by David Smith

Created on: July 21, 2010

As one of the most historically noteworthy racetracks in the NASCAR circuit, Darlington Raceway among the strangest racetracks in the NASCAR circuit.  Having earned the nickname "the Lady in Black", the track is often referred to as the "track too tough to tame".  The moniker "Lady in Black" could have been given because of the black surface of the track.  However, there are those that believe that the track got its nick name due to the walls always being painted white before a race, but it ended mostly black due to the tires rubbing on the wall. 

"If you're not right against the wall, you're not running fast at Darlington."  This quote has been heard several times from Darryl Waltrip.  What this means is that, in order to run fast at Darlington, This manner of racing also gave rise to the term "Darlington Stripe".  The Darlington stripe refers to the side of the car being scraped against the wall during the race.  In fact, many drivers and owners in the early days of the track would reinforce the side of the car with pieces of wood that were bowed out to protect the car from more than cosmetic injury when they received their Darlington stripe.

To give a bit of history about the track, ground breaking took place in 1949.  the track was opened on Labor Day in 1950.  It was the home of the Southern 500, always run on Labor Day, into the twenty-first century.  That date was taken away from the track and given to California International Speedway in an effort to expand NASCAR across the nation.  Jamie McMurray holds the record of the fastest lap, turning a lap in 27.264 seconds traveling 180.370 mph on May 7, 2010.  Dale Earnhardt holds the record for the fastest race run at 3 hours, 32 minutes and 29 seconds, running an average of 139.958 mph.

Holding the record for the most wins as well as the most pole positions is David Pearson with ten wins and twelve pole position qualifying efforts.  Richard Petty holds the most top 5 finishes with 25, while Bill Elliott holds the record for the most top 10 finishes at 35.  Richard Petty also has the most starts at the track with 65, while Ricky Rudd holds the record for the most laps completed with a staggering 17, 582 laps turned by the NASCAR iron man.  The laps led record is held by Dale Earnhardt with 2, 648 laps led.

Regular races that are run on the Darlington racaway brings NASCAR to the track many times throughout the year, giving fans the option to see much racing at Darlington.  The Sprint cup offers the Showtime Southern 500, and the Nationwide Series give race fans the Diamond Hill Plywood 200.  The Camping World Truck Series presents the Too Tough to Tame 200, and the USAC Silver Crown Series offers the Silver Crown Showdown at Darlington.

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