OK so why do all of these NASCAR races have a number at the end of them? The Coca Cola 600? The Ford 400? Daytona 500?

Well these numbers actually represent the distance (in miles) of each of these races. This is the distance that each driver drives

But it’s important to think about what this actually means for racers. They complete these races in 4 hours or less, driving at grueling speeds (up to 200 MPH – a third of the speed of a jumbo jet!) , and spend the whole time in total concentration.

I one time drove from Maryland to Michigan. The total distance was about 600 miles. It took me more than 12 hours to do it!

Now I might have been able to shave an hour or 2 off the trip if it wasn’t far a thing called “cops with speed guns,” but I never would have been able to drive at the speed that these NASCAR drivers drive.

The distance that they travel, 600 miles, is 1/5 the distance of the entire continental United States. That means in less than 1 day of driving they would have driven from New York to California.

…and trust me, this trip is no joy ride. Their heart rate is close to that of a marathon runner, and temperatures can reach more than 100 degrees in the car. While the physical strain is maddening, they know they can’t relax for even a moment because if they do, their car is that next to make the national news being scrapped of the tracks wall.

It’s pretty clear why the Coca Cola 600 is known as NASCAR’s “endurance race.”

So be sure to tune into FOX at 5:30pm on Sunday, May 27 and check out the excitement and action yourself. Also keep an eye out for TJ Bell, driving the #32 Green Smoke Ford Fusion.

NASCAR 2011 was a season full of turns and surprises…and exciting as ever. T.J. Bell finished his rookie season on a high, with the Ford 400 at the end of November – the best race of his career. We’re all rooting for him and hoping his momentum will carry over into the 2012 NASCAR season!

And what a season we are all in store for! It all kicks off on February 27th, at the Daytona 500.

There are storylines galore that fans are itching to see play out. For one, the off season saw a number of key driver changes, such as Kasey Kahne, who now drives for Hendrick Motorsports, and Mark Martin, who joined Michael Waltrip Racing. These are just a few of the big names that’ll be driving elsewhere this season making for lots to talk about for NASCAR buffs.

Talking about compelling story lines for 2012, you can’t leave Jimmie Johnson out of the conversation. Johnson found himself at the top of the leader board for the previous five seasons before 2011. He only finished 6th in points last season and missed out on extending his consecutive titles streak to six. Coming off a year where he posting his lowest point total since 2002, can Jimmie rebound and reclaim his spot at the top? We’ll be tuning in to find out!

Last, but certainly not least, there is no getting around the Danica factor in 2012. Hype or not, Danica Patrick will be at the center of the media frenzy this year. She’ll drive full-time in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series in addition to 10 select races on the Sprint Cup circuit. Will Danica bring more than her camera-friendly looks to the table? Is she ready to go beyond her historic successes and truly break the glass ceiling?

Stay tuned to Green Smoke Racing for insights and commentary that extend beyond the track.

Start your engines! Ready…Set…Go!

NASCAR was off to a great start. From that point forward there was nothing stopping it from become the biggest racing organization in the world

As my dad use to say, “with all good things, the best way to top it is to make it bigger and better. “

…and that’s what NASCAR fans were demanding – bigger and better races.

So in 1969, NASCAR’s founder Bill France Sr. gave it to them and opened the largest and fastest car-racing track in the world – the 2.66-mile Alabama International Motor Speedway (today known as Talladega Superspeedway).

The sheer size of it was overwhelming, if you’d been there you’d have been awed by it. Until that point no stadium in history had ever been built at that size. It was a track truly meant for racing.

NASCAR’s momentum launched it into the next decade which were landmark years for NASCAR. We saw many changes that wound up shaping NASCAR’s future.

Smoking cigarettes has always been a favorite here in the south, so when the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company started sponsoring the Cup Series in 1971 it certainly brought a few more of us into the NASCAR family.

R.J. would sponsor the Winston Cup Series for the next 32 years until NASCAR banned regular cigarettes at their event.

1972 marked time of change in NASCAR’s leadership. We’d all grown up seeing Bill Sr. running his dream while creating one of the most successful sporting events of all time.

But that dream had materialized and the time had come to hand the torch of NASCAR to his son, Bill Jr. who continued to do great work. After less than 4 years of heading NASCAR, it broke the all-time attendance record of any other racing event in history – something I don’t think is ever going to be broken again. NASCAR at that point told us that it was here to stay.

And stay they did – and continued to grow…

They hit another milestone in 1979 when the Daytona 500 was the first race to be broadcasted on TV live from start to finish.

By 1989, just 10 years after that first broadcast of the Daytona 500, we were watching every race in the Cup Series on TV. And by the end of the 90’s we could watch every race on TV.

By the mid 1980’s corporate companies, hoping to get more exposure during the races, started sponsoring the drivers.

We saw drivers like Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt and Bill Elliott be the first to race with the ads of Kellogg’s, General Foods, Proctor & Gamble and others painted onto their cars.

By the time we got to the 90’s NASCAR had became one of the most popular sporting events in the world. New drivers like Jeff Gordon, and Bobby Labonte were breaking records that before we’d thought impossible for a stock car.

2003 was another turning year for NASCAR when they cut off R.J. Reynolds from sponsoring the Cup series. We found out later that some phone company named Sprint would be the sponsor instead.

In 2011 cigarettes came back to NASCAR in the form of their upgraded, hi-tech alternative – electronic cigarettes. Green Smoke the leading electronic cigarette brand sponsored TJ Bell in the Sprint Cup Series. After a successful season he was nominated for NASCAR’s rookie of the year award.

Today, NASCAR’s flagship series, the Sprint Cup Series, is one of the most watched sporting events in the world. 35 races, 43 drivers, 1 winner. If you’re looking for cut-throat excitement, this is the place you want to be.

See you on the track!

Trust me, NASCAR wasn’t all wine and roses when it started. In fact there were quite a number of people who were convinced that it would never get off the ground and would roll into a quite page in the back of some history book.

But I can tell you, Bill France Sr. was determined to make his vision come to reality and he worked hard to make NASCAR successful.

After months of hard work NASCAR’s first major race took place in Charlotte, NC on June 19, 1949 and was called the Grand National Race. You know it’s funny how today, more than 60 years later, Charlotte is still where one of NASCAR’s major races, the Coca Cola 600, takes place. I’ll bet ya’ that when this race was being planned they had no idea how big NASCAR was going to get.

Already in the first race NASCAR’s rules were tested when the winner Glenn Dunnaway’s car was discovered to have been bootlegged with an illegal device. In previous races this would have resulted in an explosive argument between the drivers and promoters, usually endin’ with a few of them walking away feeling cheated, swearing never to race again.

NASCAR had been founded to keep things fair.

Their ironclad rules disqualified Dunnaway, and Jim Roper who’d finished 2^nd, was declared the winner.

This race showed that France was right. Racing needed to be regulated if it was going to survive. His proof was simply how quickly NASCAR’s popularity took off.

France’s next goal was to create a superspeedway to put down NASCAR’s roots and tell people that it was here to stay. But he wanted to do it right – not just build an enormous racetrack, but to build a racetrack that would allow drivers to go their fastest.

The 2.5-mile superspeedway, the Daytona International Speedway was opened in 1959 with the first Daytona 500.

It was a race that topped anything racing fans had ever experienced before. The Daytona International Speedway was the biggest racing track in the world, and with its 30-degree angles it allowed drivers to race faster then they were ever able to before.

The Daytona 500 gave fans what they wanted, what they needed. A fast, close race that kept them at the edge of their seats. Who’d cross the finish line, and who’d crash? What they needed was something to get their blood pumping.

The Daytona 500 was the height of what Bill France Sr. had hoped to achieve with NASCAR . The question was what could he do to top it?

(Picture credit Darryl W. Moran Photography)

We know NASCAR as an action packed, cut-throat, wild ride – 43 racers competing against each other as they race neck ‘n neck, doing anything they can to get to the finish line first.

The fast paced action of NASCAR is undeniably awesome.

Have you ever wondered how it all got started?

I’ll bet you didn’t know that NASCAR began with illegal whiskey smuggling during a very dark time in American history…

“The time may come when the law must be broken…”

Now alcohol is what makes life enjoyable and fun. Whether we’re sipping some good homemade whiskey or drinking beer while hangin’ with the guys, alcohol is a key ingredient to making life more of an adventure.

So you can imagine that people weren’t very happy when, in 1919, a group of religious fanatics managed to make the sale and import of all alcohol products illegal in the United States. This ridiculous Prohibition made the next 14 years a hell for some…

What’s a good person to do when his rights have been taken from him?

He finds ways to “ignore” the law.

People started making and transporting illegal brews all over the United States. Old family stories allegedly say that my great-great-grandfather routinely made smuggling runs from Canada in order to keep his Chicago pub stocked with the “good stuff.”

At least that’s the story.

But the part of our story that involves NASCAR began on the East Coast, where there was a particular craving for this Appalachian whiskey we call moonshine.

The brewers needed to deliver their brew from their secret distiller in the Southern Appalachian Mountains to eager clients in neighboring states.

They hired smugglers to do the dirty work.

But the smugglers were having problems transporting these heavy payloads through the uneven, winding mountain roads.

Trust me, it’s frustrating when your vehicle breaks down at night in the middle of nowhere, particularly when you’re movin’ illegal goods.

While the moonshine didn’t do much for their engines, it sure did great things for their spirits.

And it wasn’t just the blazing heat during the day and the frigid cold at night that made the job hard. Evading highway taxmen was a high priority.

I certainly wouldn’t want to be hunted down, thrown in jail and have my whiskey confiscated.

One thing was clear, they needed faster and more reliable cars. Their only choice was to “modify” their vehicles.

It wasn’t hard to upgrade the suspensions and engines of their cars and before long these smugglers were living every man’s dream. Driving at high speeds through winding mountain roads in “suped-up” vehicles, being chased by – and outrunning – the highway police.

The thrill of racing was more intoxicating than the whiskey.

In 1933 Congress came to their senses and killed the Prohibition. But even if the smugglers’ business had dried up, the damage had been done.

The intoxicating speed of stock cars was too strong. It wasn’t long before races started popping up in the southern states.

Ironic as it might be that stock car racing began with illegal whiskey runnin’ the races bred its own type of cheating.

The biggest problem was downright stealing. Promoters would leave the racetrack while the driver they sponsored was still racing…taking all of the money with them.

Drivers were starting to get fed up and many started to quit. Stock car racing was dying before it had even gotten off the ground.

There was one person who saw a solution. His name was Bill France Sr.

France saw a future in stock car racing, but he knew that for it to survive, there would need to be some kind of official organization that would set the rules and take care of the money so that everyone got their fair share.

On December 14, 1947 the major players – stock car racers, promoters, mechanics, and France – walked into a room to decide what the future in stock car racing would be. The promoters had their issues they wanted dealt with. So did the drivers and mechanics.

France spent 2 months negotiating and on February 21, 1948 when everything had been agreed upon, they announced the launch of the National Association for Stock Car Racing.

NASCAR was officially born.

First electronic cigarette company to sponsor NASCAR driver in 52nd running of  NASCAR’s longest race

(Miami, FL May 9, 2011) – Green Smoke®, one of the nation’s leading electronic cigarette brands, is proud to announce that it will sponsor T.J. Bell in the 52nd running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 29th at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Bell, who is known to NASCAR fans in the Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series, will pilot the No. 50 Green Smoke® Toyota Camry in his first attempt to qualify for NASCAR’s longest race on the sport’s largest stage – the Sprint Cup Series.

Green Smoke’s sponsorship of Bell will mark its first NASCAR endeavor, as well as the first NASCAR sponsorship by any organization within the electronic cigarette industry.

“One of the world’s signature televised sporting events, NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 is the ideal global platform to showcase the partnership of Green Smoke® and T.J. Bell, a talented NASCAR driver who is making the move to NASCAR’s premiere division, the Sprint Cup Series,” states Steven Arnold, VP of Marketing & Customer Satisfaction for Green Smoke®, an industry leader in providing an authentic, alternative smoking experience.

“NASCAR represents the passion and peak performance of American race car driving to a worldwide audience and T.J Bell epitomizes the NASCAR competitive spirit at its very best,” continued Arnold. “A gifted driver at the threshold of an exciting career, T.J.’s talent has captured the attention of the American public in past performances in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.  Bell’s No. 50 Green Smoke® Toyota Camry will be state-of-the-art equipment. We look forward to seeing Bell and the Green Smoke® Toyota Camry competing among the biggest names in NASCAR.”

“Every driver goes into racing wanting to compete at the highest level possible. Green Smoke® has come on board to make racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series a reality for me and I’m looking forward to putting our No. 50 Green Smoke® Toyota Camry to the test at Charlotte,” said Bell, who currently resides in Mooresville, NC. “This is a big step forward for my career and Green Smoke® couldn’t have picked a more perfect market to promote its product. I’m looking forward to a great future with Green Smoke® and a very exciting Coca-Cola 600 debut.”

T.J. Bell (Timothy Peter Bell, Jr.), born August 25, 1980 in Sparks, NV, has raced in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series. Prior to joining the stock car racing scene, he made a name for himself in the Toyota Atlantic Series. Bell has raced for more than two decades, accumulating 20 top-10 finishes in ARCA competition and 13 NASCAR career top-10s.

Green Smoke® will sponsor Bell’s No. 50 Toyota Camry for at least three Sprint Cup events this season.

About Green Smoke®
Green Smoke® Inc. is based in Miami, FL and was founded to provide smokers with an exciting new alternative to traditional cigarettes. As a leading electronic cigarette brand, Green Smoke® was amongst the first companies to deliver a simple two piece e-cigarette. Today, Green Smoke® continues to pride itself on consistently delivering the highest quality products and the most authentic e-cigarette smoking experience.
For more information, visit: www.greensmoke.com or follow Green Smoke® on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/GreenSmokeElectronicCigarette or on Twitter @GreenSmoker.

To follow T.J. Bell, visit http://tj-bell.com or on Twitter @TJBell_Racing or visit www.greensmokeracing.com

For sponsorship information on T.J. Bell & NASCAR, contact: Dan Leon; danleon@comcast.net; 610.291.7418.

Media Contact: Frank Tobin; 323.661.3720.

TJ Bell hopes his road racing experience will lead to a great performance at Pocono Raceway ini the # 50 Green Smoke Camry today, June 12.

TJ Bell and Green Smoke® learned together what many teams and accomplished drivers have learned before them – starting a new team in the highest level of competition in NASCAR is not the path of least resistance but you have to be really talented to even try.

“Racing in the Sprint Cup Series means racing against champions, veterans, the best racecar drivers in the world who drive for the best racing organizations in the world. LTD Powersports is a new team, and we are anxious to give Green Smoke® their first appearance on the Sprint Cup Series stage. The playing field in NASCAR is as level as it has ever been which means it is tougher than ever to qualify for the 43-car fields that race on Sunday.

“Pocono Raceway is a three-corner road course. It’s not an oval. I love the track. I’ve been there in the ARCA Racing Series with cars that you shift, and cars that you don’t shift. To head back there with the Green Smoke ® Camry, a car that I’ll be shifting, I couldn’t be more excited. I love racing at Pocono and it should be a great opportunity for this race team,” said Bell.

T.J. Bell (Timothy Peter Bell, Jr.), born August 25, 1980 in Sparks, NV, has raced in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series. Prior to joining the stock car racing scene, he made a name for himself in the Toyota Atlantic Series. Bell has raced for more than two decades, accumulating 20 top-10 finishes in ARCA competition and 13 NASCAR career top-10s.

“LTD Powersports is the first team to bring an electronic cigarette sponsor, Green Smoke®, into the Sprint Cup Series garage. They’ve been with us for two race weekends at Charlotte Motor Speedway and in Kansas. We hope that Pocono Raceway will be the event where we get the opportunity to put Green Smoke® in the field for Sunday’s race,” said Bell, a NASCAR competitor since 2003.

Lately, men have been shocked to find their wives avoiding their Sunday race to the mall, only to spend the afternoon hammering a new female friendly sport, NASCAR! With over 75 million followers, NASCAR estimates that over 40 percent of their fan base is of the female persuasion. The feminine contribution to auto racing is one of the fastest growing trends in sports.

So, with only one in every two current race fans wearing the pants at home, one must ask, “What makes our lovely ladies root for a sport customarily known for its clichéd beer-bellied, brawn-yelling from the stands?”

The logical answer may lie in the eye candy one typically sees on the screen each Sunday! With legends like Jeff Gordon, TJ Bell, and Kasey Kahne, female fans are keeping both eyes open! Yet to claim that women are attracted to NASCAR racers simply because the drivers are dreamy is a little naive. NASCAR drivers are more than just their clean-cut charisma.

Many women are in love with the exhilaration of the race. Race car drivers are so adventurous in their love of danger. Who wouldn’t be swept up by a man who can make an engine roar like a lion? Not to mention that clean shaven sincere look that would get any parent’s blessing. Plus the fact that you know if you were locked up in a castle, the race car man isn’t afraid to get dirty with danger to save his damsel in distress. After all, how many men do you know who would risk their lives doing what they love?

Yet, the only frontier left currently untouched for NASCAR to conquer in relation to the female fan is the development and elevation of a female race car driver.

Another reason for the latest increase in lady fans could be due to several records broken by female drivers in NASCAR. For many years women avoided the male-dominated sport. Yet females are now forcing those front doors open and demanding equal treatment on the track. Danica Patricks, Johanna Longs and the Cope twins, Amber and Angela, are just some of the most popular female drivers in NASCAR’s development program.

Whatever the motive for the budding awareness among women, NASCAR has begun taking initiative to include more female-friendly racing coverage and events.

So ladies, while the guys may be starting their engines, it is you that will be fueling the race. And perhaps in time, NASCAR just might become the “mother” of all motor sporting events.

This summer, diehard race car fans are cuing up to watch their iron man icons tear up the track at NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Don’t you wonder what makes these superman stars compete for four fierce hours behind the wheel? Depending on the length of the race, they could be driving as much as four ferocious hours in sweltering heat with no bathroom or beer breaks!

So drivers, tell us, is it perhaps the baritone rumbles of monstrous V-8s that rattle your insides at 200 miles an hour? The all-powerful sweet stench of fuel and burning rubber that has your nostril hairs flaring for more? Is it that invincible suit and speed that has superman considering mandatory retirement?

We all know how alluring it is to be fast and furious on all fronts. Admit it, haven’t you ever imagined what it would feel like to test drive one of these mean, metal monsters, even just for a few minutes, let alone for a living? Grab that exhilaration by the neck and feel it pulsing through your veins at 200 miles an hour. Show that 800 horse power stock car whose boss – you know you want to! It’s death before defeat!

Who can blame you? Listen to your diehard fans screaming your name as you thrash past the finish line. Let the voice of victory blow your mind… it’s all yours…

Ladies, the danger involved in racing would have any mother counting racecars to try and get to sleep! Drivers must be disciplined! Having fat-lady pictures posted on the fridge and chocolate hidden under the bed are a no no for those that are serious about their sport! Carrot sticks and broccoli are the racers’ best friends. Those who plan on marrying a man of the wheel, be warned, candle light dinners at the gym are a given! It’s imperative he keeps in shape!

Let’s see, desk job versus mountains of doting fans, the thrill to drive at the speed of insanity, an annual salary that would make all your old class mates and evil teachers green with jealousy, and most of all, the passion to live your dream.

Courageous race car drivers out there… if you are reading this, know that your dedication does not go unseen! Some might forget their anniversaries, their spouses’ birthdays, and their date with the dentist, but no one needs a “save the date” reminder about NASCAR weekends…make us proud NASCAR!

Yes NASCAR fans, fearless, or just too tough to be tamed, the drivers of the 2011 NASCAR event will keep you stuck in your seats!

Are you considering a burial plot on your front lawn this NASCAR 2011 season? Either for yourself, because you have to miss this year’s biggest and fiercest ironman challenge, or for your boss who has sped off to the races leaving his business in your trusting hands? Don’t pout, firstly because, you ladies out there, pouting causes wrinkles, which are much more expensive to fix then this season’s NASCAR series, and Gents, before you consider arson of your office, put on your breaks and slow down — there is an answer.

You can now watch America’s most popular sport live online. Thanks to those wonderful people that created the Internet, you can now enjoy virtual front row seats, all from the coziness of your comfy sofa. Just make sure you put a password on your wireless — you don’t want any uninvited fans snatching your spot! You won’t even have to worry about your kids kidnapping the remote. In fact, it will be a great distraction, and an excuse to steal the popcorn, sneak off and savor the sound of monstrous V-8s and victory.

If you choose to take the TV route, NASCAR has plenty of channels steering in your direction. It’s also a great way to avoid that dreaded Sunday brunch with the monster-in-law… I mean mother-in-law! What could be better? Top that off with a chilled beer, your air conditioner and an excuse to avoid the Sunday shopping sprees. What more could you ask for?

Green Smoke® is right in the center of the action as the first electronic cigarette company to sponsor a NASCAR racer. TJ Bell, winner of several victories in both the US Formula 2000 and the all-famous NASCAR World Truck Series, is going all-out for success. Why not take a lunch break and explore the Green Smoke® racing website? There are some great prizes to be won. Visit www.greensmokeracing.com

So, if your credit card is on life support, you are shackled to your work desk, or the flu bug is stalling your NASCAR engine, don’t give up your front seat. Your favorite driver is waiting for you — don’t disappoint him.