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  • MEMORIES OF A SENIOR NASCAR FAN: MY FIRST SOUTHERN 500

    MEMORIES OF A SENIOR NASCAR FAN: MY FIRST SOUTHERN 500

    Like many of you, I spent a Friday and Saturday evening in front of a television set watching NASCAR Live on Fox from Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. After all, any race track with the names “the track too tough to tame” and “the lady in black” was bound to turn up some excitement.

    It was apparent that the racing gremlins that sent a lot of bad luck in the direction of Kevin Harvick in recent weeks didn’t get the memo that he was racing at Darlington. Harvick led 238 laps of the Bojangles’ Southern 500 to win a race that for decades has been known as “the grand daddy of them all.” He had to tolerate two green-white-checker attempts to get to victory lane, but Harvick endured and won his second race of the season which, pretty much, locks him into the 2014 Chase line up.

    Equally impressive was the performance of young Chase Elliott who passed veteran Elliott Sadler on the final lap to win his second, consecutive, NASCAR Nationwide Series race. It was just one more reason why literally everyone is saying that this young, 18 year old, driver has an incredibly bright future in NASCAR racing.

    An interesting side bar story regarding Elliott: it seems he missed his high school prom because he had a date with the lady in black at Darlington. Clearly he made the right choice.

    With all extreme respects to both Harvick and Elliott for their very fine performances, it was pretty much the last thing on my mind. While watching the NASCAR action from Darlington, I found myself experiencing several motorsports flashbacks, from the early years of this track’s history, that sent me on a very long trip down memory lane.

    Please allow me to explain that memory lane episode. I was born and raised in South Carolina. Dad was a 26 year veteran of the United States Air Force, Mom was an old school southern Christian lady and we had a seemingly endless supply of relatives who resided in both of the Carolinas. Each and every one of us made quick work of becoming NASCAR racing fans back in the 1950’s.

    After retiring from the military, Dad moved his family to Darlington and became a member of the Darlington Rescue Squad. That meant spending race weekends in the famed Darlington infield while camping out in military style Red Cross tents. This was often a very busy operation that required dispensing a lot of bandages the night before the race and aspirin on race day morning. It didn’t take me long to notice that a weekend camp out in the Darlington infield was almost as treacherous as running the 500 mile race.  However, that Darlington Rescue Squad tent also meant that I had direct access to the pit gate where meeting drivers and collecting autographs were ripe for the asking.

    If you would be so kind as to indulge my memory lane excursion just a little bit longer, I would like to share a memory of my first trip to Darlington Raceway. It was a major part of my adolescence as well as a time when father and son became racing buddies.

    THE 1959 SOUTHERN 500.

    At the age of seven, Dad decided it was time for his young son to experience major league NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) racing. As I proudly took my seat on the front stretch, I was informed that I was one of 78,000 plus in the grandstands to watch this race. I can’t even begin to describe the rush I felt while watching a 50 car field take the initial green flag while racing for the winner’s share of a combined purse of $51,990. That number may pale in comparison to modern day race purses, but, back in those days, $51,000 was big money.

    On this Labor Day 1959, Jim Reed, driving a self owned and built 1957 Chevrolet was the class of the field. Reed had a whopping margin of victory of two laps plus over runner up Bob Burdick. He led 152 of the 364 scheduled laps including the final 101 circuits of the race and collected $17,250, again big money for that time, for the win.

    However, during the course of the post race victory lane interview, the track announcer casually mentioned that Jim Reed was a native of Peekskill, New York. That’s right: a genuine New York Yankee journeyed to South Carolina and then took the Southern 500 trophy to his northern home.

    That’s when a grandstand loaded with genuine sons of the south, most of whom were genuinely beer soaked by this point, erupted with a chorus of boos and one line sentences my editor wouldn’t publish on his website. It was almost like they regarded the presence of this Yankee driver as an act of blasphemy. To quote the “Bible”: “Yea verily there was weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

    This is not to necessarily imply that these southern born and bred race fans were at the point of inciting a riot in the grandstand. However, based on appearances alone, one had to consider the possibility. That’s when Dad decided that it was time to remove his young son from this somewhat hostile environment.

    By the way, and to the best of my recollection, this grandstand protest marked the first time I ever heard a certain four letter word that, in these modern times, is now often referred to as the “F Bomb.”

    Here’s one more significant point from the 1959 Southern 500: a very young, second generation, driver named Richard Petty led his first ever NASCAR career laps during this race. The future King of stock car racing led a total of seven laps and finished a very credible fourth.

    While NASCAR at Darlington, version 2014, continued to play out, I continued to ride that long road down memory lane while thinking about literally decades of attending races at this track.

    Most of all I thought about my Dad and the quality time we spent together going to race tracks all over the southeast. I also fondly recalled all of those Sunday afternoons we spent listening to NASCAR racing on Motor Racing Network Radio. For years now I’ve been saying that it was NASCAR racing that got us through the so called generation gap because it was something that we could share and frequently talk about.

    The memory land trip ended around the time Kevin Harvick made it to victory lane and began spraying his pit crew with a large can of Budweiser. That’s when I told myself: “man, you’re getting old.”

  • Previewing The Bojangles Southern 500 At Darlington Raceway

    Previewing The Bojangles Southern 500 At Darlington Raceway

    This weekend, NASCAR heads to the track nicknamed “too tough to tame” and rightly so. Darlington Raceway is a 1 mile egg-shaped oval nestled in a small town in South Carolina and once a year, NASCAR awakens this legendary speedway and will adorn the lady with her signature black walls before the race is done.  Darlington was NASCAR’s first paved speedway hosting its first event back in 1950 where 1956 USAC Stock Car Champion and Indy 500 competitor Johnny Mantz won in what would be his only Cup win. He was running off road tires starting the race 43rd and although Mantz was slow in time, everyone else tore up their tires as he rode around with his more durable ones and cruised to victory by over 9 laps. In fact, so many tires were being torn up that some crews raided the parking lots taking tires from cars owned by race fans.

    This track has a quite a history and is one of the most psychically demanding venues on the schedule. The two sets of corners offer a unique challenge to drivers considering that they are very different from one another. As these brave racers roar around the track at over 180mph, they run literally inches away from the wall and most hit it at least once during the 500 mile race. Harold Brasington had a vision to design a speedway that would rival Indianapolis and at the team of its construction, stock car racing had never competed on such a circuit. Darlington quickly became an iconic track that every driver wanted to have on their resume. The Generation-6 racecar gets to take on The Lady in Black Saturday night and you can be assured that it will be wild as these drivers try to throw these cars around at 200mph while remaining on the edge of control and inches away from disaster.

    Darlington Raceway Track Data

    Track Size: 1.366-miles

    Banking/Turns 1 & 2: 25 degrees

    Banking/Turns 3 & 4: 23 degrees

    Banking/Frontstretch: 6 degrees

    Banking/Backstretch: 6 degrees

    Frontstretch Length:  1,229 feet

    Backstretch Length:  1,229 feet

    Race Length: 367 laps / 501.3 miles

    Capacity: 75,000

     

    Track History & Records

    Inaugural Race Winner: Johnny Mantz by 9 laps over Fireball Roberts

    Most Wins By a Driver: David Pearson (10)

    Most Wins By a Team:   Hendrick Motorsports (14)

    Most Wins By a Manufacturer: Chevrolet (40)

    Youngest Race Winner: Kyle Busch at 23 years, 0 months and 8 days in May of 2008

    Oldest Race Winner: Harry Gant at 51 years, 7 months and 22 days in September of 1991

    Least Amount of Cautions: None in September of 1963 (Data from 1 event is missing)

    Most Amount of Cautions: 17 in May of 2009 (Data from 1 event is missing)

    – This will be the 110th NSCS race held at Darlington Raceway

    – 700 drivers competed at Darlington and 45 of them have won at least once

    – Richard Petty has made more starts at Darlington than any other driver with 65

     

    Darlington Qualifying Stats

    Track Record: Kasey Kahne with a lap time of 27.131 (181.254mph) in May of 2011

    Youngest Pole Winner: Kurt Busch at 23 years, 0 months and 29 days in September of 2001

    Oldest Pole Winner:  David Pearson  at 47 years, 8 months and 15 days in September of 1982

    Inaugural Pole Winner: Curtis Turner with a speed 82.034mph in 1950

    – 47 drivers have won poles at Darlington led by David Pearson with 12

    – 36 of the 109 NSCS races at Darlington have been won from the front row: 19 from the pole and 17 from second-place (33.0%)

    -94 of the 109 NSCS races at Darlington have been won from a top-10 starting position (86.2%)

    – 6 of the 109 NSCS race sat Darlington have been won from a starting position outside the top 20 (5.6%)

    – The deepest in the field that a race winner has started was 43rd by Johnny Mantz in 1950

     

    Top 10 Best Driver Ratings at Darlington

    1.) Jeff Gordon………………………… 111.8

    2.) Greg Biffle………………………….. 110.5

    3.) Denny Hamlin………………………. 109.5

    4.) Jimmie Johnson…………………… 105.7

    5.) Kyle Busch…………………………. 102.3

    6.) Kasey Kahne………………………… 98.3

    7.) Ryan Newman……………………….. 97.6

    8.) Martin Truex Jr………………………. 95.2

    9.) Carl Edwards………………………… 93.9

    10.) Dale Earnhardt Jr…………………… 90.4

     

    Best Average Finish Among Active Drivers

    1.) Denny Hamlin——5.9

    2.) Jimmie Johnson—9.1

    3.) Brad Keselowski—-9.2

    4.) Martin Truex Jr.—-11.3

    5.) Jeff Gordon———11.8

     

     

    Most Wins Among Active Drivers

    1.) Jeff Gordon———7

    2.) Jimmie Johnson—3

    3.) Mark Martin——–2

    4.) Greg Biffle———–2

    5.) Jeff Burton———-2

     

    Most Top 5’s Among Active Drivers

     

    1.) Jeff Gordon———-18

    2.) Mark Martin——–17

    3.) Jeff Burton———-8

    4.) Jimmie Johnson—-7

    5.) Ryan Newman——-7

     

    Most Top 10’s Among Active Drivers

    1.) Mark Martin——26

    2.) Jeff Gordon——-21

    3.) Jeff Burton——–16

    4.) Bobby Labonte—11

    5.) Tony Stewart——11

     

    Most Laps Led Among Active Drivers

    1.) Jeff Gordon———–1,720

    2.) Jeff Burton———–817

    3.) Mark Martin———801

    4.) Greg Biffle————713

    5.) Jimmie Johnson—-543

     

    Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton and Mark Martin have a ton of experience at Darlington and all three have also won at this track multiple times. Darlington is a place where you must race the track, not your competitors and veterans like those three are aces at doing that. Conserving your equipment for the end is key to staying in contention as the laps wind down. Jimmie Johnson has also had a lot of success at this legendary speedway winning three times with the most recent victory coming last year. In a 500 mile grueling race like the Southern 500, veterans have the advantage but that doesn’t mean the young guns have never made some noise. Kyle Busch won this race back in 2008 at just 23 years of age and in 2011, then 27 year old Regan Smith pulled off the upset taking Furniture Row Racing to victory lane for the first time.

    The Lady in Black has never been very kind to 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup runner-up Clint Bowyer who has just one top 10 in 7 starts (9th) and four finishes of 23rd or worse. His former teammate Kevin Harvick has also struggled to find success at Darlington never winning and posting a top 10 result just once since 2004 and that was his 6th place finish in 2010. He rarely leads laps and an average finish of 18.8 shows just how difficult of a time he has had here. This track eats up tires and pushes drivers to the limit and sometimes over the edge. There have been post-race altercations in both events the past two years and a Busch brother was involved in each incident. Speeds are nearing the 200mph mark in the Gen-6 which is unprecedented at this 1.3 mile oval. It was purpose built for speeds around 100mph back in the 50’s and the high banked part of the track we race now was actually used as a runoff area. If there wasn’t enough incentive to win the Southern 500, this is the final opportunity for someone to win their way into the All-Star Race with the exception of the Sprint Showdown. It’s sure to be exciting as the best stock car racing has to offer takes on the track too tough to tame this Saturday night!

  • NASCAR Beginnings Featuring Cale Yarborough

    NASCAR Beginnings Featuring Cale Yarborough

    On Tuesday, June 14, 2011, the NASCAR Hall of Fame announced the 2012 class of inductees. It should come as no surprise that Cale Yarborough’s name is at the top of the list. Yarborough received the highest percentage of votes with 85 percent.

    Driver, car owner, businessman, author and actor, Cale Yarborough has done it all. This hard-charging three-time Cup champion was known for giving 100 percent from the first to the last lap.

    Richard Petty said of Yarborough, “It didn’t make no difference if he was two laps behind or 20 laps ahead, he drove that car as hard as he possibly could.”

    Cale Yarborough ruled NASCAR in the 1970’s with three consecutive Sprint Cup championships from 1976-78. No one had ever shown such dominance and his record stood until 2008 when Jimmie Johnson won the championship for the third straight year.

    During those three years, Yarborough won 28 races – nine in 1976, nine in 1977 and 10 in 1978. He not only won those championships, but by a huge margin. In 1978, Yarborough won by a margin of 474 points.

    His 31-year career total of 83 victories ranks fifth all-time and his 69 poles rank third all-time. Yarborough won the Southern 500 at Darlington five times.  He also managed to win the Daytona 500 four times (1968, 1977, 1983-84), second only to Richard Petty’s seven.

    William Caleb Yarborough was born in the small town of Timmonsville, South Carolina in 1939. He was the oldest of three sons born to Julian and Annie Mae Yarborough. As a small boy, he attended races in the nearby towns of Florence and Columbia with his father and fell in love with racing. Yarborough remembers the first Southern 500 in Darlington in 1950. His father had been looking forward to it and he was hoping his Dad would take him to see it.

    “We’d certainly talked about the Southern 500,” Yarborough remembers. “I don’t know whether he was going to take me or not.”

    Sadly, he never got the chance to go. That summer Yarborough lost his father when he was killed after his small plane crashed. Yarborough made it to the Southern 500 the next year, crawling under the fence to get in. He had a ticket but was too excited to wait in line.

    “I wasn’t sneaking in to be sneaking in,” he said. “I was just too anxious to get inside and see my heroes.”

    It seems like no coincidence that Yarborough made his racing debut at that very same track in 1957. It was not the start he had envisioned. Yarborough finished in 42nd place after a broken hub took him out of the race.

    Yarborough only drove in three more races over the next four years but in 1962, he earned his first top ten finish when he placed tenth in the Daytona 500 qualifying race. Over the next few years, he drove for various owners on a limited schedule including Herman Beam, Holman Moody and Banjo Matthews.

    In 1965, he ran in 46 races and captured his first win at Valdosta, Georgia. That year he also had one of the scariest moments of his career at the Southern 500 while trying to pass race leader, Sam McQuagg.

    “We went in the corner side by side, and for some reason my car just got airborne,” said Yarborough. “I went over the hood of his car, never even touched the guardrail, and went out into the parking lot. I ended upside of a telephone pole.”

    In 1966, Yarborough began to find some success. He won both the Atlanta and Firecracker 500 while driving for Bud Moore and finished out the season driving the No. 21 car for the Wood Brothers team.

    Yarborough started to make a name for himself after his partnership with the Wood Brothers and won six races in 1968 including his first Daytona 500 win. That year also saw him in victory lane for the first time at the Southern 500. Yarborough considers it the biggest of his 83 career wins. This was the track where he had watched so many of his heroes race as a young boy. More importantly, it was the last race on the old track before it was repaved.

    “It’s still hard to drive today,” Yarborough says, “but back before they changed it, it was almost impossible to race on. The difference between the old track and the new one is like night and day.”

    “I think Jeff [Gordon] ought to have to win six to equal my five,” he jokes, “because my first one was on the old track, and it was twice as hard to win.”

    Finally, in 1973, Yarborough was able run a full schedule. He won four races that year, including the Southeastern 500 at Bristol International Speedway, where he led every lap from start to finish. What makes it even more unusual is that the race took two weeks to complete because of rain.

    Yarborough finished second in the points standing in 1973, behind Richard Petty. In 1974, he captured ten victories but again finished second to Petty in points. But Yarborough was not to be denied.

    With nine victories in 1976, Yarborough won the first of his three consecutive championships, driving for the legendary Junior Johnson. According to Johnson, winning with Yarborough was easy.

    “When you got a driver you know is going to give you everything he’s got,” Johnson said, “you can take away 30% of the car and he’ll still give you enough to beat everybody.”

    One of Yarborough’s most memorable moments was in 1979 at the Daytona 500. It was the first stock car race ever televised in its entirety. Yarborough and Donnie Allison were fighting for the lead and wrecked when Yarborough tried to pass for the lead during the final laps. The wrecked cars slid into the infield and both drivers jumped out of their cars. Fists started flying with Bobby Allison joining in to help his brother. The entire episode was captured on television and has become one of the most notorious NASCAR fights in its history.

    Yarborough retired as a driver in 1988, ending his driving career with a phenomenal 83 wins. He remained on the NASCAR scene as a car owner until 2000. He had limited success as an owner and recorded only one win with John Andretti in 1997. After leaving NASCAR, he opened a successful Honda dealership in Florence, South Carolina.

    Cale Yarborough was a small town boy with big dreams. He joined the ranks of the heroes he watched race as a young boy to become a NASCAR legend. He remains one of NASCAR’s most beloved drivers and an integral part of its history.

    *Achievements:

    1967 NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Award
    1976 Cup Championship
    1976 Five Consecutive Race Wins – Single Season Record
    1977 Cup Championship
    1978 Cup Championship
    1980 Won 14 Pole Positions – Single Season Record
    1984 First driver to qualify at the Daytona 500 at over 200 mph
    1986 Wrote his autobiography, with William Neely: ‘Cale: The Hazardous Life and Times of the World’s Greatest Stock Car Driver’
    1993 Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame
    1994 Inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame
    1994 Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
    1996 Inducted into the Court of Legends at Charlotte Motor Speedway
    1996 Talladega Walk of Fame inductee
    1998 Named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers
    2009 Monument on the Darlington Legends Walk
    2010 Nominee NASCAR Hall of Fame
    2011 Nominee NASCAR Hall of Fame
    2012 Will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame
    4-Time Winner of the Daytona 500
    5-Time Winner of the Southern 500
    83 Career Wins (Fifth All-Time)
    69 Poles (Third All-Time)

    Trivia:

    Yarborough appeared in two episodes of the TV show ‘The Dukes of Hazzard,’ playing himself.

    1979: ‘The Dukes Meet Cale Yarborough’
    1984: ‘Cale Yarborough comes to Hazzard’
    1983: Yarborough appeared in the Burt Reynolds movie, ‘Stroker Ace’

    Thanks to darlingtonraceway.com and NASCAR Hall of Fame for Cale Yarborough quotes.

    *NASCAR statistics as of May 31, 2011

  • NASCAR Wisely Leaves ‘Payback’ To Drivers

    NASCAR Wisely Leaves ‘Payback’ To Drivers

    After a weekend of confrontations at Darlington, NASCAR handed out punishment on Tuesday, with Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick each receiving four weeks probation and a $25,000 fine. Ryan Newman and Juan Montoya were given a “final warning” for their ongoing feud that allegedly led to Newman punching Montoya at Darlington. Did NASCAR wimp out with its disciplinary actions?

    What’s the greatest thing about NASCAR when it comes to discipline? No one listens to them. That doesn’t make them wimps. It makes them brilliant marketing strategists. What’s four weeks probation to Busch and Harvick? Four weeks to plot their next moves, four weeks to belittle their rival with vague and veiled insults, and four weeks to closely test the boundaries of NASCAR’s “probationary” period. Probation? To fans, that means NASCAR will be watching. Not surprisingly, to NASCAR, that means fans will be watching. And the $25,000? Harvick would say that’s “chicken” scratch to Busch, and he’d be right. Busch, for his part, would say that $25,000 is the price Harvick had to pay for “window shopping” at the No. 18 Toyota.

    But who’s complaining about the lack of severity of NASCAR sanctions? Apparently, only people who want NASCAR’s punishment of drivers to actually discourage behavior like Busch’s and Harvick’s. That would be discouraging, to fans. NASCAR’s not stupid. They only look stupid. And they know it. Appearances can be deceiving, and NASCAR wants only to appear to discourage such driver behavior with their brand of punishment. NASCAR puts the “pun” in punishment.

    What’s the purpose of a minimal fine and simple probation? For NASCAR, it’s their version of discipline with maximum effect (in their eyes) and minimal impact. It’s the equivalent of asking drivers to wear “promise rings.” NASCAR’s punishment says to drivers “Don’t let it happen again, but if it does, please make sure you make it look like a ‘racing incident.’”

    NASCAR knows just as well as everyone else that their rendered judgments are often, if not always, deemed not severe enough. Sure, they are carefully considered, but in most cases, the punishment does not fit the crime. For that, NASCAR should be applauded. The last thing NASCAR wants is to bar a driver bent on retaliation off the track. NASCAR doesn’t want to play the bad guy. No, they want the bad guy on the track, plotting his next mildly punishable action. It would take a truly heinous on-the-track act for NASCAR to suspend a driver. In the realm of NASCAR discipline, it’s not “My way or the highway.” It’s “My way and the speedway.”

    In case you missed it, Busch and Harvick’s shenanigans overshadowed Regan Smith’s first career Sprint Cup, and then some. And that begs the question, if a winning driver does victory burnouts and no one is watching, does it make any smoke? Let’s thank the good lord it wasn’t a Dale Earnhardt, Jr. win that was overshadowed. Otherwise, there would have been fans trying to punch Busch and Harvick for the very

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]though of stealing some Junior thunder. In any case, the brewing feud was by leaps and bounds more entertaining than the race itself. The Busch-Harvick game of cat and mouse was both controversial and entertaining, a true brouhaha.

    You can call Busch a coward for driving off. And, you can say “it” runs in the family. You could even say he “turned tail.” Indeed he did. He spun Harvick not once, but twice. Busch is no one-hit wonder, like the band Sniff ‘N The Tears, who performed the 1978 hit “Driver’s Seat,” which Busch was surely humming when he sent the No. 29 Budweiser car astray. After those two dramatic left turns, Harvick will now be known as the “King Of Veers.”

    But give Harvick credit for instigating the situation and bumping Busch when it appeared Busch did nothing wrong. Say what you will about Harvick, but the man has guts. And it takes guts to confront a Busch brother with only window netting separating you. Wait. No it doesn’t. Anyway, Harvick is known to take no guff from anyone, and once Busch spun him, he was obligated to retaliate. What’s worse for Harvick and Busch? A piddly fine and probation from NASCAR, or the ignominy of knowing they let a heated rival get the upper hand. A lenient sanction, wisely administered by NASCAR’s marshmallow fist, ensures that Harvick and Busch, as well as other drivers, won’t be afraid to seek their own justice.

    As for the fates of Montoya and Newman, NASCAR again made the right call, issuing warnings instead of punishment. Montoya wrecked Newman at Richmond, and Newman punched Montoya at Darlington. With warnings, NASCAR is essentially saying “Your move, Montoya.”

    Who was most entertained by the Busch-Harvick fiasco? Why, Jimmie Johnson, of course? In his quest for his sixth Sprint Cup championship, Johnson has to be satisfied to see two of the three biggest challengers to his title in a conflict that is sure to spill over to the remainder of the season. And, with the volatile Carl Edwards due to blow his top soon, Johnson could very well see all three of his greatest rivals facing NASCAR discipline. What’s the biggest difference between Johnson and Harvick, Busch, and Edwards? Besides five Sprint Cup championships. It’s Johnson’s level-headedness. If he gets angry, it’s often at his crew chief, Chad Knaus. When he’s wronged, Johnson doesn’t get even. He gets even better.

    In short, NASCAR needs the excitement and controversy that comes with feuding drivers. If there’s a knock against NASCAR, it’s the boredom of races that lack action or controversy. NASCAR has a monopoly on monotony. If NASCAR’s discipline exacerbates this problem, then they have gone too far. Wisely, NASCAR only loosely practices what it preaches.

  • The Southern 500: A Lesson Not Learned

    The Southern 500: A Lesson Not Learned

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”261″][/media-credit]For those who think that the races at places like California, Chicago, Kansas, and any number of what has been called the “cookie cutter” tracks, I give you Darlington. For every boring finish at one of those clones, we get one Darlington (and luckily, thank God) two Martinsville’s. It’s not fair that we only see one race at the track “too tough to tame,” but that’s all we have. It’s money that matters.

    Instead of two cars piggy-backing on each other to create speed, as we saw at Daytona and Talladega (and it seems is the favorite of the fans), we saw real racing and lots of action. We saw a Ford Fusion open up a Toyota like a can of tuna. We saw the usual suspects run in the back while others ran up front. We saw beating and banging, temper flaring, and even extracurricular action. We saw a race that can’t happen when everyone has four lanes to run in and it’s an easy place to run.

    It seems that after NASCAR became “the thing” back in the early 90’s that the sport went out of its way to make things easier for the drivers. No longer was it a challenge for the drivers because it didn’t matter so much. The important thing was that the stars of the sport were there and were successful. It wasn’t about the racing. It was more about the money. All of a sudden, International Speedway Corporation and Speedway Motorsports began to either take over or build new tracks. Bruton Smith did it two ways. As the CEO of Speedway Motorsports, every track he built was a clone of Charlotte Motor Speedway. You know the drill. Moderately banked tracks with a tri-oval approximately 1.5 miles in length. To give Smith credit, he did change it up a bit at Las Vegas by reconfiguring the track when it didn’t race like the fans wanted and changed Atlanta also. But he changed Bristol to “offer more room to race,” which has been a disaster for fans and the attendance at the races there show it. Fans didn’t want more room to race. They wanted to see the action. I really am sad to report this, but the last two races at Bristol nearly bored me to sleep.

    International Speedway Corporation seemed to create tracks in the image of Michigan International Speedway. When they bought Roger Penske’s tracks, that seemed to be the formula. California, Chicago, and others seemed to fit that mold. Easy on the drivers and less action were the key. They didn’t have to worry about the fans, they were going to come anyway.

    Fast forward to 2008. The economy was in the dumpster. Ticket prices were through the roof and fans for the first time had to wonder if spending $1,000 dollars for a weekend was worth it . Attendance suffered and TV ratings went way down. Smith closed Rockingham and NASCAR took away one of its iconic races at Darlington to get other races at his newer clone tracks. Attendance was listed as the problem, but when attendance at California and other tracks didn’t improve the situation, excuses were there in spades. Excuses cannot change what has happened over the last ten years. History be damned. While baseball loves Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, NASCAR put its history in the trash can in favor of more modern facilities and the revenue that could be generated. It’s sad.

    Tonight, we saw why fans rushed to NASCAR. Action. We saw it at Martinsville in March, and we’ll see it again in the fall when we go back there. We sacrificed the iconic tracks that made the sport what it was for luxury suites and bling, even if the racing was less than good. And so it goes.

    Maybe there’s a lesson here, but I doubt it. A friend who has gone to Charlotte for eons told me this week that he got his Charlotte tickets for the 600. The tickets had raised by nearly $20. He was trying to sell the tickets and could not find any takers. Maybe the economy will improve and people will have more disposable income in the future and NASCAR will rise again, but if that magic doesn’t happen, it won’t change the fact that places like Darlington need to be put in place as what NASCAR is and should be. Taking a race from Darlington was wrong. Taking away the Labor Day weekend from Darlington was criminal. When will they learn?

  • Darlington: A Piece of NASCAR History

    Darlington: A Piece of NASCAR History

    [media-credit name=”Joe Dunn” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]I’ve only attended four races at Darlington Raceway. What really confuses me about that is the fact that it is one of my favorite places to see a NASCAR race. Something always gets in the way of heading down the hillbilly highway (Interstate 77) and making the trip through the lazy southern towns to what I consider one of the places that should never change. I look forward to it every year.

    I’ll never forget that trip to Myrtle Beach way back when. I don’t know if I took a wrong turn or I was meant to go that way, but I found myself in Cheraw, SC, when I should have gone the other way. Back in the 1970’s there were no GPS devices and we were too lazy to stop at a gas station for a map, so we just kept driving on a narrow two-lane road which led us to Darlington. My eyes immediately lit up when I saw the sign. I kept wondering if I could find the track. Well, it was right on the road and I made an abrupt right into the parking lot. There it was—the place I had heard my father talk about and the track too tough to tame. The Lady in Black.

    I remembered that they had a museum there and I wanted to see it, so I headed to the first open door and talked to a lady in what looked like a police uniform. I asked her about going into the track, but she said they weren’t doing tours and after she thought a minute, she told me I could go in if I didn’t go any further than pit road. So off I went through what was then the first turn gate on onto the track. I was immediately transported back in history. The track looked just like it did in pictures and on what little TV we got in those days. Standing on pit road, I could see the red building in Turns 1 and 2 that TV had captured so many times. Little did I know I would be working in that building in the future?

    To my right was the Union 76 sign and to my left was the first turn. I couldn’t stand it. I had to walk the track. I headed up to the banking in the first turn and surveyed the track from there. Then I walked back to pit road and went over to Turns 3 and 4. The fact that they were totally different made an impression on me. How in the world could anyone drive this track? How could you set up a car? It made my heroes even more gigantic.

    After that religious experience, I headed to the museum, which in my opinion still represents a hall of fame better than the official shrine in Charlotte. It was small and crowded, but up close and personal. I left with the feeling I had gone to a mystical place. Darlington Raceway is NASCAR. Yes, Martinsville is in the same league, but they may be the only two tracks that take you back to the roots of what this sport is all about. It takes you back to the days when men fought for wins and didn’t necessarily care who got the most points.

    Some of the best races I’ve ever seen came at Darlington. Who could forget 1985? It was there that Bill Elliott won the Winton Million on a hot September day. Cale Yarborough and Elliott had the fastest cars, but Elliott wasn’t as dominant as he had been in the past and Yarborough was charging. Yarborough blew his power steering near the end of the race in a cloud of smoke, but recovered to try to chase down Elliott. The mental image of the tough Yarborough gaining on Elliott in the final lap will always be etched in my mind. Elliott won, but Yarborough’s determination showed as they came out of the fourth turn, Yarborough sideways in pursuit of the No. 9 Thunderbird.

    That’s just one of the great finishes at this track. I’ll still remember May 16, 1996. Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch fought side by side to the finish, touching so many times. The two passed each other more times than I could count in the last two laps with Craven getting up alongside as they reached the start-finish line. Craven’s margin of victory was just so close.

    It’s a shame that NASCAR saw fit to take a race from this shrine to real racing and gave it to California Speedway. The Labor Day Southern 500 was one of the traditions of the sport that should not have been taken away. To think that NASCAR saw fit to re-think that decision and not restore two races at Darlington is almost a crime, but we still have one race at the track and it takes place this weekend. For a while it looked like the track would join North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham in the list of extinct tracks.

    So, I shame myself. I’ve attended over 200 Sprint Cups races in my lifetime, some I worked and others where I sit amongst the real people in the stands, but only four at Darlington. That’s going to change. We’ve lost too much history in this sport in the name of sponsor dollars and TV exposure. For every Darlington (or Martinsville) we have a multitude of cookie-cutter tracks that offer less challenge and poorer racing than that little track in South Carolina. It’s time to enjoy it before it’s gone.

  • Kevin Harvick Incorporated Looks To Tame The Lady In Black This Saturday Night

    Kevin Harvick Incorporated Looks To Tame The Lady In Black This Saturday Night

    On Saturday night, three trucks will be taking the green flag looking to win for car owners Kevin and Delana Harvick.

    For Kevin Harvick Incorporated, there are only eight tracks that they have yet to win at in the Camping World Truck Series in their 10 year history and Darlington is one of them. With Darlington marking the team’s 300th Camping World Truck Series start, it’d certainly mark a good way to celebrate.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”294″][/media-credit]Leading the way for them will be four-time Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday, driving the No. 33 Sherwin-Williams Chevrolet.

    “I’m really looking forward to having another solid finish at Darlington,” Hornaday said. “We finished third here last year and it was a best for KHI. We hope to set another best for KHI and bring home a victory. This track can be a beast if you aren’t careful. The track is pretty narrow so there is a lot of rubbin’ that goes on during the race.

    “With all of the tracks on the Truck Series schedule today, there are eight that I have yet to grab a win at. Darlington is one of those. Hopefully this weekend the No. 33 team will help bring that list down to seven and prove that we can tame the track.”

    Hornaday has enough experience as he has made over 1700 laps at Darlington, including 147 laps in the truck series. Last year marked the time he took a truck to Darlington, where he finished third-place. In the last race at Phoenix, Hornaday found himself finding third and that is the same truck that they plan on taking to Darlngton. The third place finish at Phoenix allowed Hornaday to go from 28th to 10th in points so certainly a win would help in Hornaday’s chances at a fifth title.

    Joining Hornaday as a teammate at Darlington will be Sprint Cup Series veteran Elliott Sadler for his second Camping World Truck Series race of the year. Sadler drove the No. 2 back at Daytona, where he finished second to Michael Waltrip in a nailbitter. Sadler looks to improve that by one position in his No. 2 Armour Vienna Sausage Chevrolet. The Pinnacles Food brand has been a lucky brand for KHI as the four previous times they have run their colors, whoever has been driving the car has found victory lane. Harvick got his first win as a owner/driver with them at Bristol in 2009 and then backed that up with wins at Nashville and Richmond, while Hornaday took them to victory lane at Martinsville last year.

    “I really enjoy racing at Darlington Raceway,” Sadler said. “I have had a lot of success there in the past and think it is important anytime that you can go to a track and get some extra track time. I have had a lot of fun competing in the Truck Series and I’m ready to try and tame the track they claim is ‘Too Tough to Tame’ as we try and get our first victory of 2011.”

    Despite no truck starts at Darlington for Sadler, you can’t count him out as he won the pole for the 2003 Sprint Cup event and has two top-fives and four top-10 finishes in the Cup Series. He also seen seven Nationwide races at Darlington, which have earned him a top-five, two top-10s and a pole in 1997. The chassis will also be familiar for Sadler as it is the same chassis he drove to win at Pocono last July and the truck Hornaday finished second with at Homestead last year.

    The team will also be taking Camping World Truck Series newcomer Nelson Piquet Jr. in the No. 8.

    “I think the learning curve is going to be a lot like it was in Phoenix,” Piquet said. “It’s going to be another weekend where I’m learning the track and trying to gain as much experience as I can. I hope that some of what I learned in Phoenix will apply when we get to Darlington, but they’re obviously different tracks with different characteristics and different challenges. I think the best thing I got out of Phoenix was the experience of racing so closely with the other drivers and having the opportunity to bump and push and make contact with the other trucks. That’s definitely going to come into play this weekend.”

    “I think this track is really going to suit Nelson,” crew chief Chris Carrier said. “With his natural driving ability, truck control and fast reflexes, I feel that this could be a really good weekend for him.”

    While the track may not familiar, the truck will be as it will be the same truck he drove to a 13th-place finish in the last race two weeks ago at Phoenix. This is also the same truck that Harvick won a pole and visited victory lane at Gateway in 2010 with,

    “The biggest thing you need is a well-balanced, well-driving truck,” Carrier went on to say. “The truck needs to handle so well that it gives the driver the resolve to be bigger than the challenge that the track presents to him. The track is extremely fast and narrow since it was repaved a few years ago, and the trucks reach speeds way beyond what the track was originally designed for. If your truck drives really well and the driver can predict what it’s going to do, it allows him to drive the racetrack without having to focus on driving the truck. It also doesn’t hurt to have some good fabricators and some big hammers on hand, because no matter how experienced your driver is or how good your truck is, it isn’t a question of if, but more a question of when you’re going to hit the wall and earn that Darlington stripe.”

    The Too Tough To Tame 200 will be run on March 12, 2011 at Darlington Raceway, a 1.366-Mile Egg-Shaped Oval. The race is set to be 147 laps, or 200.8 miles. SPEED will broadcast the race live at 5:00 p.m. EST with the Set-up at 4:30 p.m. EST while the Motor Racing Network will be live at 4:45 p.m. EST.