Tradition and History meet this weekend at Darlington

Darlington Raceway like many of tracks of its time started with a chance encounter in the Hotel Wilkes during the fall of 1947. As Enoch Staley once said back in 1995 track owners from all over including Harold Brasington who would go on to construct Darlington in the sandhills of South Carolina sat in with many others including NASCAR founder Bill France, Clay Earles and more.

In 1949 ground was broken on an odd egg-shaped track with the promise not to disturb Sherman Ramsey minnow pond. By 1950 the track was in operation and the Labor Day Southern 500 tradition was born when Johnny Mantz crossed the finish line an impressive nine, yes count them nine laps ahead of second place finisher Fireball Roberts.

Throughout the history of the track drivers knew she was a mean ole track which meant getting loose would get you one of the famous Darlington Stripes. Due to the sandy asphalt that was laid at the track it would tear down tires leading eventually to many nicknames over the years “The Lady In Black” and “Too Tough to Tame”.

Over the years names such as Petty, Johnson, LeeRoy and Cale Yarbrough among many giants of the sport graced the surface winning the famed Southern 500.

But with time things change and the track would move the traditional Labor Day race to the spring for nearly a decade. Fans would continue to flock to Darlington County no matter the date filling the stand yet always wanting more.

The more came in 2014 when it would be announced tradition would be restored and the Southern 500 would return back to Labor Day in 2015. Not only would there be just more NASCAR, International Speedway’s Daryl Wolfe and the track would enlist teams, sponsors, and broadcast partner to throwback to the history of the track and the sport.

Fans at home even got a taste of 1970s NASCAR with Ned and Dale Jarrett along with Ken Squier calling a portion of the race.  A concept that fans on social media would greet with overall approval and would see the team call more of the race than originally planned.

The first year of the throwback in 2015 would lead the track to awards with track’s Dennis Worden receiving the 2015 Track PR Representative of the Year along with the track itself gardening 2015 Marketing Team of the Year.

With the 2016 event weekend already upon us and thirty plus Sprint Cup and XFINITY series teams honoring drivers such as Benny Parsons, Darrell Waltrip, and many more.

Paint schemes with sponsors reentering the sport such as Tide for the first time in years on the No 20 car of Kenseth along Ford Performance and Hooters pairing up to bring Alan Kulwicki’s famous Underbird to the No 16 machine of Greg Biffle or Geico and Casey Mears running a Smokey Yunick scheme.

History and tradition will continue to intersect with one another as the stars have aligned on an event that each year continues to see the industry remember the past and the drivers who graced the surface of Darlington Raceway in which I was once told 1.366 miles is the perfect amount of asphalt for a race.