The recent decision by NASCAR officials to revisit the idea of rear spoilers replacing the wings on Sprint Cup cars may require a look back at the history of that device. For the first 15 years of NASCAR's existence, when most of the racing was done in close quarters on dirt bullrings, the idea of using aerodynamics to benefit racecars was considered laughable.

But with the construction of Daytona International Speedway, followed by the additions of high-banked superspeedways in Charlotte and Atlanta -- and the resulting increase in speed -- suddenly the idea of streamlining the cars to gain a competitive advantage on big tracks took hold. However, that came with a corresponding lack of control. The faster the cars went, the harder it was for the drivers to hang on.

McQuagg's Dodge in '66.

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Dodge engineers came up with an elegantly simple solution: a thin strip of angled metal attached to the rear edge of the trunk lid. And so was born NASCAR's first spoiler.

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The problem came to a head for Sam McQuagg and his Dodge team in the middle of the 1966 season. The Columbus, Ga., native and 1965 NASCAR rookie of the year was driving the new Charger, which was plenty fast, if you could keep the rear wheels on the ground.

"You would spin the tires at 180 mph going down the backstretch," McQuagg said.

Dodge engineers came up with an elegantly simple solution: a thin strip of angled metal attached to the rear edge of the trunk lid. And so was born NASCAR's first spoiler.

How well did it work? In its debut, the spoiler helped McQuagg dominate the 1966 Firecracker 400. He led 126 of the 160 laps, including the final 30, as he nearly lapped the entire field. It would be his only Cup victory.

"We tested spoilers at Daytona for about 30 days in June," McQuagg said. "When I won the race at Daytona in July, that was the first race that was ever run in NASCAR with a spoiler on the car.

"It was a little spoiler that was probably about an inch-and-a-half high and it was contoured, you know, to give it a little sweeping effect. It really worked, too. It made a lot of difference in that car. It kept the car from flying. That little spoiler disturbed the air enough that it kept it down."

It didn't take long for the rest of the field to notice. By the time the series returned to Daytona in February of 1967, the new Ford Torinos and Mercury Cyclones were also sporting spoilers. The next logical step -- following the lead of Jim Hall's Chapparal in the Canadian-American sports car series -- was to add a high rear wing, which began appearing on the aerodynamically ground-breaking Dodge Daytonas and Plymouth Superbirds in 1969. (Continued)