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"S" is for Southern 500

South Carolina From A to Z
SC Public Radio

"S" is for Southern 500.The Southern 500 at Darlington was the oldest and one of the most storied races on the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing’s (NASCAR) Winston Cup circuit. With a seventy-five-car field, the first race was held on Labor Day 1950. It was the first Grand National (later Winston Cup) race contested on a paved superspeedway and NASCAR’s first five hundred mile race. While the Southern 500 was an important NASCAR event, it was also an important happening on the social calendars of many South Carolinians. A victory in the race was one of the most coveted prizes for Winston Cup drivers. In 2005 NASCAR dropped the race from its schedule. A decade later in 2015, the Southern 500 returned to Darlington Raceway and its traditional Labor Day weekend date.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.