Darlington honors Brasington’s vision
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Harold Brasington Jr. would drive by the track his late father helped create the last couple of years, see the gradual demolition of the grandstand named for his dad and think to himself, “Well, that’s it, it’s over.”
On Wednesday, Darlington Raceway made sure founder Harold Brasington remained in NASCAR, naming its new, 6,300-seat grandstand after the man who built the sport’s first superspeedway.
“It makes me proud to see this,” said Brasington Jr., 63 and still living in Darlington.
There had been a 3,300-seat covered grandstand in turn two named for Brasington. The roof came off two years ago to accommodate Darlington’s lighting project with the rest taken out last fall.
Track leaders considered several options in naming the new stands, including drivers with strong track connections such as South Carolina native Cale Yarborough and nine-time Darlington winner Dale Earnhardt. There was even talk of selling the naming rights.
In the end, raceway president Chris Browning kept returning to the man who got the whole thing started with his wacky idea to carve a track out of a peanut farm in the Pee Dee nearly 60 years ago.
“It was the No. 1 priority to keep his name at this place,” Browning said.
Brasington was a local builder who was so taken with racing after a visit to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he wanted something similar in South Carolina.
Brasington met with several people about his idea, including NASCAR pioneer “Big” Bill France. France told Brasington a banked speedway probably wouldn’t work. “I don’t think you’re right about that,” Brasington Jr., then in grade school, remembers his father saying.
Soon enough, Brasington was clearing farm land in the fall of 1949 for his vision. He had to change the plans for a true oval, however, after promising a neighbor that a nearby minnow pond would not be destroyed. The result was Darlington’s famous egg-shape layout that has vexed NASCAR’s best drivers for years. The first Southern 500, won by Johnny Mantz, took place in 1950.
Brasington died in 1996 at age 86.
While Brasington built Darlington, his son and grandson, Harold Brasington III, say he didn’t linger long on past projects. “He was always thinking about what he wanted to do next,” said Brasington III.
The idea that anyone would be honored by new construction at Darlington seemed laughable a year ago. But a sold-out night race last May and a strong buzz about this year’s race convinced track owners, International Speedway Corp., to invest the $6 million for the project.
Nextel Cup star Greg Biffle joined track leaders and Brasington’s relatives to cut the ribbon on the structure, which increases seating to about 63,000.
As of Wednesday, Browning said just one seat remained unsold in the new Brasington Grandstand. The section features seatback chairs with random white, red and blue colors – called “confetti seating” – that make the stands appear full even if they’re not.
Those who sit there will have an unmatched view of the start-finish line and the first two turns.