[Bob Tanner]

Every year I used to look forward to Darlington's two races. Thanks to maybe the worst PR decision made at ISC headquarters I now look forward to one. That's another entire thread so I'll roll on...

So this year I look forward to Darlington's only race? Not so much this season.

They resurfaced and otherwise improved the track. I have read that during a test session Ryan Newman and others were hitting 200+ MPH on the back stretch! Sorry folks. Colour me negative but that's just too darn fast for a 1.3-mile track.

The track record is 173 MPH which means (a guess here) probably top end for a few seconds of no more than 190 MPH. Add to this passing has always been difficult at Darlington plus the fact they are running the new car, which most say handles badly if the set up is only slightly off.

I hope I'm wrong but I look for a replay of last years August Bristol race. Remember? It was follow the leader for most of the race with a lot of wrecks in the last 20-30 laps.

Again I could be wrong and hope that I am. But, lately the folks who run race tracks have been on a roll. They took Bristol, a GREAT short track, and turned it into a miniature Las Vegas. Now they've tinkered with one of NASCAR's really great tracks and, based on the practice speeds, I'm worried.

[kcoruol]

Yeah, I miss the days when Darlington was a dirt track. They never should have changed that! I do miss those days.

Now they done and went and repaved it. Racin'll never be the same agin now at Darlington. I'll miss the bumps and dips of the asphalt goin 'round turn 4. The mended cracks on the backstretch and the crumblin potholes enterinto pit row! Don't even git me started when they replaced the stands made from 2x4's and seats made of 2x6's to this new luminum stadium.

[oncea3fan]

they were talking about this on inside winston cup racing last night.

micheal was saying that there is so much grip that the driver are going to have bigger balls , and hence more cautions.

I look forward to some beating and banging , but not so much the wrecking.

[BiscuitMan]

Originally Posted by kcoruol

Yeah, I miss the days when Darlington was a dirt track. They never should have changed that! I do miss those days.

Now they done and went and repaved it. Racin'll never be the same agin now at Darlington. I'll miss the bumps and dips of the asphalt goin 'round turn 4. The mended cracks on the backstretch and the crumblin potholes enterinto pit row! Don't even git me started when they replaced the stands made from 2x4's and seats made of 2x6's to this new luminum stadium.

Dirt? I wasn't aware that the Darlington Raceway was ever "dirt". Are you sure? (Well, I guess it was dirt before old Harold Brasington carved out the race track in the peanut patch for the first Southern 500 back in 1950.)

[oncea3fan]

I think he was being sarcastic !

I think ???

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by kcoruol

Yeah, I miss the days when Darlington was a dirt track. They never should have changed that! I do miss those days.

Now they done and went and repaved it. Racin'll never be the same agin now at Darlington. I'll miss the bumps and dips of the asphalt goin 'round turn 4. The mended cracks on the backstretch and the crumblin potholes enterinto pit row! Don't even git me started when they replaced the stands made from 2x4's and seats made of 2x6's to this new luminum stadium.

Darlington was a dirt track? That's news to me and I bet it'd be news to Harold Brasington, too. Darlington was an innovative track (for the South) in 1950 and merged two relatively new concepts, a super speedway which was paved.

For the record, Brasington, a wealthy peanut farmer, was inspired to build a super speedway after he attended the 1948 Indianapolis 500 and the next race on the AAA schedule then, a 100 lapper at Winchester, Indiana the following weekend.

Go to any NASCAR historical site or the Darlington website and I'm sure that fact will be verified.

[clutch]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

Darlington was a dirt track? That's news to me and I bet it'd be news to Harold Brasington, too. Darlington was an innovative track (for the South) in 1950 and merged two relatively new concepts, a super speedway which was paved.

For the record, Brasington, a wealthy peanut farmer, was inspired to build a super speedway after he attended the 1948 Indianapolis 500 and the next race on the AAA schedule then, a 100 lapper at Winchester, Indiana the following weekend.

Go to any NASCAR historical site or the Darlington website and I'm sure that fact will be verified.

Have you checked this article out?

NASCAR.COM - Darlington founder still NASCAR's unsung pioneer - May 9, 2008

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by clutch

Have you checked this article out?

NASCAR.COM - Darlington founder still NASCAR's unsung pioneer - May 9, 2008

I have now. The article reports 1933. I was told it was 1948. It could have been both. The track [Darlington] has the high banks of Winchester (a track I've been to many times- Darlington only twice and none in the last twenty-five years) and even the old Darlington grandstand was a duplicate of the old Winchester grandstand, which was torn down in the 70's.

Other than that, the story is pretty much right on as I understand and remember. I know the break between Brasington and NASCAR was real and it took Jim Hunter to bring things together again.

Thanks for the link. nascar.com is a site I seldom visit and would have missed if you hadn't have informed me.

[jks812]

Well if the busch race last night was any indication, they are in for a ride tonight. I hope it's not a follow the leader race, although they were passing last night. But and then the busch race wasn't as long as the cup is.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by jks812

. I hope it's not a follow the leader race, although they were passing last night. But and then the busch race wasn't as long as the cup is.

When you put those two thoughts together there a message for us to ponder.

[Bob Tanner]

For once I wish I'd have been wrong in a prediction.

It was a great race if you like seeing cars follow each other and bounce off walls. Junior had it right when it said "There was only one grove you could run in and it was impossible to pass unless you could get a run..."