Did drafting actually come from NASCAR?

Question

I've read once that Junior Johnson discovered it during the Daytona 500 in 1960. Did he really "discover" drafting?

Answer 1

He might have been the 1st to really use it and know what he was doing.

Even race cars back then didn't have all the telemetry and information that we take for granted today.  They might not have understood drafting or had the information to prove its value.

Answer 2

You don,t think the King had anything to do with it do you?I think so!!!!!!

Answer 3

Could have been. Like Maggie said strange things happen while driving  down the road.

Why there was this one time when me and a friend was going down the road and something fell in front of my truck from overhead. We both looked real quick at each other like " wtf "?...!!! We then felt a little bitty bump, like we ran over something.

We then quickly turned around and looked and saw a squirrel standing in the road looking back over his own little bitty shoulders. He was looking at his tail...!!! That's right. His tail...!!!

Evidently we ran over it's tail  and it took all of the hair off of it's tail. The squirrel discovered that if he falls out of a tree, and my truck runs over his tail, he will have a tail that looks like a piece of wire (with no hair).

So yes it's possible that he discovered it back then.

Answer 4

The Great American trucker started it years ago, to save on fuel...

Answer 5

During the first race in 1959, all the drivers learned a lot about aerodynamics, mostly because they have never driven that fast before.  They discovered the draft that year, they noticed that there was a "void" of air right behind another car, and that they could hold the throttle half open and keep up with the car in front.  

However Jr Johnson was the first person to figure out that using that draft could be an advantage, and he turned it into a strategy.  When he won the second Daytona 500, he did so in a car that was far less superior to other cars in the field.

Answer 6

Not sure, but I would say the birds flying in a triangle formation is the first form it came in

Answer 7

He may have discovered it in NASCAR in 1960, but it's always been used in the running competitions.

Answer 8

I don't know if "it came from NASCAR" its always been present whether your driving behind a semi to conserve gas or just putting your hand behind the mirror for less resistance

Answer 9

I think so because i remember hearing the same story.

Answer 10

Maybe he did notice something but I am sure that it was science and technology that actually brought it to light.

Answer 11

Yes or Junior Johnson would have known all about it before the 1960 Daytona 500.