It is the time of the year where the NASCAR Cup Series takes a nostalgic look back at where we came from.
The 75th year of racing at Darlington Raceway is going to add some extra-special feels for fans and competitors alike. The track was opened the year after the first official season of the Cup Series. Thankfully, it has managed to race every single season since, even though there was a time when the powers that be did everything they could to kill it.
As we get ready for this year’s version of the Throwback Weekend at Darlington, let’s wax a little poetic and look back at some of the history of the oldest tracks on the circuit that we’ll be visiting in the very near future.
The onslaught of throwback paint scheme releases this week has stirred emotions about the heroes of the sport and the historic tracks that they have raced on over the years. There were eight race tracks on the inaugural Cup schedule. Of those eight, seven were permanent tracks and the Daytona Beach course was a temporary circuit that included the actual beach and a stretch of A1A in the heart of Daytona Beach.
Of those eight venues, two of them still exist at this point in time. Daytona Beach is still there, but the temporary course has not been run since 1958, the final year before the opening of Daytona International Speedway. The two venues that are still in use are Martinsville Speedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway. Martinsville is the only one that has been on the schedule every year since that inaugural season.
Darlington Raceway opened in 1950 and was the first “superspeedway” to be constructed for stock cars.
Interestingly, the initial design was for the cars to run around the apron at the bottom of the track and the banking was designed to catch cars that lost control and spun out. Eventually drivers figured out they could go faster by running on the banking and the rest is history.
Next on the list of historic tracks is Richmond Raceway.
Richmond has the distinction of having the most name changes of any race track on the Cup schedule. Prior to appearing on the schedule, it was the Atlantic Rural Exposition Fairground from 1946-1952. As it came onto the Cup schedule, it was renamed the Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds and held that name from 1953- 1963. From 1964 through 1968, the moniker changed to the Virginia State Fairgrounds.
The Richmond portion of the track name appeared in 1969, as the name changed to Richmond Fairgounds Raceway. That name stuck around until 1988, at which time the Fairgrounds portion was dropped and replaced by International. From 1988 until the end of 2017, the track was known as Richmond International Raceway. As part of a $30 million renovation, the International identifier was dropped and the current name of Richmond Raceway was adopted.
The only road course on the list of old-time Cup tracks is Watkins Glen International.
Prior to 1957, races were contested on the local road around the town of Watkins Glen, N.Y., as part of temporary racing circuits. That first year, the Cup series paid a visit to the track as part of their opening season of activities. It didn’t return until 1964 and only ran in ’64 and ’65. It was another 20 years before the Cup series came back again and held a race in 1986. Every year since then, the series has turned right and left in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State.
As mentioned earlier, 1959 saw the Daytona Beach race moved from the oceanfront temporary course to Bill France’s dream race track, Daytona International Speedway. The sprawling 2.5-mile track was built to put NASCAR on the same level as the Indianapolis, open-wheel cars because their marquee track, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was that length. France would later build Talladega Superspeedway at an even greater distance, just to have the bragging rights of the biggest oval in racing.
Most people remember that Lee Petty was declared the winner of the first Daytona 500 after it took a few days to figure out who crossed the line first due to a photo finish. What most people forget is that the very first race was actually the 500 Qualifying race, and it was Bob Welborn who won the very first Cup race at Daytona.
Two other tracks that are still on the schedule joined the docket one year later in 1960. Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway both joined the 1960 Cup schedule and are still on it today.
Atlanta was originally Atlanta International Raceway before being added to the Speedway Motorsports family and being renamed Atlanta Motor Speedway. The final member of the “Old Nine” tracks still on the schedule is Bristol Motor Speedway.
Opened in 1961, the little bullring in eastern Tennessee was originally just a regular short track, like so many that had appeared and disappeared off of the Cup schedule over the years. The difference with Bristol is that its high-banked track led to intense racing and often contact that saw tempers flare. The result was race tickets that were in such demand the races were sold out well in advance of race dates.
The track had a reported 81,000 seats when Bruton Smith and SMI purchased the facility in 1996. Smith was disliked by the local community because he had repeatedly purchased race tracks only to move race dates to his newer, shinier facilities that he was building around the country.
Smith was determined to prove to the fans and locals that the dates weren’t moving and sunk approximately $20 million into improvements the first year. By the time Smith was done, the seating capacity reached a maximum of 162,000 and the track had lights, which resulted in the Bristol night race being one of the most coveted tickets in the sport.
As the current generation of Cup cars rolls onto the longest continuously-running Cup track this weekend and takes to the track with their paint schemes honoring the stars of the past next weekend, remember the historical foundations that the sport is built on.
Admire the facilities that have seen the forefathers of the sport compete on the same track as the current stars of the sport. Enjoy the fact that more than three-quarters of a century has been poured into the excitement and love that is laid out before you during the events.
What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? The writer, radio contributor and racetrack announcer coordinates the site’s local short track coverage, hitting up Saturday Night Specials across the country while tracking the sport’s future racing stars. The writer for our signature Cup post-race column, Thinkin’ Out Loud (Mondays) also sits down with Cup crew chiefs to talk shop every Friday with Tech Talk. Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.