Why do 43 cars start a NASCAR race?

Question

What's magic about the number 43?

Answer 1

because if they don't start, they can't finish. and if they can't finish, they can't win

;-)

seriously, there is better answer out there - it was given on a question just like this asked a few days ago. here 'tis:  http://www.nascar.com/2002/news/headline...

but the person above me is right - some tracks have room for only 43 pit stalls - some have had to make room, and dover has only 42, making the final two qualifying drivers share one until someone drops out of the race.

Answer 2

fitting more cars than that into certain tracks does not work

Answer 3

why only 5 players on the court for one team at a time in an NBA game?

Answer 4

I'm with rowdy you can find it on the answers asked before

lol oops sorry about that did not mean to steal your answer just notice it I'm not smart :(

Answer 5

some of the larger tracks would start more than 43. Short tracks used to have fields of 32 to 36 cars. It was in the late 80's when NASCAR set it to 42 cars as the sport got more popular in the mainstream. The 43 car was added as the "Champion's Provisional" in Richard Petty's (#43) final seasons to make sure he would start every race his final season.

Answer 6

because nascar won't let me have any more than five teams, and after next year they'll only let me have four!!! i might have to get rid of that jimmy mac hair kid because of that. luckily i have "roush light" to fall back on with those kids, gilligan and krapple, keeping it going till i need to move jimmy mac over there. if it was up to me, nascar would start 43 roush-fenway fords every week, and who cares about the rest.  

Answer 7

As nascar officials analyzed the situation, they saw a need to standardize the number for a starting field, and for the 1997 season the number 42 was settled on using the same 1-38 from time trials and four provisionals. It came about after looking at a number of factors including the number of entries that were being filed at that time, the number of teams attempting to run full seasons, purse figures, the available pit stalls and garage space and track conditions in terms of raceability.

Answer 8

it was KING RICHARD PETTY number so they said ok ,,,lol

na really it has to do with the track size and # of pit there  

Answer 9

Q: Why was it decided to have 43 NASCAR vehicles in the CUP and NATIONWIDE races?

A: In the early days of NASCAR, there were some tracks where there were no limits to the size of the field. At Darlington, for instance, there were as many as 75 cars in the field and at Daytona, there have been as many as 50. Over the years, the size of the field began to evolve. It was 40 for the large tracks and 32 for the small tracks in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Then it became 42 for the large tracks and 36 for the small/short tracks. Then the champion’s provisional moved it up to 43 and NASCAR made the 43-car starting field universal at all tracks.

Answer 10

this isn't intended to answer the question, since that was already done thoroughly.  it just might be interesting to note that 43 cars wouldn't work so well in all forms of motor sports.  milwaukee, a 1-mile oval, had a 26 car field for the indy car race this year, and most of the drivers complained that was too many.  put 26 stock cars out there, and the track would look empty.  the differences, of course, are the higher speeds and different aerodynamics.