Construction of Darlington Raceway began in 1950 and went well until a neighboring landowner asked original track developer Harold Brasington to slightly alter the track’s western end.
It’s difficult to tell at ground level—from, say, the infield or along pit road–but Darlington Raceway is not a true oval. Far from it. His idea was to build a track west of town and promote a 500-mile stock car race on a holiday weekend, mimicking Indy’s annual 500-mile Memorial Day classic. With land available and heavy-duty equipment sitting ready, he forged ahead.
But it’s not just that. After all, good teams always seem to find a way to make up at one end what they lose in another. “But you don’t have time to relax at Darlington,” Rudd explained. “It’s so narrow and so different at each end. It sometimes feels like the walls just jump out and grab you. No question, it was the toughest place I ever raced.”got the first of his 22 career victories at Darlington in 1980 and the last there in 2003.