Darlington Raceway

Address: 1301 Harry Byrd Highway, Darlington, South Carolina

NASCAR Nationwide Series Diamond Hill Plywood 200

34.295277777778 - 79.905555555556Koordinaten: 34 ° 17 ' 43 "N, 79 ° 54' 20 " W

The Darlington Raceway is a speedway in Darlington, South Carolina with a length of 1.366 miles ( 2.198 km ). The in 1950, the track has a seating capacity of 65,000 and is considered one of the most legendary tracks NASCAR. Race to the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series will be held every year.

The Darlington Raceway is often referred to as "The Lady in Black", as before every race white painted perimeter walls after the race due to the many wall contacts in many places is predominantly black. Accordingly, the name " A Track Too Tough To Tame " ( " A route too difficult in order to subdue " ) has naturalized, especially because many newcomers " Darlington Stripes" produce.

Configuration

The first two curves with a radius of 600 feet ( 182.88 m ) at an elevation of 25 °. The curves 3 and 4, however, with 525 feet ( 160.02 m) a significantly smaller radius, which means that the course describes an egg-shaped oval, which is unusual for oval courses. The superelevation of the curves 3 and 4 is 23 °, which the home straight 3 ° and the back straight 2 °. The straight lines are each 1229 feet ( 374.60 m ) long. The length of the pit lane is 2025 feet ( 617.22 m).

History

The idea to build the Darlington Raceway goes back to Harold Brasington, of the Indianapolis 500 in 1948 and visited the large number and viewers noticed. Brasington was previously racing driver and drove himself, among other things against Bill France Sr., the founder of NASCAR, but resigned at the end of the 1940s, from racing back to focus on agriculture and architecture.

Impressed by the crowd at the Indianapolis itself Brasington thought "If Tony Hulman can do it here, I can do it back home. " ( "If Tony Hulman can put on your feet something like this, I can do that at home too. " ) According began he with plans for a new Speedway in Darlington. For the construction, he bought 70 acres from a farmer named Sherman Ramsey and began the conversion of a cotton and peanut plantation in a race track. Since Brasington Ramsey had promised that the pond on the west side of the property remains intact, he was forced to build the track in an unusual egg shape. Thus, the curve is on the west side narrower and steeper than the curve on the east side. The project took one year.

In the summer of 1950, Brasington signed a contract with Bill France Sr., on Labor Day, a race over 500 miles to hold on the Speedway. The first Southern 500 offered a record prize money of U.S. $ 25,000 and was held under the cooperation of NASCAR and the rival Central States Racing Association. More than 80 drivers attempted to qualify for the race, which was held in a format similar to the Indianapolis 500 over two weeks. First winner was Johnny Mantz in a car that belonged to France.

Over the years, the track has been reconfigured several times. For example, the start -finish straight to the back straight and vice versa. The capacity was increased to 65,000 seats, which is still limited because of the still existing pond and a highway behind the back straight. In winter 2007, the Raceway got a new asphalt, the cost amounted to approximately ten million U.S. dollars.

The Darlington Raceway is considered among drivers and fans as a legendary circuit: He was at the time of its construction in comparison to the other former race tracks in the NASCAR a real Super Speedway, allowed the high speeds of the cars. Even the very first NASCAR race was held over 500 miles on it - the Daytona 500 was only nine years later in 1959 held for the first time.

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