Welcome to Darlington County, Race Fans!
Landon Jolly of Darlington touching up the Coca Cola logo on the wall of the track at Darlington Raceway on Friday, August 26. The track will be hosting the the VFW Sport Clips Help A Hero 200 race on Saturday, and the Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Sunday, bringing NASCAR fans from all over the world for the Labor Day Weekend at the Track Too Tough To Tame.
Photo by Samantha Lyles
By Jana E. Pye, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Throwback paint schemes on race cars and retro outfits combined with great music from KANSAS rocks the pre race show for this year’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 as the Darlington Raceway recognizes past champions of the 1970’s and 80’s (1975-84) as part of its 2016 campaign.
The Darlington Raceway team, led by new Track President Kerry Tharp, is coming off a big year as the track won several awards, including:
• 2016 SportsBusiness Journal “Sports Event of the Year” Nominee
• 2015 NMPA Myers Brothers Award
• 2015 NASCAR Marketing Team of the Year
• 2015 NASCAR Track PR Repre-sentative of the Year, Dennis Worden
• 2015 Community Pride Award presented by the Greater Darlington Chamber of Commerce.
Visiting the legendary track is a right of passage experience for people who follow racing, and for locals, you are hard pressed to find a family that does not have a connection and a tall tale or two of meeting famous drivers.
The track has been busy the past few years as a location for fundraisers, BBQ contests, bloodmobiles, movie nights and other events. The people that work there are our friends and neighbors, and although the traffic congestion near the track may be minor inconvenience, we are proud to see the excitement that fans have when they make their way to the race.
For fans, we hope you drive around and explore the entire county when you are here for the race, and read the “Things to Do in Darlington County” in our Race Tab insert in this week’s paper.
For locals, we hope that you relish this busy weekend and let that famous Southern hospitality shine. Friendly faces and a hearty welcome may turn that fan into someone that shops in our stores and maybe, just maybe, decide to one day move to Darlington County to enjoy our little corner of the world year ‘round.
We are proud to be the home of Darlington Raceway, and hope this year’s race will be wonderful for fans – both the visitors, and the homegrown variety.
