History of Darlington Raceway

Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed the "Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition". It was the first superspeedway built with NASCAR racing in mind and is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.

Harold Brasington was a retired racer in 1948. He had gotten to know Bill France, Sr. while competing against France at the Daytona Beach Road Course and other dirt tracks in the Southeast and Midwestern United States. He quit racing in the late 1940s to concentrate on farming and his construction business.  He began planning a new speedway after he noticed the huge crowds while attending the 1948 Indianapolis 500.  He thought "If Tony Hulman can do it here, I can do it back home."  He bought 70 acres from farmer Sherman Ramsey, and began making a superspeedway from a cotton and peanut field.  He was forced to create an egg-shaped oval with one tighter, narrower, and more steeply banked because he promised Ramsey that the new track wouldn't disturb Ramsey's minnow pond at the west side of the property.  Brasington was able to make the other turn at the east side of the property wide, sweeping, and as flat as he wanted.  It took almost a year to build the track.

Brasington made a deal in the summer of 1950 with France to run a 500 mile race in Darlington on Labor Day that year. The first Southern 500 carried a record $25,000 purse, and was co-sanctioned by NASCAR and its rival Central States Racing Association.  More than 80 entrants showed up for the race.  Brasington used a 2 week qualifying scheme similar to the one used at the Indianapolis 500.  Brasington was also inspired by Indianapolis when he had the 75 car field aligned in 25 rows of three cars.  These practices have curtailed over the years as NASCAR adopted a more uniform set of guidelines with regard to the number of cars which could qualify for a race. The race was won by Johnny Mantz in a car owned by France.

In recent years the track has been reconfigured; what was the front stretch is now the back stretch, and the turns have been renumbered accordingly. Seating has been increased to approximately 65,000; although it has been limited by the proximity of a railroad track to the facility, a highway behind the back stretch, and the still-present pond.

Darlington has something of a legendary quality among drivers and older fans; this is probably due to its status as the first NASCAR superspeedway and hence the first venue where many of them became cognizant of the truly high speeds that stock cars could achieve on a long track. The title of how the track earned the moniker The Lady in Black was allegedly because the walls around the track are always painted white prior to a race, but are always largely black by the end of it due to a profusion of tire contacts. Darlington is also known as "The Track Too Tough to Tame", and rookie racers hitting the wall are considered to have received their "Darlington stripe".

A recent development has Speedway Motorsports, Inc., ISC's chief rival in NASCAR, offering to take over Darlington. According to the story, Speedway would agree to maintain only one race on the Nextel Cup circuit, but has suggested that Darlington's race be returned to its traditional Southern 500 Labor Day date, with the California track taking the other date instead.

On March 1-2, 2007 the USAC Silver Crown Series held an open test at Darlington Raceway. Shortly after the test, the USAC Silver Crown Series held a race at Darlington on May 10 as part of Darlington's NASCAR weekend. This race marked USAC's return to Darlington after a 51 year absence.

It was announced on April 5th, 2007 that Darlington would receive a $10 million upgrade, the largest investment in the track's history. This announcement, as well as last year's $6 million upgrade, which will include an entire repaving of the oval for the first since 1995. This announcement silenced any concerns over the future of Darlington Raceway in NASCAR. Some construction will be ready for the 2007 Dodge Avenger 500 with the rest of the enhancements, including the repaving of the oval, added after the race. On May 7, 2007 it was announced that Darlington Raceway has sold out its Mother Day weekend Nextel Cup race for the third year in a row further protecting its place on the Nextel Cup schedule in future years.