Why are peanuts bad luck in racing?

Answer 1

For alot of drivers andteams, peanuts are forbidden anywhere near them or their equipment,especially on raceday. But apparently, peanut M&M's are acceptable on the car since Kyle Busch has them on his car. Maybe they figure thecandy coating holds in the black magic? I think Elliott Sadler saidsomething to that effect a few years ago anyway when he drove theM&M's car. I looked around and tried to find the origin of thistaboo. The most common theory I came across was that the phobiastarted in the 1930's. At a race, one rival team decided to throwpeanut shells on five of their adversaries' cars. Apparently, duringthe course of the race, all five of those cars crashed. One versionof the story had one of the drivers actually die from the crash. Nowhow accurate that is, I don't know. But I know that having peanuts atthe track can get a teams dander up. Junior Johnson was known to hatethe cursed nuts. Once, a team member of his was enjoying the nuttysnack in the garage and a few moments later, the engine blew up. Nomore peanuts for that guy after Johnson got hold of him. I also cameacross another story that said that the late Dale Earnhardt Seniorhated the horrid nuts and would have nothing to do with them at thetrack.