to Florida.

South Western Racing Club
The South Western Racing Club (SWRC) was created in 1960 following the rapid success of the NSCRS in the east. This series focused on tracks on the west coast of the US, such as Willow Springs Motorsports Park, Ascot Park, Riverside Raceway, and Saugus Speedway. By the end of the 1960s, the series would eventually serve the entire west coast, as well as in Texas and Colorado.

Midwestern Racing Association
The Midwestern Racing Association (MRA) was created in 1957. As it grew and expanded outwards in the 1960s and 70s, it would eventually serve the entirety of the Midwest and the Deep South in Louisiana and Alabama. By 1972, the MRA would be the largest series in terms of the area it served.

Great Lakes Stock Car Championship
The Great Lakes Stock Car Championship (GLSCC), the oldest of the four series, was created in 1947 as a means to centralize the racing community within Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. As the series stabilized into the 1950s it grew north, eventually holding races in Michigan, Wisconsin, and beginning in 1962, going north of the border into Canada. By 1972, even though it was the oldest of the four series, it served the smallest market of them all. However, with the city of Detroit in its territory, the series had a large influence on production cars made by GM, Ford, and Dodge in the 1950s and 60s.

Founding of ISCRA
As the 1970s approached, the NSCRS, SWRC, MRA, and GLSCC realized that they would not survive for long independently. Costs were slowly climbing, and drivers such as George McCoy and Travis Schafer were able to cross series and gather more money and sponsorship than their single-series competition. On October 3rd, 1972, the four series came to an agreement that they would merge into one series called the International Stock Car Racing Association (ISCRA); the name for the series was coined by former driver and SWRC executive Clayton Scott. The first season of competition featured 28 races, taking tracks from all four series to form a single united schedule. The first event was held on January 21st, 1973, at Riverside Raceway; the event was won by SWRC driver Joe Pittman. After the final race of the season on October 23rd, 1973, George McCoy was crowned as the first champion, with Cory Hendrix finishing second.

The series had considerable support from the Big Three of American car manufacturing. The first season saw GM field Chevrolet Monte Carlos, Chrysler field Dodge Chargers, and Ford field Ford Torinos as well as Mercury Cougars. AMC would also field a small handful of Matadors for certain drivers, but would not return to the series after the 1975 season.

The first race held outside of the United States was held at Mosport Park in 1977. Eric Myers would win the 300-mile race in Bowmanville, Canada.