Prohibition (and before and after prohibition, high taxes) gave rise to black markets in alcohol. Some of the participants in those markets became folk heroes and later sports heroes, as smugglers became race car drivers, driving "stock" cars rather than cars that drew attention to themselves, eventually giving rise to the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).
Here's on old article from Smithsonian Magazine that gets right to the point:
How Moonshine Bootlegging Gave Rise to NASCAR. Rotgut and firewater are the founding fathers of our nation’s racing pastime. by Jennifer Billock
"Even before Prohibition, erstwhile distillers were gathering in secret locations throughout rural areas in the south, brewing up homemade spirits to sell under the radar and away from alcohol taxes and bans. The drinks were made under the light of the moon, in hopes that no one would detect smoke rising from the stills and ultimately bust the operation—a practice that earned the booze its name “moonshine.”
"Moonshining dates back to the 1700s, when officials imposed taxes on liquor sales. Farmers and immigrants throughout the south took to making their own batches to sell for extra money, tax free, to counteract the effects of extreme poverty in the region. And with the introduction of Prohibition, production skyrocketed, creating a thriving black market business for secretly distilled hooch.
"Each hidden distillery needed to use runners—drivers in understated or otherwise ordinary-looking cars who could smuggle moonshine from the stills to thirsty customers across the region. On the outside, the cars looked “stock,” normal enough to avoid attention. But inside, both the mechanics of the cars and the drivers behind the wheel were far from ordinary. The vehicles were outfitted with heavy-duty shocks and springs, safeguarding the jars containing the hooch from breaking on bumpy mountain roads. The seats in the back were usually removed so more booze could fit. And high-powered engines gave the cars extra speed to outrun any cops and tax agents along the route.
...
"From the 1930s on, once Prohibition had ended, demand for bootlegged alcohol waned and the runners found themselves with souped-up cars yet out of work—though they continued to take part in organized races. On December 14, 1947, one of these runners, Big Bill France, held a meeting with other drivers, car owners and mechanics to finally put in place some standardized rules for the races—thus NASCAR, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, was born. The first official race was held two months later.
..."Arcadia Publishing released North Carolina Moonshine, a book about the Tar Heel State’s role in firewater history, covering everything from the NASCAR connection to local moonshining celebrities. In the book, the authors mention a secret garage hidden in the woods by the North Carolina-Virginia state line, which had opened in the 1930s and specialized in moonshine cars.
“This garage was operated for over 35 years by a shrewd, large and [purportedly] wily mechanic named Jelly Belly, who provided moonshine runners near and far with powerful cars that were almost untouchable,” authors Frank Stephenson Jr. and Barbara Nichols Mulder write."
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Moonshine whisky didn't completely disappear after the end of Prohibition, there are likely still some stills in the backcountry, to avoid taxes. But while it's a tiny part of the whisky economy today, there are still auto sports heroes who got their start running the back roads with moonshine. President Ronald Reagan pardoned one of them in 1985 for a 1956 conviction and prison sentence (followed by a storied racing career). The State of North Carolina commemorates the event here:
Junior Johnson Pardoned by Ronald Reagan
"On December 26, 1985, Robert Glen “Junior” Johnson received a full and unconditional pardon from President Ronald Reagan for his 1956 conviction in federal court for moonshining. Junior was caught firing up his father’s still and he became entangled in a barbed wire fence while trying to escape. The conviction put Junior on a forced eleven-month, three-day hiatus in a federal penitentiary from his other career as a rising NASCAR star.
"Johnson, like many early NASCAR drivers, got his first high-speed driving experience in a souped-up automobile loaded with illegal white liquor. He was a natural as a driver and has always made it a point of pride that the revenuers never caught him on the highway. He parlayed his experience on the backroads of North Carolina into one of the most successful careers in NASCAR history.
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Whisky running is memorialized in the NASCAR Hall of Fame:
DIGGING INTO NASCAR'S ROOTS, MOONSHINE RUNNERS & JUNIOR JOHNSON
HT: Kurt Sweat
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