iNSIDE SCOOP: History is Here

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Rolling up to Darlington Raceway, you don’t see a whole lot compared to just about every other track on the circuit.

Stands take shape first, followed by campgrounds, restaurants and the usual tent cities that spring up when the NASCAR traveling circus comes to town.

S.C. 151 is a non-descript road, your average four-lane country cruiser, but when it gets to Darlington County, it takes on the mythical magic of Route 66, the Mother Road. A lot of NASCAR history has been made just a few hundred feet off this road, and you can feel it.

You just kind of drive into the place, which is odd. At most tracks, you have to go through five layers of security, checkpoints, traffic cones, an obstacle course and a 30-question test to get near the track. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you, because it’s a big scary world out there these days and safety is the biggest concern.

Darlington was built in 1950, and when it opened it was the cat’s own pajamas. Big and fast, it had one real lane—at the top and wide open. Little Aarmco guardrails perched atop the banking, too.

It’s much the same now, only with concrete and some of the accouterments of modern speedway technology. And that’s OK.

Everyone needs a throwback. Darlington and Martinsville are NASCAR’s, and I hope that never changes.

Since the race is nominally a night race, strange things happen here. It’s a long night, especially with the old place’s tendency to reach out and snatch drivers and cars at inopportune moments.

Chris Browning is the boss man here on behalf of ISC, and he does a great job. Chris and I broke into the business at about the same time, and have stayed in touch since back in the day, It’s not easy generating buzz for Darlington, even though it should be on every NASCAR fan’s bucket list, but he makes the most of it.

He has a diamond here, should you but look at it that way. There’s no place in NASCAR with as much history, no place that takes the test of man and machine to such ridiculous lengths, It’s still a driver’s track, and those who have been good here—Pearson, Petty, Earnhardt, Busch—are among the NASCAR elite.

The area is rife with NASCAR stars, too. Cale Yarborough is from Timmonsville (suburban Florence),  and David Pearson is from Spartanburg. Both are legends here.

Driving down here from Charlotte, it seemed that the excitement level ratcheted up the closer we got. It reached a crescendo in the little town of McBee, where the speed limit goes from 45 to 35 to 25 in about 50 feet, with the local constabulary parked at each sign.

All kidding aside, this is one of the hallowed places in all of NASCAR, and if you get the chance to come and see a race here, do so. Tell Chris Browning I sent you!