Races
For many years Darlington was the site of two annual Sprint Cup Series races; one, the Rebel 400, was held in the spring and the other, the Southern 500, was always held on Labor Day weekend. In 2003, the Labor Day event was given to California Speedway, and the Southern 500 was moved to November 2004 and was run as part of the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup. In 2005, NASCAR eliminated the Southern 500 altogether, offending many traditionalists. The race was merged into the 400-mile (640 km) spring race, and moved to Mother's Day Weekend. A 500-mile race named after a Dodge vehicle was held for the next four years, before the race was given the Southern 500 moniker in 2009.
The move was the result of several factors. Darlington suffered from poor ticket sales, particularly in the spring. Part of this is due to the track's location in the Textile Belt of South Carolina, where there has been an ongoing general economic decline for many years. Additionally, there is very little of interest to the average fan from outside the Darlington area other than the events at the track itself. Many newer NASCAR venues are near major cities to avoid this problem. A further factor in the move was an ongoing desire by NASCAR to spread its events out over more of the country.
Darlington received a $10 million upgrade in 2006, the largest investment in the track's history. This followed a $6 million upgrade the previous year, which included an entire repaving of the oval for the first time since 1995. This silenced many concerns over the future of Darlington Raceway in NASCAR. Darlington Raceway has sold out its Mother's Day weekend Sprint Cup race four years in a row, which may enable the track to protect its place on the Sprint Cup Series schedule in future years.
See also: List of NASCAR tracks.
Read more about this topic: Darlington Raceway
Famous quotes containing the word races:
“Now different races and nationalities cherish different ideals of society that stink in each other’s nostrils with an offensiveness beyond the power of any but the most monstrous private deed.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“There are only two races on this planet—the intelligent and the stupid.”
—John Fowles (b. 1926)
“Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy—common clay, if you like—eating, breeding, working, counting their pennies; people who just live; ordinary people; people you can’t imagine dead. And then there are the others—the noble ones, the heroes. The ones you can quite well imagine lying shot, pale and tragic; one minute triumphant with a guard of honor, and the next being marched away between two gendarmes.”
—Jean Anouilh (1910–1987)