Infostrada Databox: December 2006  

NASCAR
> NASCAR was formed by racer Bill France in 1948 and stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.
> Several NASCAR pioneers were admitted ‘moonshiners’, producing bootleg alcohol in the Prohibition era.
> Cell phone giant Nextel took over from tobacco company Winston in sponsoring the Champions’ Cup in 2003.
> A 1990 motion picture about stock car racing, “Days Of Thunder”, grossed $82m dollars domestically.
> ‘NASCAR dad’ is a recent typification of a caucasian working-class father likely to support the Republican Party.

Real Madrid
> Real Madrid was founded on 6 March 1902 as Sociedad Madrid Football-Club.
> Real plays its home matches in the Estádio Santiago Bernabéu, which has a 80,000+ capacity.
> Santiago Bernabéu was the legendary chairman that led Madrid to great successes from 1945 to 1978.
> Real has won nine Champions Cup/Champions League trophies, more than any other club.
> The club has also won a record 29 Spanish league titles and 17 Copa del Rey trophies.

The Ashes
> The Ashes series were born in 1882 when the Sporting Times carried a mock obituary for English cricket.
> Currently, England and Australia are involved in the 32nd Ashes Series on Australian turf.
> Australia are looking for their fifth straight Ashes Series win at home against England.
> England’s last victory Down Under was recorded in 1986, when the visitors emerged victorious 2-1.
> The second Test of the running series was the 150th Test match in Australia in the history of the Ashes.

Christmas Day
> 25 December is the birthday of Brazilian football legend Jairzinho. He was born in 1944.
> FC Barcelona played the first of its 400 matches in European competition on 25 December 1955.
> On that day in the same, Real Madrid drubbed Partizan Beograd 4-0 en route to winning the inaugural Champions Cup.
> At only 24, the four time British Open golf champion Tom Morris, Jr. died on Christmas Day 1875.
> The heated Copa América affair between Brazil and Argentina once was scheduled for 25 December. In 1925, the match was drawn 2-2.

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