Nascar…. When you think of moonshine, you think of hillbillies in overalls steaming up grandparents still in their forties. You might be shocked when you find out that NASCAR is the billion-dollar enterprise with 100,000 cars designed to be as fast as possible. It's hard to believe that it all started with brilliant runners. During the Great Depression millions of gallons of brilliance needed to be distributed. This is where ridge runners come in. The Shiners needed a way to shine the stills down to the depots…. The cops at the time had escort cars and if you could get past them then you were free. You can only get in trouble if you get caught red-handed….. the backwoods misfits started building machines that would put the police out of business. This was the beginning of NASCAR…..Mike Devlin September 30, 2013 The Shiners would soup up a car and use it to defeat the police. Ridge runners knew the back roads and mountain trails better than anyone. With the help of cars and knowledge of the labyrinth of streets, the runners on the ridge began to defeat the police. This then started bragging. Every rider on the crest believed he was the fastest rider on the mountain. They started having races to see who was really the fastest. One of the most famous pilots was a man named Junior Johnson. He was a brilliant man who had been captured and spent a year in prison. He got out of prison and returned to the fast-paced lifestyle of shining. In his prime he was considered the fastest man on the crest. He later came to NASCAR in 1955 and won over 50 races. He then retired in 1966. In 1933, Prohibition was repealed, yet the scoundrels did not abandon their reckless ways, continuing... middle of paper......days when moonlight wood was used to light a fire to heat the still. This has become a red flag for anyone looking for distillers. It is very difficult to spot smoke coming from a still in the dark of night. Most people would think that moonshining started after Prohibition when there was a federal anti-liquor law…. the Americans still wanted a way to solve the problem. The Shiners were born…Moonshine making is a process that has been used since before Prohibition, when there was a federal law against the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages. The Americans still needed a way to solve it, so the distillers needed. More and more people started moonlighting to earn some extra money. From outlaws to small business owners, the moonshine seemed to flow deep into the South. They started in the wooded areas of the south and began to shine.