© 2024 South Carolina Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

“D” is for Darlington Raceway

South Carolina A to Z larger logo

“D” is for Darlington Raceway. “The Track Too Tough to Tame,” “The Lady in Black.” These two titles provide some indication of the respect and awe National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) drivers and fans have for Darlington Raceway. Contractor Harold Brasington completed the Darlington Raceway in 1950. Although many people laughed at the notion of building such a facility in rural South Carolina, Brasington persisted, and with financing from local business leaders and the donation of seventy acres of land, he carved the high-banked, egg-shaped, 1.25 mile facility out of the sandy soil of the Pee Dee. Darlington hosted the first Southern 500 on Labor Day 1950. Darlington Raceway, with its unique shape and coarse racing surface, is considered one of the most challenging tracks on the NASCAR circuit.

Stay Connected
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.