Stock car (rail)

In railroad terminology, a stock car, cattle car or cattle wagon (British English) is a type of rolling stock used for carrying livestock (not carcasses) to market. A traditional stock car resembles a boxcar with louvered instead of solid car sides (and sometimes ends) for the purpose of providing ventilation; stock cars can be single-level for large animals such as cattle or horses, or they can have two or three levels for smaller animals such as sheep, pigs, and poultry. Specialized types of stock cars have been built to haul live fish and shellfish and circus animals such as camels and elephants. Until the 1880s, when the Mather Stock Car Company and others introduced "more humane" stock cars, loss rates could be quite high as the animals were hauled over long distances. Improved technology and faster shipping times have greatly reduced losses.

Initial use and development

Rail cars have been used to transport livestock since the 1830s. The first shipments in the United States were made via the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in general purpose, open-topped cars with semi-open sides. Thereafter, and until 1860, the majority of shipments were made in conventional boxcars that had been fitted with open-structured iron-barred doors for ventilation. Some railroads constructed "combination" cars that could be utilized for carrying both live animals as well as conventional freight loads.

Stock car racing

Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly and most prominently in the United States and Canada, with Australia and New Zealand also having forms of stock car auto racing. Traditionally, races are run on oval tracks measuring approximately 0.25 to 2.66 miles (0.4 to 4.3 kilometers). The world's largest governing body for stock car racing is the American NASCAR, and its Sprint Cup Series is the premier top level series of professional stock car racing. Top level races typically range between 200 to 600 miles (322 to 966 km) in length.

Top level stock cars reach speeds in excess of 200 mph (322 km/h) at speedway tracks and on superspeedway tracks such as Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Contemporary NASCAR-spec top level cars produce maximum power outputs of 860-900hp from their naturally aspirated V8 engines. In October 2007 American race car driver Russ Wicks set a speed record for stock cars in a 2007-season Dodge Charger built to NASCAR specifications by achieving a maximum speed of 244.9 mph (394.1 km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Stock Car (video game)

Stock Car is an 8-bit computer game written by A. W. Halse and published in the UK by Micro Power. The game was released in 1984 for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron and Commodore 64 computers. Although the cassette inlay gives the release date as 1984, some sources state the release date as 1983 and the game is also known as Stock Car Racer.

Description

The game provides a top-down view of one of six user-selectable racing tracks. One or two human players in red cars compete against yellow computer-controlled cars. Oil slicks can be added which cause the cars to veer off-course, making the game more challenging. The amount of skidding can also be selected by the player. A race consists of anything between 1 and 40 laps.

Players can steer their car left and right, but unlike most racing games, there are no keys for directly braking or accelerating. Instead, the player drives by selecting one of four gears (or neutral) and the car will accelerate according to the currently selected gear.