Darlington Speedway

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

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