Flashback Friday: The first Southern 500 remembered, 65 years later
NASCAR returns to tradition this weekend as the Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway moves back to the traditional Labor Day weekend date. While this will mark the 112th NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the track "Too Tough To Tame," this will be Darlington's first on Labor Day weekend since 2003.
NASCAR has Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the American Automobile Association (AAA) to thank for the inception of the Southern 500 -- the sport's first 500-mile race and one of the most historic events on the schedule.
In 1948, peanut farmer Harold Brasington took a trip to the Indianapolis 500 and was forever changed. Impressed with Indianapolis Motor Speedway and spectacle of the event, Brasington went to work developing a track capable of hosting a 500-mile race in the south.
Brasington worked with fellow farmer Sherman Ramsey and built a high-banked paved track that grows out of the flat peanut farms that dominate the area surrounding Darlington, South Carolina.
When construction was completed on May 12, 1950, Darlington International Raceway (as it was then called) already had a 500-mile stock car race in the works, but it was not NASCAR that put the wheels in motion.
The Central States Racing Association (CSRA) began working with Brasington to host a 500-mile stock car race, the first of its kind. At the same time, AAA and Bill France Sr.'s rival, Sam Nunis, also announced plans for a 500-mile stock car race at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia in 1950.
When the CSRA struggled to put together a solid car count for its event at Darlington, France saw an opportunity to get a jump on Nunis, and partnered with the CSRA to bring NASCAR drivers to the event. With the Darlington race then drawing the best stock car racers in the land, Nunis and the AAA abandoned their race, letting France and NASCAR take another step toward stock-car dominance.
Eighty-two cars showed up for the inaugural Southern 500, and qualifying for the race took place over the course of 15 days, with future NASCAR Hall of Fame member Curtis Turner winning the pole with a lap at 82.034 seconds.
On Monday, Sept. 4, 1950, a 75-car field took the green flag and drove into racing history to kick off the first 500-mile event.
While NASCAR had primarily raced on small dirt tracks and the occasional paved facility, the drivers had never experienced anything quite like Darlington. The tires on the cars could not keep up with the high speeds and abrasive racing surface. The cars were wearing through tires so quickly that teams began stripping passenger cars of their rubber in the track's infield. Red Byron went through 24 sets of tires alone.
However, former open-wheel driver Johnny Mantz maintained his pace throughout the day, running an average speed of 75.250 seconds. With others struggling to keep tires on their car, Mantz took the lead on Lap 50 and never looked back, winning by nine laps over Fireball Roberts. The victory would be the only NASCAR win of Mantz's career.
During that first Southern 500, slow and steady truly did win the race. Now, 65 years later, the Southern 500 has returned to its traditional roots.
The race has produced some of the most memorable finishes and dramatic moments in NASCAR history, and has been a test for even the toughest competitors. Yet it all came about thanks to a peanut farmer, a trip to the Indy 500 and a fledgling stock-car circuit struggling to draw cars to its event.
