Darlington Raceway

Darlington Raceway is a egg-shaped oval track in Darlington, South Carolina. The track has hosted a variety of racing events since its inaugural season of racing in 1950; primarily races sanctioned by NASCAR. The venue has a capacity of 47,000 as of 2021. Darlington Raceway is owned by NASCAR and led by track president Josh Harris.

Darlington Raceway opened in 1950 under Darlington native Harold Brasington, who sought to replicate the success of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500 in his hometown. Brasington quickly cut all ties with the facility, with Bob Colvin taking over control of the venue as president of the track. Under Colvin's tenure, the speedway underwent major expansion. However, after Colvin died in 1967, all major expansion on the venue came to a halt, with the track's lack of amenities being criticized. After the International Speedway Corporation (ISC) bought out the facility in 1982, the venue underwent further expansion in the 1990s. The track has remained on a staple of the NASCAR Cup Series since its inaugural year despite Darlington's small market and NASCAR's national expansion, with the Southern 500 considered to be one of the most prestigious races on the schedule.

Description

Configuration

Darlington Raceway in its current form is measured at , with 25° of banking in the track's first two turns, 23° of banking in the track's last two turns, and 6° of banking on the track's straights. The track is known for its asymmetrical layout, with the first two turns having a wider radius than the last two turns. Due to numerous factors, including an unusually highly abrasive track surface, its asymmetrical shape, and the track's preferred racing line of being near the wall, the track has often been regarded by NASCAR drivers as one of the toughest circuits on the NASCAR schedule, with teams often sacrificing performance in one set of turns to run better in the other set of turns.

Amenities

Darlington Raceway is located in Darlington, South Carolina, and is served by U.S. Route 52 and the concurrent South Carolina Highway 34 and South Carolina Highway 151. As of 2021, the venue has a capacity of 47,000 according to ''The State''.

Track history

Planning and construction

After witnessing the 1933 Indianapolis 500 in-person, Darlington, South Carolina, resident Harold Brasington was interested in rekindling the success of the Indianapolis 500 in the American Southeast with stock car racing. After searching in numerous locations in Virginia, Tennessee, and Atlanta, he settled to buy lands in his hometown due to lower land prices. After 15 years of owning a trucking business, Brasington was able to gather enough money and agreed on a handshake deal to build a stock car track on a plot of land owned by J. S. Ramsey, a personal friend of Brasington. The date of the beginning of construction for the venue is disputed: in a 1950 report published by the '' Columbia Record'', Darlington Raceway general engineer Paul Psilios stated that construction started on January 13, 1950. However, according to numerous Carolinan newspapers decades after the venue's opening, construction started sometime in 1949, with ''Charlotte News'' writer Bob Myers stating that groundbreaking occurred on December 12. Darlington Raceway, according to multiple South Carolinian newspapers, was placed under heavy speculation and doubt, with the facility reportedly earning the derogatory nickname "Harold's Folly" by the local populace.

After grading for then-turns 3 and 4 were completed, Ramsey became worried about the track potentially destroying a fishing pond that he often fished in after witnessing the fast-paced construction of the venue. In response, Brasington opted to make the radius of then-turns 1 and 2 tighter than then-turns 3 and 4. In February 1950, ''The Charlotte News Rubye Arnold reported that the facility would host a race on Labor Day of that year. By April, grading on the facility was 50% complete. A month later, with a newly-elected slate of board of directors being appointed, a completion date of August 1 was announced. On July 1, surfacing of the track started. By the completion of the then-named Darlington International Raceway, it had a seating capacity of approximately 10,000, with the track drawing comparisons to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in terms of prestige.

Early Colvin years

Darlington International Raceway officially opened to the public on August 19, 1950, for qualifying races for the 1950 Southern 500. The Southern 500, the venue's first major race, took place on September 4, with Johnny Mantz winning the event. In November, the facility ran its first motorcycle races for Armistice Day weekend. The following year, Bob Colvin was appointed to replace Brasington as president of the track, with Brasington eventually cutting all ties with the facility four years later.

Under Colvin's leadership, the venue was expanded extensively; in 1953, the track's "south turn" banking was extended from to . The installation of lights for the 1953 Southern 500 was also considered; however, the proposal was rejected due to impracticality and a lack of fan support. The following year, the venue added 6,000 grandstand seats, increasing the grandstand capacity to 16,000 according to Colvin. A new 13,200-seat grandstand located on the backstretch to increase grandstand capacity to 29,200 was announced in 1955; by the time it was completed in 1956, the grandstand was expanded to include 14,500 seats. Another 3,300-seat grandstand named after Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee was erected in 1963 on the track's then-fourth turn. In 1965, the track was completely repaved for the first time.

In its early years, Darlington Raceway oversaw numerous fatalities. In November 1950, the track's first fatality occurred when racer Robert Burns crashed and died due to internal injuries in a motorcycle race. Two years later, Rex Stansell died after suffering a head injury in a crash during a modified and sportsman race. In 1954, Bob Scott died after crashing during a race, succumbing to a broken neck. In the 1957 Southern 500, Bobby Myers was killed in an accident after his car hit the standstill car of Fonty Flock, flipping several times and eventually dying due to a broken neck and "a crushed chest and massive hemorrhaging" according to the '' Florence Morning News''. In the 1960 Southern 500, the track experienced its deadliest incident, when Bobby Johns' car crashed and flipped on the track's backstretch pit road, killing three people: NASCAR official Joe Brown Taylor alongside Paul McDuffie and Charles Ernest Sweatland, both members of Joe Lee Johnson's pit crew. In the 1965 Southern 500, Buren Skeen died of "head and abdominal injuries" related to a crash when Reb Wickersham's car slammed into the driver's side of Skeen's car.

Colvin's segregationist policies and Confederacy support

Colvin was also known for implementing racially segregated policies at the venue during his tenure: grandstand seating remained all-white, with Colvin refusing to allow any black spectators into the grandstands and instead either offering refunds or a ticket to the track's infield if a black spectator was caught having a grandstand ticket according to a 1960 ''Morning News'' report. He also refused to let any black driver to race at the circuit for most of his tenure; early black NASCAR driver Wendell Scott was barred from racing at the track for most of his career. After Colvin ended his ban and let Scott race in the 1965 Rebel 300, Colvin expressed racist remarks to Scott after Scott asked him for travel money that all other white drivers received, with Colvin stating to Scott: "Nigger, you better git yo' ass back up that road 'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''" According to then-Darlington Raceway's official photographer Tom Kirkland, Colvin also stated that if he saw any black driver win at the track, they would "never make it to victory lane", with Kirkland adding, "he was just a complete racist". Under Colvin's tenure, the track's marquee events, the Southern 500 and Rebel 400, were openly promoted as celebrations of the Confederate States of America, Confederacy.

Slow Wallace years

On January 24, 1967, Colvin died after suffering a heart attack in his home. Approximately four months later, vice president Barney Wallace was elected to replace Colvin as president of the track, having already been elected general manager six days after Colvin's death. Throughout Wallace's tenure, he was slow on upgrading and maintaining the facility, with NASCAR writer Steve Waid describing Wallace as a "totally colorless man... he didn’t care to spend a dime unless it was absolutely necessary". In 1969, then-turns three and four were reconfigured from 15° to 25° and widened to . Within the year, upgrades were also made to the facility's press box alongside the installation of a new concrete wall in then-turns one and two. Four years later, a $100,000 (adjusted for inflaton, $) renovation of the track's garage area was announced. In 1975, the track was fully enclosed with a concrete wall. Another complete repave of the track was ordered and completed three years later. In 1982, the then-frontstretch grandstand was renamed to the Colvin Grandstand in honor of Bob Colvin. The following year, 2,157 seats were added to the venue.

ISC purchase

In March 1982, Darlington Raceway was reported to have been suffering "significant revenue losses" according to ''The News & Observer''. The following month, ''United Press International'' released rumors of offers of a potential sale, including from California businessman Warner W. Hodgdon and motorsports businessman Harry Ranier. On June 11, 1982, a sale to the France family-owned International Speedway Corporation (ISC) was announced, with the company offering to buy out control at $70 a share. The sale was approved on the 28th by the track's board of directors, with Wallace remaining as president. Wallace's tenure under ISC was short; he died on May 10, 1983, due to cancer. 20 days later, vice president Walter "Red" Tyler was selected to replace Wallace as president of Darlington Raceway. In 1985, the inside retaining pit wall on the then-frontstretch was demolished and replaced with a newer, longer pit wall by . Four years later, Tyler was replaced by Woodrow "Woody" McKay as president.

In 1990, a major multi-year renovation project commenced. Within the first year, a new garage area was constructed alongside the demolition of the old then-backstretch box seats. However, the project was heavily delayed starting in 1991 due to economic issues. The following year, NASCAR's president for administration and marketing, Jim Hunter, was selected to replace McKay as president starting in 1993. In 1994, the project continued with the new 8,000-seat Tyler Tower named in honor of Red Tyler being erected above the then-backstretch Wallace Grandstand, with future plans being made to expand the tower. The following year, the track was completely repaved alongside the venue adding 5,000 seats. In 1997, the start-finish line was "flip-flopped" from the frontstretch to the backstretch, in the process swapping the turn numbers; turns one and two became turns three and four, and vice versa. An additional 7,700-seat grandstand was constructed within the year, alongside upgrades to the venue's victory lane and a new media center. In 1999, the frontstretch pit road was extended by seven pit boxes, in the process removing the backstretch pit road, condensing from two pit roads to one singular pit road.

Ferko lawsuit, rescheduling of Southern 500

In March 2001, Hunter was replaced by ISC executive Andrew Gurtis as president of the venue. In 2003, after a previous failed attempt to do so in 1999, track officials announced the addition of permanent lighting to host night racing at the venue. The following year, the addition of soft wall SAFER barriers was announced; both features were added to the track in time for the 2004 Mountain Dew Southern 500. In May 2004, after NASCAR's focus on national expansion and the aftermath of the Ferko lawsuit involving a minority Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI) shareholder suing NASCAR and ISC for violating an implied agreement to give Texas Motor Speedway a second Cup Series date, Darlington Raceway lost its fall Southern 500 date to California Speedway. That same month, Gurtis was replaced by Rockingham Speedway president Chris Browning as Darlington Raceway's president. To retain a race resembling the Southern 500, the spring race was turned into a event alongside the rescheduling of the event for Mother's Day weekend.

Post-Ferko lawsuit, return of traditional Southern 500, capacity decline

In 2006, the old Brasington Grandstand in turn two was demolished and replaced with a new 6,300-seat grandstand that remained under Brasington's name, in the process adding approximately 3,000 seats at a recorded capacity of 62,000. The following year, ISC approved a $10 million renovation project aimed at repaving the track, the addition of an infield tunnel, and other upgrades. The complete repaving of the track and the addition of the tunnel were completed in time for the 2008 Dodge Challenger 500. In April 2013, Wile stated potential plans to widen seats, in the process reducing capacity under 60,000; by 2018, the track's listed capacity was stated to be 58,000. Four months later, Browning resigned as president of the track, with Motor Racing Network director of business development Chip Wile assigned as Browning's replacement. In 2015, the track added approximately of SAFER barriers in response to Kyle Busch's injury at Daytona International Speedway.

The Southern 500 returned to its traditional Labor Day weekend date in 2015. Wile was transferred to become the president of Daytona International Speedway in June 2016, with NASCAR senior director of operations Kerry Tharp replacing Wile. In February 2018, a $7 million renovation project aimed at renovating the track's Tyler, Wallace, and Colvin grandstands; the project was completed by August 2018, in the process reducing capacity to 47,000. In 2019, ownership of the track was changed to NASCAR after the sanctioning body bought out ISC. In June 2023, Tharp announced his retirement at the end of the 2023 NASCAR season, with the track's vice president of business operations Josh Harris succeeding Tharp.

Events

NASCAR

Darlington Raceway hosts two annual NASCAR weekends: the Southern 500 weekend and the Goodyear 400 weekend. The Southern 500, introduced in 1950, is considered a " Crown Jewel" race on the NASCAR schedule and was traditionally held as a standalone event on Labor Day. In 1957, a second Cup Series race, the Goodyear 400, was added, and the track hosted two events annually until 2004. In 2005, the Southern 500 replaced the Goodyear 400 on the schedule due to the result of the Ferko lawsuit. The Southern 500 was moved twice—first to April in 2014, before returning to its traditional Labor Day weekend slot in 2015. The Goodyear 400 was reinstated on the Cup Series schedule in 2021.

Starting in 1982, the NASCAR Xfinity Series race was introduced to Darlington Raceway with the Shriners Children's 200, and in 1983 a second date was added with the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200. In 2005, the second date was removed due to the Ferko lawsuit, but then readded in 2021 and removed again in 2025. In 2001, a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race was introduced the Buckle Up South Carolina 200.

Other racing events

* From 1993 to 1995, Darlington Raceway hosted an annual International Race of Champions (IROC) event.
* In 2007, Darlington Raceway held a one-off USAC Silver Crown Series event.

Lap records

As of May 2021, the fastest official race lap records at Darlington Raceway are listed as:

References

Book sources

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External links

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Buildings and structures in Darlington County, South Carolina
NASCAR tracks
Motorsport venues in South Carolina
International Race of Champions tracks
NASCAR races at Darlington Raceway
Tourist attractions in Darlington County, South Carolina
Sports venues completed in 1950
1950 establishments in South Carolina