My FAVORITE racetrack. Love the story about how it came about!
Harold Brasington, a local race promoter, dreamed of building his own racetrack after visiting the Indianapolis 500 in the 1930s
Darlington Raceway, the first super speedway in NASCAR history, was constructed in 1950 by Harold Brasington, a local race promoter who saw asphalt-paved tracks as an advance over the dirt tracks. Brasington wanted a 500-mile stock car race that rivaled the Indianapolis 500. On September 4, 1950, the Darlington Raceway hosted the first Southern 500, a 400-lap race in which 75 cars reached top speeds of 80mph.
The story behind how the Darlington Raceway ended up where it is. . .that’s the stuff of legends. According to Jim Hunter’s book 50th Anniversary of Darlington Raceway which was published in 1999 by UMI Publications, on September 4, 1948, Brasington asked Sherman Ramsey about building a racetrack on his property while the two were playing poker. Ramsey, paying more attention to his…
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