The founding of NASCAR: The story of who's who at Daytona's Streamline Hotel meetings
NASCAR’s diamond anniversary season owes plenty to a series of meetings held 75 years ago Wednesday at the historic Streamline Hotel. There, founder Bill France Sr. met with 35 other leaders from stock-car racing’s earliest days, aiming to establish rules and regulations that culminated in the launch of NASCAR nearly two months later.
The style-moderne hotel had only been open seven years at the time of the meetings, and the landmark still welcomes guests at its South Atlantic Avenue location. The legacy of the smoke-filled Ebony Lounge, where some of the sport’s origins were conceived lives on, both in legend and in a handful of photographs preserved from those early conferences at the Streamline.
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Who were the founding fathers in that historic photo, gathering around the long table strewn with papers and ashtrays for those formative talks? Big Bill France is recognizable at the front and center, and other names and faces may be familiar to racing history buffs. Other names may be less known, their identities faded by the passage of 75 years’ time.
The prominence of the figures seated along that table, however, deserves further recognition as NASCAR marks one of its earliest anniversary moments. With information culled from research in the archives, here are their stories.
Seated, from left to right
Bob Richards (Atlanta): A well-connected businessman with a wide network of dealings in the Georgia capital, Richards also held an ownership stake in the E&S Racing Shop with Ed “Jug” Williams, a noted bootlegger. His racing background also included a role as a driver in the late 1930s.
Freddie Horton (Providence, R.I.):
Car owner whose stature in and knowledge of the New England racing scene was sought after by France, who envisioned NASCAR’s long-term growth from a regional series into a national presence.
Jack Peters (Berea, Ohio):
Promoter of Indy-type events in the Midwest, Peters came to the table with expertise in roadster racing. That car division was suggested for NASCAR sanction — along with Strictly Stock and Modified classes — but never fully materialized after the meeting.
Ed Bruce (Berea, Ohio):
Business partner to fellow Ohioan Peters. It was reported that when balloting stalled over the name of the new organization, Bruce — eager to turn the conversation to roadster racing — suggested the “NASCAR” acronym that master mechanic Red Vogt had first coined and made a motion to adopt it. Peters seconded, and the name passed in a voice vote.
Chick DiNatale (Trenton, N.J.):
Second vice president for the American Stock Car Racing Association (ASCRA), a rival racing organization that operated for just four seasons in the late 1940s. His brother, Rocky, was ASCRA treasurer. Chick competed in Eastern Stock Car Racing Club events and made one Cup Series race in the circuit’s first season, crashing out at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway and finishing 37th in 1949.
Harvey Tattersall Jr. (New York):
Tattersall was a driver, car builder and owner before World War II, later making the transition to a racing official and the eventual co-founder of the United Stock Car Racing Club. He was promoter for 27 years at Riverside Park in Agawam, Mass., and later the owner/promoter at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl. Tattersall was elected to the inaugural class of the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame in 1998.
Tom Galon (New York):
Business partner to Tattersall in the United Stock Car Racing Club, Galon was a co-promoter and a track announcer for motorsports events on the New England racing scene.
Alvin Hawkins (Spartanburg, S.C.):
Hawkins joined France as the co-founders of racing operations at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. Weekly NASCAR racing continues to this day at the quarter-mile track, run by Hawkins’ descendants. A close associate of France, Hawkins was also NASCAR’s first flagman. He has been a nominee for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Landmark Award in recent years.
Bill Tuthill (New Rochelle, N.Y.):
Tuthill raced motorcycles in his youth before taking on roles as a radio broadcaster and event promoter, later earning the trust of France for his business savvy. He steered the Streamline meetings as their unofficial chairman and was elected as NASCAR’s first secretary. Tuthill emerged from the company’s formation with a 40% ownership stake, which he later sold to France. Tuthill later worked as a racing official and a historian, operating the Museum of Speed in south Daytona Beach from the mid-1950s into the ’70s.
Bill France Sr. (Daytona Beach, Fla.):
The former racer and promoter known as “Big Bill” sought to bring together industry figures from other walks of auto racing, even as he aimed to get his own business plans on paper. He was elected president of the fledgling organization and soon charted a course for promoting races under the NASCAR name. The Modified Division launched in 1948, followed by the Cup Series (then called Strictly Stock) the next year. France built major speedways in Daytona and Talladega, leading the sport’s growth in its formative years.
Mildred Ayers (Ormond Beach, Fla.):
Recording secretary who kept the hand-written minutes at the series of Streamline Hotel meetings that gave NASCAR its beginning.
Joe Littlejohn (Spartanburg, S.C.):
Expert promoter and racer who organized events in his hometown stock-car hub and in neighboring states. He first made a name for himself as a driver in the 1930s and ’40s and raced in the first two Cup Series races on the Daytona Beach road course, placing fourth in the 1949 inaugural. He also was the first to clock more than 100 mph in the measured mile in a stock car on Daytona’s sand. Littlejohn later took over operations at Atlanta Motor Speedway as its general manager in 1966 and was credited with helping France select the site of a future 2.66-mile superspeedway in Talladega.
Jimmy Cox (Mt. Airy, N.C.):
Respected mechanic from the North Carolina foothills who was appointed to the organization’s newly formed competition committee after the meetings. Cox is holding a copy of Speed Age magazine in the photo, but his face is turned away from the camera and partially obscured; this picture is from another Streamline photograph, taken from the outside rooftop.
Eddie Bland (Jacksonville, Fla.):
A former championship-winning car owner in the 1930s and ’40s, Bland promoted races throughout the Sunshine State, including on Jacksonville’s beaches. In the months before the Streamline meeting, Bland built and opened Jacksonville Speedway — later known as Speedway Park, site of Cup Series races from 1951-63. He was named to NASCAR’s first board of governors as vice president.
Joe Ross (Boston):
Midget-car driver who competed across the northeast in Bay State Midget Racing Association and New England Auto Racing Association competition. His racing schedule included Norwood (Mass.) Arena Speedway, where he later became the track announcer.
Sam Packard (Boston):
A former campaigner of midget cars in the New England area, Packard competed in multiple racing disciplines — sprints, Indy cars, motorcycles, boats and stock cars. He operated a speed shop in suburban Providence, R.I., and eventually moved to Daytona Beach in 1959. Packard was the last surviving attendee of the Streamline meetings until his death in 2003 at age 93.
Bill Streeter (Trenton, N.J.):
Promoter who led the creation of the American Stock Car Racing Association, where he held the role of secretary. He raced Indy-type cars in his younger days, and was also a pit-crew member for Johnny Hannon, a National Sprint Car Hall of Famer as a driver. Streeter later took on a front-office position as promoter at Delmar Speedway in Delaware and helped to refurbish the Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway in Pennsylvania.
Lucky Sauer (Daytona Beach, Fla.):
Former stock-car and midget driver who competed throughout Florida, Sauer attended as one of two local dignitaries with the Daytona Beach chamber of commerce, along with Jimmy Roberts (not pictured).
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Standing, left to right
Larry Roller:
Journalist representing the International News Service, a news wire founded by William Randolph Hearst that merged with Universal Press International in 1958. France invited select reporters to the Streamline in an effort to document the process and spread the word about the meetings.
Fred Dagavar (New York):
Businessman, car owner and racer who later hailed from Philadelphia, Dagavar made one Cup Series start, placing 17th out of 48 cars at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway in 1950 and earning $50 for his efforts. He later ventured into sports-car racing, campaigning a 1954 Jaguar XK120. He came away from the Streamline meetings with a place on the eight-member Board of Governors.
Bob Osiecki (Atlanta):
Top car and engine builder who helped guide Dodge and Plymouth into stock-car racing, Osiecki also excelled as a famed hot-rodder in drag racing and achieved land-speed records. A car of his own design topped the 180-mph mark on Daytona’s sands. As a gifted mechanic, he fielded cars in the NASCAR Cup Series for drivers such as Marvin Panch, Ralph Earnhardt and Darel Dieringer. Osiecki also staged auto shows and opened a Dodge dealership in Florence, S.C. He died of a heart attack in 1964, aged just 45.
Jimmy Quisenberry (Hyattsville, Md.):
Journalist and co-founder of Speed Age, billed as “America’s First Motor Racing Magazine.” The first edition of Speed Age was published just seven months before the Streamline meetings. The publication solely focused on motorsports at first, later adding news and reviews of passenger cars to its coverage.
Ed Samples (Atlanta):
Noted driver who claimed the 1946 championship of the U.S. Stock Car Drivers Association and later made 13 Cup Series starts. He twice cheated death — living after being shot three times in a pre-war moonshining dispute, then surviving a 1950 crash at Atlanta’s Lakewood Speedway that left him with a head injury and two broken wrists. He returned to add Alabama to his list of state championships in 1954, retiring two years later to run a speed shop in Birmingham. France appointed him to the helm of NASCAR’s technical committee after the Streamline meetings.
Marshall Teague (Daytona Beach, Fla.):
Teague went far back with France, working at his gas station as a teenager. He served in the Air Corps in World War II but returned to racing with gusto. Teague was elected as NASCAR’s first treasurer after the Streamline meetings. He later won seven NASCAR Cup Series races in the dominant No. 6 Hudson Hornet, including back-to-back triumphs on the Daytona beach-and-road course (1951-52). He was also champion of the AAA National Stock Car division in 1952 and ’54. Teague died when his “Sumar Special” streamliner car crashed as he pursued a closed-course speed record at Daytona International Speedway in 1959.
