Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400

The Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup event that took place in November at the North Carolina Motor Speedway from 1965 to 2003. It was the first NASCAR Cup Series victory for three drivers including Mark Martin in 1989, Ward Burton in 1995, and Johnny Benson in 2002.

This race, typically run as the penultimate race of the NASCAR season, was dropped from the schedule after the 2003 season. The Pop Secret sponsorship was moved over to the newly acquired Labor Day date at California Speedway, while the late season date was originally taken over by the Southern 500 at Darlington and is now occupied by the AAA Texas 500 at Texas.

Past winners

Multiple winners (drivers)

Multiple winners (manufacturers)

Notable Races

Target House 200

The Target House 200 was a NASCAR Busch Series stock car race held at North Carolina Speedway as an accompanying race to the Pop Secret 400. It was last run in 2003, after which the fall weekend of racing at Rockingham was removed from both the Busch as well as Winston Cup Series schedules.

Like its Winston Cup counterpart, the Target House sponsorship carried over to its successor race, the now-Copart 300 at Auto Club Speedway. (Although the race dates were given originally to Darlington Raceway, Rockingham's races were considered to be replaced by the Fontana races because a second race weekend was given to Fontana after the removal of Rockingham.)

In the twenty runnings of this race, Mark Martin led all drivers with six wins. Harry Gant, Morgan Shepherd, and Jamie McMurray each won this race twice.

Past winners

References

ACDelco

ACDelco is an American automotive parts brand owned by General Motors (GM). Factory parts for vehicles manufactured by GM are consolidated under the ACDelco brand, which also offers aftermarket parts for non-GM vehicles. Over its long history it has been known by various names such as United Motors Corporation, United Motors Service, and United Delco. It merged with AC Spark Plug in 1974 and became known as AC-Delco.

History

United Motors Corporation was formed by William C. Durant in 1916 as an automotive component and accessory holding company. Durant was the owner of Buick and founder of General Motors in 1908. After he lost control of General Motors in 1910, he founded Chevrolet in 1911 with Louis Chevrolet and the profits from this permitted him to regain control of GM in 1916. At approximately the same time, he assembled United Motors.

Durant's founding of United Motors has parallels in his earlier experience in the horse-drawn carriage industry in Michigan. In the late 19th century he was co-owner of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, one of the nation's leading carriage manufacturers. Concerned that they could not source components and raw materials at affordable prices or in sufficient quantities, Durant-Dort created a vertically-integrated operation owning hardwood forests and manufacturing its own bodies, wheels, axles, upholstery, springs, varnish and whips.