NASCAR and the Big 3 Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 at the age of 40 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors in Detroit, Michigan. The Model T made its debut in 1908 with a purchase price of $825.00. Over ten thousand were sold in its first year, establishing a new record for automobile sales by one company. Four years later the price dropped to $575.00 and sales soared. By 1914, Ford could claim a 48% share of the automobile market.  The Ford Mustang’s first release date was April 17, 1964. The evening of April 16, 1964, Ford ran a commercial on all three major television networks at the same time- 9:30pm. The next day Ford sold 22,000 Mustangs and the over the next eighteen months Ford Motor Company would build more than one million Mustangs. Starting in the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series, Mustang will be Ford’s new race vehicle for the first time. Mustang has however, gained more than 2,000 professional racing victories in other racing series’. Ford Motor Company has survived the latest economic downtown and is still going strong today. In 1909, Louis Chevrolet opened a garage in Detroit, Michigan, where he began to design, build, and test four and six cylinder automobile engines. When William C. Durant was forced out of General Motors in 1910 because of a stockholders' dispute, Chevrolet joined with him. In November of 1911, Chevrolet Motor Company was incorporated and the car company headquarters located in Detroit, Michigan. They offered a small, luxurious touring car, a six-cylinder automobile (named the Chevrolet), which was priced at a high $2,150, sold 3,000 units in 1912. In January of 1953 at the GM Motorama, the Chevy Corvette had an overwhelming positive response from its debut and production began in June in Flint, Michigan. The Chevy Corvette was a two-seat convertible and all 1953 models had Polo White and Red interiors and were built by hand. In 1963 the Corvette Sting Ray was the first to be available as a hardtop coupe model and could be changed to a traditional convertible top. The NASCAR Official 1995 Indianapolis 500 Pace Car was the Corvette.   On Sept 29, 1966 the Chevy Camaro went on sale. It was the competing model against the Ford Mustang. The 67 Chevy Camaro sport coupe base price was $2,466 and because of its strong brand identity GM won’t use the Camaro in the NASCAR Nationwide series; The Chevy Impala will raced instead. In 1900, the Dodge Brothers Company was founded By Horace and John Dodge to supply parts and assemblies for the auto industry in Detroit, Michigan. Dodge‘s primary customers were Olds Motor Vehicle Company and the Ford Motor Company and John and Horace were both share holders in Ford Motor Company. In 1913 John Dodge was “tried of being carried around in Henry Ford’s vest pocket” and in 1914 Dodge started making its own complete vehicles. They were rated second in American Sales in 1919. Unfortunately in January of 1920 John Dodge died and later that year in December, Horace died as well. Jump ahead to the 1960’s; Ford was dominating NASCAR, and Dodge hoped the Charger could compete. Dodge entered the Charger into the 1966 NASCAR season and the speed was there, but they quickly realized that the car did poorly on the faster tracks. Engineers put a small lip spoiler on the car and this helped, and NASCAR rules required the option needed to be on production models also. This made the 1966 Dodge Charger the first American mass produced car to have a spoiler. Dodge won the NASCAR Grand National Championship with 14 first place finishes. Dodge vehicles lives on and have been racing in NASCAR from the beginning of NASCAR until now. For a great  selection of  Car Company NASCAR Jackets, Click Here