Planning and construction After witnessing the
1933 Indianapolis 500 in-person,
Darlington, South Carolina, resident Harold Brasington was interested in rekindling the success of the Indianapolis 500 in the
American Southeast with
stock car racing. After searching in numerous locations in
Virginia,
Tennessee, and
Atlanta, he settled to buy lands in his hometown due to lower land prices. After 15 years of owning a trucking business, Brasington was able to gather enough money and agreed on a handshake deal to build a stock car track on a plot of land owned by J. S. Ramsey, a personal friend of Brasington. The date of the beginning of construction for the venue is disputed: in a 1950 report published by the
Columbia Record, Darlington Raceway general engineer Paul Psilios stated that construction started on January 13, 1950. However, according to numerous Carolinan newspapers decades after the venue's opening, construction started sometime in 1949, Darlington Raceway, according to multiple South Carolinian newspapers, was placed under heavy speculation and doubt, with the facility reportedly earning the derogatory nickname "Harold's Folly" by the local populace. After grading for then-turns 3 and 4 were completed, Ramsey became worried about the track potentially destroying a fishing pond that he often fished in after witnessing the fast-paced construction of the venue. In response, Brasington opted to make the radius of then-turns 1 and 2 tighter than then-turns 3 and 4. By April, grading on the facility was 50% complete. A month later, with a newly-elected slate of board of directors being appointed, a completion date of August 1 was announced. On July 1, surfacing of the track started. By the completion of the then-named Darlington International Raceway, it had a seating capacity of approximately 10,000, with the track drawing comparisons to the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway in terms of prestige.
Early Colvin years (pictured in 1957) won the first race at Darlington Raceway. Darlington International Raceway officially opened to the public on August 19, 1950, for qualifying races for the
1950 Southern 500. The Southern 500, the venue's first major race, took place on September 4, with
Johnny Mantz winning the event. In November, the facility ran its first motorcycle races for
Armistice Day weekend. The following year, Bob Colvin was appointed to replace Brasington as president of the track, with Brasington eventually cutting all ties with the facility four years later. Under Colvin's leadership, the venue was expanded extensively; in 1953, the track's "south turn" banking was extended from to . The installation of lights for the
1953 Southern 500 was also considered; however, the proposal was rejected due to impracticality and a lack of fan support. The following year, the venue added 6,000 grandstand seats, increasing the grandstand capacity to 16,000 according to Colvin. A new 13,200-seat grandstand located on the backstretch to increase grandstand capacity to 29,200 was announced in 1955; by the time it was completed in 1956, the grandstand was expanded to include 14,500 seats. Another 3,300-seat grandstand named after
Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee was erected in 1963 on the track's then-fourth turn. In 1965, the track was completely repaved for the first time. Numerous drivers died at Darlington in its early years. The first, Robert Burns, died after crashing in a November 1950 motorcycle race. In 1954, Bob Scott broke his neck and died after crashing during a race. In the
1957 Southern 500,
Bobby Myers was killed when his car hit the standstill car of
Fonty Flock and flipped several times; he died of a broken neck and "a crushed chest and massive hemorrhaging," according to the
Florence Morning News. In the
1960 Southern 500, the track experienced its deadliest incident, when
Bobby Johns' car crashed and flipped on the track's backstretch pit road, killing three people: NASCAR official Joe Brown Taylor alongside
Paul McDuffie and Charles Ernest Sweatland, both members of
Joe Lee Johnson's pit crew. In the
1965 Southern 500,
Buren Skeen died of "head and abdominal injuries" related to a crash when
Reb Wickersham's car slammed into the driver's side of Skeen's car.
Colvin's segregationist policies and Confederacy support (pictured in 1970). Colvin was also known for implementing
racially segregated policies at the venue during his tenure: grandstand seating remained all-white, with Colvin refusing to allow any black spectators into the grandstands and instead either offering refunds or a ticket to the track's infield if a black spectator was caught having a grandstand ticket, according to a 1960
Morning News report. He also refused to let any black driver to race at the circuit for most of his tenure; early black NASCAR driver
Wendell Scott was barred from racing at the track for most of his career. the driver asked the course owner for him for travel money that the white drivers received. Colvin told Scott, "Nigger, you better git yo' ass back up that road [
sic]." According to the track's then-official photographer Tom Kirkland, Colvin said that if he saw any black driver win at the track, they would "never make it to victory lane", with Kirkland adding, "he was just a complete racist". Under Colvin's tenure, the track's marquee events, the
Southern 500 and
Rebel 400, were openly promoted as celebrations of the
Confederacy.
Slow Wallace years On January 24, 1967, Colvin died after suffering a
heart attack in his home. Barney Wallace was elected the track's general manager six days later, and about four months after that, was elected to replace Colvin as president. Wallace was slow to upgrade and maintain the facility. NASCAR writer Steve Waid described Wallace as a "totally colorless man...He didn’t care to spend a dime unless it was absolutely necessary". In 1969, then-turns three and four were reconfigured from 15° to 25° and widened to . Within the year, upgrades were also made to the facility's press box alongside the installation of a new concrete wall in then-turns one and two. Four years later, a $100,000 (adjusted for inflaton, $) renovation of the track's garage area was announced. In 1975, the track was fully enclosed with a concrete wall. Another complete repave of the track was ordered and completed three years later. In 1982, the then-frontstretch grandstand was renamed to the Colvin Grandstand in honor of Bob Colvin. The following year, 2,157 seats were added to the venue.
ISC purchase In March 1982, Darlington Raceway was reported to have been suffering "significant revenue losses" according to
The News & Observer. The following month,
United Press International released rumors of offers of a potential sale, including from California businessman
Warner W. Hodgdon and motorsports businessman
Harry Ranier. On June 11, 1982, a sale to the
France family-owned
International Speedway Corporation (ISC) was announced, with the company offering to buy out control at $70 a share. The sale was approved on the 28th by the track's board of directors, with Wallace remaining as president. Wallace's tenure under ISC was short; he died on May 10, 1983, due to cancer. 20 days later, vice president Walter "Red" Tyler was selected to replace Wallace as president of Darlington Raceway. In 1985, the inside retaining pit wall on the then-frontstretch was demolished and replaced with a newer, longer pit wall by . Four years later, Tyler was replaced by Woodrow "Woody" McKay as president. In 1990, a major multi-year renovation project commenced. Within the first year, a new garage area was constructed alongside the demolition of the old then-backstretch box seats. However, the project was heavily delayed starting in 1991 due to economic issues. The following year, NASCAR's president for administration and marketing, Jim Hunter, was selected to replace McKay as president starting in 1993. In 1994, the project continued with the new 8,000-seat Tyler Tower named in honor of Red Tyler being erected above the then-backstretch Wallace Grandstand, with future plans being made to expand the tower. The following year, the track was completely repaved alongside the venue adding 5,000 seats. In 1997, the start-finish line was "flip-flopped" from the frontstretch to the backstretch, in the process swapping the turn numbers; turns one and two became turns three and four, and vice versa. An additional 7,700-seat grandstand was constructed within the year, alongside upgrades to the venue's victory lane and a new media center. In 1999, the frontstretch pit road was extended by seven pit boxes, in the process removing the backstretch pit road, condensing from two pit roads to one singular pit road.
Ferko lawsuit, rescheduling of Southern 500 In March 2001, Hunter was replaced by ISC executive Andrew Gurtis as president of the venue. In 2003, after a previous failed attempt to do so in 1999, track officials announced the addition of permanent lighting to host night racing at the venue. The following year, the addition of soft wall
SAFER barriers was announced; both features were added to the track in time for the
2004 Mountain Dew Southern 500. In May 2004, after NASCAR's focus on national expansion and the aftermath of the
Ferko lawsuit involving a minority
Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI) shareholder suing NASCAR and ISC for violating an implied agreement to give Texas Motor Speedway a second Cup Series date, Darlington Raceway lost its fall Southern 500 date to
California Speedway. That same month, Gurtis was replaced by
Rockingham Speedway president Chris Browning as Darlington Raceway's president. To retain a race resembling the Southern 500, the spring race was turned into a event alongside the rescheduling of the event for
Mother's Day weekend.
Post-Ferko lawsuit, return of traditional Southern 500, capacity decline In 2006, the old Brasington Grandstand in turn two was demolished and replaced with a new 6,300-seat grandstand that remained under Brasington's name, in the process adding approximately 3,000 seats at a recorded capacity of 62,000. The complete repaving of the track and the addition of the tunnel were completed in time for the
2008 Dodge Challenger 500. In April 2013, Wile stated potential plans to widen seats, in the process reducing capacity under 60,000; by 2018, the track's listed capacity was stated to be 58,000. Four months later, Browning resigned as president of the track, with
Motor Racing Network director of business development Chip Wile assigned as Browning's replacement. In 2015, the track added approximately of SAFER barriers in response to
Kyle Busch's injury at
Daytona International Speedway. The Southern 500 returned to its traditional Labor Day weekend date in 2015. Wile was transferred to become the president of Daytona International Speedway in June 2016, with NASCAR senior director of operations Kerry Tharp replacing Wile. In February 2018, a $7 million renovation project aimed at renovating the track's Tyler, Wallace, and Colvin grandstands; the project was completed by August 2018, in the process reducing capacity to 47,000. In 2019, ownership of the track was changed to
NASCAR after the sanctioning body bought out ISC. In June 2023, Tharp announced his retirement at the end of the 2023 NASCAR season, with the track's vice president of business operations Josh Harris succeeding Tharp. == Events ==