Darlington Raceway
75th Anniversary
Celebrating 75 Years of History
After attending the 1933 Indianapolis 500, Darlington, South Carolina, native Harold Brasington dreamed of building a fan-friendly race track in his hometown.
Opened in 1950, Darlington Raceway was the first paved NASCAR track that was more than 1-mile in length. The inaugural Southern 500 on September 4, 1950, drew a record field of 75 cars and paid a total purse of $25,325, the largest in NASCAR history and more than four times larger than the purse in any other race that season.
Throughout the 1950s, the Southern 500 was the richest and most prestigious race on the annual NASCAR calendar.
And today, 75 years after it opened, Darlington Raceway continues to produce dramatic racing, close finishes and breathtaking moments.
To honor that history, the NASCAR Hall of Fame curated and developed an exhibit with four cases, 24 artifacts with photos and 25 standalone timeline photos. A total of 28 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees are named in the exhibit script.
Here are some artifact highlights from the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Darlington Raceway 75th Anniversary Exhibit:
1950 | The original sanctioning agreement between the track and NASCAR to stage the first Southern 500, signed by NASCAR Founder and Chairman William H.G. France (NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2010) and track President Harold Brasington.
1952 | South Carolina native Buck Baker (Class of 2013) received this championship jacket after he won the NASCAR Roadster Division title, helped by his victory at Darlington.
1967 | Richard Petty (Class of 2010) was given a plaque after he won his record 55th NASCAR Cup Series victory, surpassing the previous record of 54, set by his father and fellow Hall of Famer Lee Petty (Class of 2011).
1976 | Hall of Famer David Pearson (Class of 2011) won a record 10 NASCAR races at Darlington Raceway, including the 1976 Southern 500 when the South Carolina native drove for the powerhouse Wood Brothers Racing team.
1985 | After winning the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway and the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Hall of Famer Bill Elliott (Class of 2015) won a $1 million bonus from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Known as “The Winston Million,” the bonus was paid for winning three of NASCAR’s four biggest races in the same season.
1990 | At the Southern 500, Dale Earnhardt (Class of 2010) won the pole and with it this award. Earnhardt went on to win the race, one of his nine career victories at Darlington Raceway.
Plan a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame to see the Darlington Raceway 75th Anniversary Exhibit.