Darlington Raceway History Tour! Inside Forgotten Details of NASCAR's Most Unique Track

and it made it like no other ever his vision was to build an Indianapolis down South for stock cars so then when he got this property it wasn't big enough to do that so then his idea was okay I'll just build a track the same on each end a true oval so he started building down what is now turns one and two the old turns three and four well he started to do the same thing on this end and Sherman Ramsey Who had who had given him the land at that card game had been out of the country he comes back into the country and says Harold what are you doing you've gone too far over on the property because what was where this building and stuff is right here that used to be a menop pond so if you see there and all the way down back over there can you see that yeah I can see the pond that's that's Ramsay's Pond okay and so Mr Ramsay had his minnow pond right over here and he wanted to use his minnows to fish in his pond Harold thought he was just going to throw dirt in it covered up and he was going to make this end the same way it was on the other end as far as the circumference everything else and Ramsey said you're not doing it he had to cut this end shorter than he did on the other end making the egg shake this is the bottom of the egg now I can show you we'll go in and I'll show you a little bit in what is coming out of turn two when when he built that turn it sort of came to a point point where he had to bring it this way so he he was off a little bit to make it just completely nice and flush it came to here and he's like oh goodness I got to I got to stop and I got to make it straight so it comes to a stop and then that's why you have so many people that have trouble coming out of what it's turned two now because he had to cut that corner shorter than he anticipated a lot of it was eyeball construction now he had some blueprints but again it was the first time it had ever been done you know so it was it was a learn as you go type of thing but his idea was we're going to get it done and they did it's a great example how sometimes what you think um or your problems or deficiencies can become your assets when packaged the right way that's right in 1997 was the year that we moved the finish line from one side to the other and the reason for that was like you saw before we didn't have there's not a lot of property over there it's all owned on the other side of the street by private land owners for the most part except for one little strip so the idea was we were able to get we were able to finally buy some property back here we built a Causeway through the woods and it opens up into a big parking area so now we can park our fans back there right off of what we call Petty Boulevard so we were able then to build seats Tyler Tower was built what 94 that's when we started building Tyler Tower Pearson Tower the first uh part of was built in 97 the next part was built in ' 98 the brazing Tower was built after I had left here that was in the mid 2000s that the brazington tower was was erected we had to build a new Victory Lane whenever we moved everything off why don't we go over to where the original front stretch was you can show us where where was the original Victory Lane where were the garage areas like paint the picture of how it was this Victory Lane here when we flip flop to finish L this is the only piece of property that we had where we could build a Victory Lane so you can see we used every bit of it it's it's not a very large Victory Lane but it works out nice it's nice and compact we got the flowers in there we'll have some new backdrops and everything else Ricky Craven drove the wheels off it today the crew is cheering him as they should be what a run oh here we go everybody gets wet uh mobile one is now the sponsor of our Victory land that's going to be uh upgraded here in the next couple days um but it's it's really a cool compact Victory Lane and it's right here beside Pit Road but this was that was the real estate that we had to do that the whole flip-flop aspect of it is so fascinating to me because you didn't get rid of what was over there when you switched it you just put new stuff over here and left this the way it was so in a way that's right this is like the the throwback this is that's right it's just so cool that it it lives so this you sort of see where this old asphalt you sort of see how it does right there yeah so the original Victory Lane it was a where you ran up an incline and it stopped so it was an incline and it stopped it was right in here and it stayed for many many many years so you know back in the 50s I where first of all when they first started they didn't have really Victory Lane they just did Victory out on the racetrack but eventually when a Victory Lane came this was an elevated thing where you would go up and park it and that's where all the the celebration was um then you go back into you know the 80s and the 90s a Victory Lane they to tore down that and then they built something right in here that had fencing around it and basically you drove up but you didn't climb up anything you just drove underneath a sign so you had a per you had a perfect backdrop where the car would be right here and the your your sponsor sign would be right up above it so that was built right here and that was used until 1997 until it was time to flip-flop the start Finish Lines and here's another cool thing too um if you go back and look at old photos of this place there used to be a tin roof that went all the way down this racetrack it was all it covered the entire cvin grand stand and you talking about loud when those cars you they had those big big engines in them they were very very loud they would come out of turn four and they would come through here and it was so so super [Music] loud I mean I can remember being there you had to have the headphones on to try to help with the with the sound um to protect your ears we had that until 1989 Hurricane Hugo came and hit the east coast and while we were not right there cuz it was really down in Myrtle Beach where it really really hit here it messed up the foundation there was so much wind that it messed up the foundations of that roof and so we had to tear it down also while you see brazington Grand brazington is over on that outside of turn one now forever it was right outside of turn number two and it and it was an old wooden stand uh you see that's concrete barriers up there um concrete seating but the brazington stand was different than fact that it was made of wood and steel uh but you could see you know you could see underneath you you know because it was split with wood and stuff but it had a roof on it too and then eventually whenever we moved everything over there it was time to tear it down and we built Brazen and over on the other side what was that little building right there for that's always been a suweet but years and years ago it was called the president suite so the president of the racetrack could invite all kinds of guests you know you'd have political people you'd have sponsor people you'd have just guests of the racetrack but that was called the president suite uh it's called The Champions club today where we have some uh a lot of folks just buy tickets to come in there is that like the old fuel building that's still Goodyear building okay that's still Goodyear building right you had you had unical building you had Goodyear building that was UN that was good year that's it they were both right here together yep so Square bricks were those original structures too yes so that's the original infield Care Center also that's it that's exactly right so they called for the doctor to come down theyve brought him to the care center now we understand they have sent for an ambulance but right now Dale Earnhart is in the infield Care Center being checked out that was the original and then eventually built another Care Center down here um and then it was torn down and now there's a new Care Center there too but so so right here we we'll go out there yeah let's go out there and look at that I want to see the old holes for the timing equipment and everything see this used to be the cup garage now this is used by the expend series it might sound like a broken record but I think it's so awesome that none of the um original structures were taken down they just stayed there well that's the great thing about got concrete brick I concrete blocks of course they've all been different things that have been done over the years to upgrade them to make sure that they're good facilities it's hard to reinvent a roof that's about all that garage is yeah there's no need to change it now what are these back stretch pits used for now they're not they're just just there yeah they're not see let me just show you something right quick look straight down remember what I told you a while ago about how the turn ends before it should have yeah look just look look and see what I'm talking about how it comes to that point see how and then all of a sudden then it has to do a quick round yeah in reality the turn should have come out a lot further so you see what I'm talking about yeah it was that's why you have a lot of folks that will hit this wall here coming out of what is turn two now does it do something weird down here too it almost looks like it kicks out it kicks out a little bit thus again it wasn't there wasn't a big big amount of quote Engineering in it it was it was Harold who wanted to build a racetrack and and he did it and so the character of this place started with the very First Southern 500 1950 and the great thing is it's been going for 74 years every track president everyone they've always wanted to keep that character intact and that's what we've been able to do have the concrete walls been redone since the first time they were made be concrete well you got to think now when they first built this place there was not concrete there was not concrete walls it was it was guard rails believe it or not my grandfather uh WD brandham actually supplied the wood he he had a um an old saw Bill so all the wood that made the first uh guard rails here came from brandham Lumber Company about a mile outside of what is turn one that's awesome yeah so um it's been different things over the years but the concrete's been here for a long long time I don't I I can't remember if it's been replaced since it was originally put in there um I would say yeah because originally when they put it up there they didn't have enough rein for they did now I remember um they completely redid them because they put reinforcement in it oh so that was before you had soft walls but you had to have concrete walls that were going to if if a car hit it the right way you know you didn't want it to to break apart so whenever they did redo it they put reinforcement in it a lot more reinforcement than what was in there prior to where did Kell arboro drive out of the track down there what is now turns three and four about the about the Middle where that Darlington sign is that's where he and Sam mcag got together and that's where he went over the wall right there into a telephone pole you should put a it she put a plaque there yeah I know Kale's Corner That's it man been here at the track for a little over a year all together and this is my 12th season working in NASCAR for our racetracks did you aspire to have a career like this when you were younger you know I grew up uh going to races at Talladega as a kid and never never really thought about working in the sport um I loved Sports in general growing up and it was uh I got my start working in college athletics and then I did some tennis and golf events and then just um back in 2012 found the opportunity at Talladega which aligned with some of my professional experience at the time and thought it would be really cool opportunity to go back and work at a at a facility where I used to go as a fan can we go up into the turn and show how narrow the the racing surface actually is yeah so here we we'll come up close we'll take a walk up uh put the golf cart tip over if you Tred to go up there no it won't tip over but it'll we'll certainly have to make a lean to the left or the right have you tried to go up there we'll get up here a little bit just to give you a little bit bit of the sensation uh it progressively gets steeper the further up we go it's 25° uh at the top here so I'm going to stop we'll we'll go right here up to the Darlington uh logo and it's always cool to walk up the banking um cuz you really get that sensation of how steep it is the further we get up here to the top the the steeper the banking and that's why they like to run as close to this wall as they can uh which affectionately leads to all the Darlington Stripes which you can see there's a little bit still here uh on the walls that'll get painted up fresh Before the Race coming up next weekend and then every night uh after each race we'll get out here our track crew team and they'll repaint the walls fresh uh before we before we kick off the next day's race how uh close to the events itself do you repaint all this stuff so all the solid red and white that you see our track guys get out here they started about two weeks ago painting all of that U then we have some some different guys that do painting on the track so uh Jimmy Jolly over here uh painting the goody year has been doing the track surface painting for a long time here at the track and then we've got a a group that comes in and paints all the logo sections uh as well so they're here right now going around and and getting that touched up uh before next weekend that's a neat process do they have stencils and then they' hand fill it in so a lot of the track stuff Jimmy will will freehand draw um using a little bit of stencil help but he usually just takes the the image scales it and then uh then does some chalk drawing first and they go back and fill it in so as we go back around the front stretch you'll see more of the logos that are all there the unique thing is um obviously the the track surface is going to be painted but all the walls have to be painted because of how close they run we can't put decals on the walls because soon as the car hits a decal it's going to rip it right off so all these have to be hand painted uh the only decals you'll see are actually on some of the inside portion uh of the walls where the contact is is very unlikely especially during uh competition that is interesting I never thought about that before so this is our safer barrier um you can see the one of the safety enhancements that was developed a number of years ago um these soft walls are built to compress when the cars hit them so that it takes some of the load and some of the energy out of the crash uh as opposed to the old uh concrete walls uh that that were before the safer barrier it gives a good demonstration of how much banking there is because the top of the wall is um shaved off to be level to the Earth and it looks like it's a sharp it's a real sharp corner it's a very sharp corner is there anything that's uh heavy on your radar of things you want to do or improve upon well you know it's always a balance here of of improvement but not changing the character of this facility you know um our campgrounds are are very popular in the infield so I'd love to you know down the road let's see if we can expand on that in any way um I would love to have a a full sweet Tower above the front stretch at some point um we've looked at how do we how do we make um maybe an RV Overlook over the backstretch down the road so there's a lot of ideas we've got you know nothing imminent right now in terms of definite plans but those are some of the things we just completed a renovation of the Pearson Tower over here so all the seats that you see uh were put in last year before our first race so we've got all chairback seating uh with cup holders and armest in the Pearson Tower as well as the Tyler Tower and the brazington tower down on the end um and then the Wallace section Below on the front stretch are all metal chair back you know bench back seating so um that's one of our most recent enhancements uh that we've made here at the track interesting the other cool thing that you can see from here is the light system so musco is our lighting partner and you've got the the lights all around the exterior of the track uh but then the other component of that for all of our NASCAR tracks are the inside lights so all of these little Banks you see uh all along are Shining Light back onto the track surface but it's structured so that it doesn't shine it in the driver's eyes uh so it really helps brighten up and light the track up for night racing which we'll have for the truck series and then when we're back in September for the southern 500 it'll it'll be start in the daytime and finish at night can you see where the flag stand used to be oh yeah I mean well you can't really see that now but I mean I can tell you where it was yeah so there's a the door and stuff with still there so so you see you you can see right now you can see where it was it was right here it was Center of that Center building up there okay so so what used to be over here go back in time before that before that was built gu remember when they first built this racetrack there was no inside wall we talked about Billy Meyers U Back in the 50s there was no wall that separated the racing surface from the pits that as a result of that eventually they would build a a pit wall that would separate it so on the other side of the pit wall on the other side of the pits they had what they called that they had a control tower that was down in here so that there was nothing up there yet there used to be a square building that was on the other side of the wall over here and that is where where all the equipment was and stuff that was measuring this that and the other score and U everything where they threw the caution and everything that's where they were housed that's where the the um the NASCAR officials were again it was just a square building and it was elevated so that's where they call the race from right over there eventually eventually you would have again the tin roof up here that would go away this would would be built and so you had three boxes up there you had NASCAR control you had the uh MRN and then you had um the PA Booth so that's what was that was up there excuse me the PA booth and MRN shared a booth so it was eventually it would be it' be NASCAR control television broadcast MRN and Pa Shar to Booth but that's where they called it that was called the eye and the sky do you know about what year that that went up that that had to been that was uh early 80s because they actually had a little smaller eye in the sky before that it was just a little tiny buildings that were sitting up on top of there and they eventually took those down and built these so this was a big upgrade from what they used to have there so you first all didn't have anything was first built then you had the the square building over here it was taken down the roof was up there they put small little buildings up there and that those became the eye in the sky eventually those were knocked down and then that was built that was the control tower until we flip-flopped it in 1997 and then that became your new control tower well this will be the TV booth in here you have radio uh right over there and then we'll walk around to the next door race control so they'll bring in all their equipment uh make sure you know the backdrops the lighting all the monitors for the for the radio TV guys so they can see the action going on they were paneling with the butons to control the lights and all that stuff in here there's your caution light that's it just one little button one little light huh is this where the timing equipment was for the start Finish Line yes so let's see yep that is so dang cool looks like the old this is where they cut the flag stand out of the wall I know there going people be like why do you care about some holes in the wall it's boring blah blah blah doesn't matter yes it does this is cool this to me means that this flag stand was right here these were the poles it was right there and that is as close as I can get to seeing what it used to look like was the timing equipment back then just like a reflective something or how exactly what what did they have in those holes I I I can't answer that question I I don't know that that's way above my head I I do know that the scoring time to here used to be an old building down here and it was actually replaced but I can show you where the old scoring Tower was and back then that was before you had computers and everything so you had a score per race team race driver and they would manually write it down every time that driver would come by here just like sponsors play a critical role in helping get race cars to the racetrack they also help us bring these videos to you and we must really be an official YouTube channel now because today's video spot is Rage Shadow Legends can you believe it I know myself for Logan if we're on a long flight uh we'll play phone games phone games are a great way to pass the time especially if you're on an airplane and you don't want to pay for Wi-Fi I hate how they do that rage Shadow Legends would be a great option for you it has a really dense story line the graphics are fantastic I can't believe this stuff comes from a phone cuz I remember what graphic used to be like on video games that I play when I was a kid and they were not up to this standard that's for sure they're having a special spring hunt miname event starting from April 15th to May 30th you can find hidden items around the game once completed you can win real life prizes like a gaming console or Amazon gift card with a total value of $10,000 all you got to do is download raid using this link or the QR code on the screen if you haven't started playing yet then what are you waiting for click my link in the description or scan my QR code to get insane bonuses that are only available with that link the 1962 Southern 500 they flagged Junior Johnson as The Winner the ne that evening that night they realized they made a mistake and Larry Frank was deemed the winner and so he came out the next day to get his trophy and and that was pretty much it he he got the cash and he got a pat on the back but he missed all the Victory Lane ceremonies he didn't get the the kisses with the Queens everything else so fast forward to 1992 30 years later we actually brought Larry Frank back let him get in let him get on a a a pace car went out and made a lap and he came and he stopped right here at the start Finish Line and there we had beauty queens and a trophy and everything for him where it was sort of a reenactment of what he missed out on 30 years earlier pretty cool but great but again those kinds of mistakes you know happen in the early days of NASCAR because it's hard you think about it to try to score a race um and have everybody on the same page with 40 something cars in it you know um they were all spread out back then too it wasn't like that's right it looks like there's actually the the poles from the flag stand are still in there you can see where they just cut it off and some box from what I got the last time this place was paved was 07 okay what do they do in the old unical and the old Goodyear buildings now yeah we have our fire safety team uh use it so it's different departments now that utilize the buildings U some might be some storage uh that we use throughout the year and then open it up for different things at race time when was the original nhart tower built that was was mid 60s um and it was the small one right there late 60s so that the small one's the one that was blue that had the extra thing on that's right that's right it's a great spot to watch a race I'm going to tell right now the the Press Box used to be the second floor of this one whenever I was here in the '90s and you talking about a great seat to see those cars screaming coming straight at you it was uh it was unbelievable um the media loved it here now they're actually in the top they're up top in that small one now uh would you ask when kale went over the wall that was right in here he and Sam mcag got together coming through here in 60 5 and that's where it happened at right there these guys moved quick none of those good years were up there when we were just looking at that with Josh a couple hours ago that's right the the main concrete part of those grand stands back there was that there when it was a backstretch that was the old Wallace grand stand that's still the Wallace grand stand yes built Tyler Tower up above it cuz I remember coming here in the 7s as a kid up on top of the Wallace grandon they have what you call box seats and the box seats they were little small seats that may it may have had like 20 per and it had roofs on it and it it went from one end to the other but eventually those were torn down too A lot of that because a Hurricane Hugo it messed up the foundations of a lot of stuff you know I told you earlier about just meeting so many people and getting to know people Bud Moore the the longtime car owner from Spartenburg he had two cars that ran in the First Southern 500 I tell you Johnny Manz basically got truck tires and he outsmarted them all and he actually won that race by going slow well everyone was popping tires and so what they were doing the infield was Pack full of cars and people came out in their Sunday vs with their white shirts and their hat hats and everything else they they ran out of tires so the team owners went in the infield and started buying up tires off of people's personal cars so they they would give them money they would put concrete blocks underneath and the next day it looked like a a a graveyard of cars of street cars because they had gone and race teams needed you know they needed tires that's funny this Media Center was built in the late 90s it's named after Jim Hunter Jim Hunter was the president here Jim Hunter really revitalized this racetrack back in the in the mid90s uh whenever he came here in 1993 when he got here that's the reason we started getting these new grand stands we started really promoting really really promoting the heck out of it and offering up some cool stuff to people and that's when you know while he was here under his regime Tyler Tower was built Pearson Tower was built how old are those little uh Suites out there I'll show you one I know that's that's old those are built back in the early 2000s but the one that's over there that was rebuilt that was rebuilt as a um that used to be where the old scoring stand was oh so that's where you had all the people who had the you know every again every car had to have a score and that's where it was built now eventually that original building is gone just like the First Press Box here was an open air Press Box it was it was built out of wood had a race car go out the place one year and actually went into the Press Box and tore part of it down and fortunately there was no press on that very in where he went over but you can see you had a good you had a good angle right here to be able to look at the to look at the cars whenever they went by yeah that uh observation deck look like it's been there for a long time it has been that's our operations Department right there um one thing that you know this vintage racetrack has it it has a lot of character in it you know it used to be the tunnel that we're going through there wasn't a tunnel here to get RVs and stuff in that used to be a crossover gate right there uh so this road right over here just would go straight up and there there was a crossover gate that one that's it yeah so if you were if you wanted to get here you either had to get here early in the morning before cars got here or you had to get here late in the evening when did the tunnels get dug out that's probably that tunnel there now the the tunnels we went through a while ago been here for many many years but that big tunnel there for an RV that tunnel was built probably 17 18 years ago where was the um holler parking and all that before the uh flip around we'd always pull them in the garage the haulers pulled straight into the garage fed in oh yeah we'd fill up the garage there they just park right behind it that's right you park inside the garage I mean used to be I can remember in the '90s you know basically drivers or teams could rent the track and they would come in they would bring 15 or 20 15 of them and they' split the the track rental fee that'd be 2 or 3 weeks before the race we'd have 15 to 20 cars here tested but they would all be in here they would all be pulled into the grass at an angle right here oh yeah I can see all they fit now you just have the back of the trailer on the pavment there we did the flipflop you know it was good because we got a new you know had a new gas station and so there was some things that were that were brand new that were really cool you know yeah that is and you can see this is a this is a much bigger garage than the other one so there's a lot more room in here all the trucks go up against over there that is really cool that it's kind of the same thing just a little bit bigger and the just a little bit bigger it's the same the same type thing and by moving it you didn't have to tear the old stuff down normally if a track gets updated you have to tear stuff down to put better things in the same spot that's right those are restrooms in there one a little open room um did they set up like a tent for uh inspections and stuff oh yeah oh yeah that'll be done some of the stuff's already being done right now you can see down here oh so there's there's a lot of stuff being done already the next few days I mean you come back here next Tuesday Wednesday it'll look completely different I love the hand painted character of the signs that really I guess cuz you're kind of forced to with the walls here but it it helps with the vibe of the the heritage of this place also absolutely it's it's an art uh truly is an art to get those logos painted and all the intricacies but you still see the hand nature of uh of getting them done by hand so one of the cool aspects of throwback weekend is we usually use a throwback NASCAR series logo so we'll have the NASCAR International logo uh on the track for throwback weekend which is really really cool and they make all those chalk dots just freehand yeah so he goes through and makes the dots plots it out and comes back and paints it that's incredible so right up here you can see they've started to color in a section um for the for the track surface and then we've got our Darlington too tough to tame logo on the other side right here at the start Finish Line so a lot of people ask you know how do they get the timing and scoring uh so precise so you see these these little Marks here in the in the in the asphalt uh those are the timing lines so they get hooked up to some equipment here on Pit Road and all the cars have a transponder in them so at the same exact position so when they they're they're set so that when the front of the car crosses the start Finish Line that transponder is going through these marks right here so it's an accurate uh description of where they are um in relation to each other and the the exact time um obviously there's supplements with uh with high-speed cameras here at the start Finish Line as well uh but that's you'll see these lines throughout the track um all around where that's the timing and scoring that NASCAR uses uh to make sure when there's a caution or at the end of the race they've got everyone in the right position do these playoff things get painted over or blasted off yep so playoffs will get painted over since that was from last fall um so that'll get painted over be solid black here we'll freshen up the Darlington too tough to tame freshen up the start Finish Line uh the Checker pattern there so that when fans come down for the pre-race experience they can sign the start Finish Line all fresh and new and leave their Mark here on the track too tough to tame you ever have to scrape the paint off because it builds up so much no the it's a special type of paint for the asphalt so it doesn't get to the point to where it builds up layers and layers uh which is uh obviously important to maintaining the Integrity of the track surface it just kind of wear off over time it does just kind of wears through the weekend in and um if it ever got to the point they would certainly come in and grind it a little bit if needed what are you doing during a race so it'll be a number of things so we'll get the race started I'll probably go visit uh some of our guests in the Darlington room and in our suite our track hosted Suite we'll have a number of guests and dignitaries here for the weekend uh we'll go visit our partners uh get out and try to walk all the concourses during the race just to see things for myself concessions restrooms um make sure you know always taking notes trying to make sure that there's things that we need to improve on for future races we're seeing that kind of in real time um I like to just kind of walk and and take notes talk to fans when they're uh on The Concourse see how their experience is going um we'll probably spend a little bit of time in in race control with our NASCAR team just to make sure everything's going good from a race perspective uh and then it's just kind of being around checking everything out and then as we get Clos into the race we'll come down to Victory Lane and uh hand out that uh that Goodyear 400 trophy at the end of the race if you're enjoying this video make sure you go watch the one we did at Rockingham a few years ago that one will really give you an unaltered look at what some of the race control and those types of things looked like in the 9s because when we filmed that Rockingham was just coming out of Abandonment it was a total time capsule and you guys would love that video now when you go watch that video go leave a comment on it saying you came from this video and test me to see if I answer you I bet you can't stum me we actually had KO Bar's family come out here other week they just wanted to come out here and just see all the signage all the signs that we got a kale in just different places we look at our heroes you know we look at you know Dale we look at Harry uh these were these were my guys you know back in my day whenever I was you know u a late teenager and you had a lot of respect for so many of these people here man just unbelievable you know we'll go back in here you'll see the the kale yers of the world the David Pearson the Ned jarretts um it just the great thing is they still live here not only those in the museum that are in the Hall of Fame but sometimes I like just comeing in here and just looking because you see how it was and again history still lives through this place talked about Larry Frank early 1962 you know um n J Daryl daringer you know these are is that the building you said is not the original scoring it's not there anymore that's it that's exactly right it's exactly right it was a like I say it was built in the 50s is that see it's the got the little restroom things up on top of the are those the same structures no no they they were redone they in the same place the same places yet um you can see those are very very close together we don't have you know now they're spaced out a little bit more they're they're much bigger places like this with all the original buildings and stuff that you can identify it really helps tie this together cuz if you look at pictures like this and it's it's hard to really believe or understand that like we're in the same place as this it's just it looks like a different world I mean you know these old tunnels were built you know in the what the 60s I mean it this is just unbel the ' 50s and the 60s one was built in 50 one built in 60 think about the the people who came through these tunnels you know all these dudes here they came through these tunnels that we're standing in it's pretty cool pretty cool Joe Weatherly the clown Prince of of racing uh Fearless Freddy Lorenzen he was the Golden Boy you know he was he had the look um he was a heck of a race car driver had a lot of success with h and Moody you know a lot of people don't realize that Junior Johnson not only a great great car owner and won many championships and races but he won a lot of races As a Race Car Driver too uh including the Daytona 500 and the southern 500 but I like how you can pull in here and you can see that it it used to be a place you walk up and buy tickets like it just has to it's all still that way that's the thing it's it's pretty much like it's pretty much like it was you can just see how it was just added you know what I mean yeah which one of these was the first one cuz it went that way and that way but which where's the nucleus the first one was here it actually started here as far as Administrative Office was here and then ticket office was here this was the door to come into where you could come see the president and then over here was your ticket office okay and then it got more popular and they built the one over there where people could walk right up and that's right cuz then they needed more they needed places for accountants and stuff so all right we're going to we're going to we're going to start putting people here and we're going to go over this way and so that's what they did so we just kept going flush right this been turned into small offices and that kind of thing now um but you can see then the paneling still there right here yeah right here um yeah right here was where the end of it was and so then the next thing you know they added on a little bit more and then the next thing you know they added on something else so over the years it was a process of just keeping adding adding to it adding to it so this is now the main ticket office but during the first races here they they counted all the money for the admissions they put all the money in Peach baskets Clarice Lane who worked here for 50 plus years uh who we lost several years ago she worked at First Southern 500 and then wound up working here for 50 plus years had great stories about how they had no other way to do it they they were so overwhelmed with 25 plus thousand people here that they didn't really know how to handle it and so they literally had Peach baskets peaches are are grown a lot around in this area and that's where they put the money they didn't have anywhere else to put the money it's just crazy were those the windows that people would walk up to and slide their money in cuz it looked like the outside there were every so often there were PS in the ground Wonder back back in the day that's exactly what that was back in the day but you're right you can see the old paneling walls that were here way back when they were they they were yeah they were Brown you know it was all paning Clarice who I told you about who was here forever this was this was her office this was her little pad here um I wish I had a picture of her somewhere that I could let you see but um again it's all character it's all character even these windows like these look like the windows that were in my Elementary School hey but they still work yeah so so you don't need to change them so again that's again that has the entire flare of what this place is all about does the track own that building out there too we do what did that start as that believe it or not that was a fast food restaurant called wiener King and so it didn't make it and then eventually the track was able to buy that piece of property and it turned into actually when I first started here in 1989 my office was over there across the street that's where the public relations office was and also the general manager's office so that's where I was housed for what three and a half years three and a half years but now but now that is used as a um as a credential building so race weekend that uses when people are coming to get their credentials that's where they go to get them that's where NASCAR credentials are and the track credentials is located and that piece of property all the way back eventually the track was able to buy that and so that's now for camping back over there on the backside so but reality that's it that's owned across the street that point from that point all the way down and from that point over there all the way down that's all privately owned uh property not much parking there hey you got to you got to make do and and the great thing is it's been done for almost 75 years 74 in counting what was bolted to the ground here there's these anchors every so I I just I don't know these were the old looks like old ticket Windows there some Pole right there yeah maybe they were railings for uh to divide the lines or something like it may have been met STS I don't know I don't know and I'll be honest I've never asked that question um but that's a good question I'll probably need to ask that now that's what I'm here for to to ask the tough question I love it I love it I always look for holes in the ground holes in the wall I want to where things were H or yeah but was that a motel over there no no no no that used to be like a little flea market type thing many years ago but as you can see all the way down there youve got private homes uh that are down there across the street same thing down here across the street and then you go down this road here Smith Avenue you got all kinds of homes and stuff back over in there too what about that little place on the corner that that place has been so many different businesses over the years um it's been a barbecue joint it's been a Hair Cuttery it's been different things uh as you can see now it's for sale again this is something I think is pretty cool too this is just sort of an old school sign it it it does have some digital on it all the the retaining wall and the steps and the foundation all look like they're the same brick as the buildings correct that's what it that's what it's supposed to look like and it's you got all your different winners here um of every race that's ever been here it starts on the other side and it's comes right here the more the more artwork Josh and I have talked about this the more artwork and stuff we can get around here that showcases our history that that's the great thing about it when you start talking about well what can we do here what can we do there we've got so much artw work and so much history here former drivers and this kind of thing we got a lot to to choose from you know to to make things look cool here you know when you look at tracks like Darlington you look at tracks like Martinsville that's been around forever North wilsor is now back it really keeps the whole tradition of our sport alive um because this really is the Grassroots of of racing again this is the first Super Speedway that was ever constructed the next Super Speedway that became a reality was Daytona in 1959 what did Darlington do to help Propel the sport I think it did a lot because first of all it it put Darlington on the map from a city and county standpoint but also it gave brace fans something else to look at other than just short track racing for people who would want to come here and see the museum is it open year round it's open year round right now we're open during the week uh from 10: to 4:00 I think you saw I think it was worth your trip just to come down here just to be able to go in there and see what's in there again I'd put this Museum against anybody just any other Museum just because of the fact of the cool stuff that's in there that's real it's real this place is awesome I appreciate you taking the time to I appreciate you being here and um again um there there's a lot of people that you know I left this place and and left this area for 25 years when I'm back a lot of people say why'd you want to come back well it's home not only is it home but this is home we're both really surprised at how much physical history is left at the whole Darlington facility it's it's really special place I'm so glad we were able to do this video and I wish we would have done it sooner honestly I got a whole new perspective of everything there and I can't wait to go back but just want to remind you all something YouTube cannot read your mind if you like this video you got to tell it so it can show you more of them we get messages and comments sometime people say know when you going to post another video I haven't seen anything in months I'm like man we're posting stuff all the time it's just not showing it to you for some some reason it thinks you don't like us anymore so please if you're not already check and make sure you're subscribed that's the first step you can click the little bell but most most importantly because I don't think subscribe function even really does what it's supposed to anymore hit the thumbs up that tells YouTube that you like the video and it will show you next time we post something at least it should the more you interact with it the more likely you are to see another one and I think you want to see another one cuz you watched this one and you must have liked it or you would have left a long time ago and I'm interested to know what you you guys thought did you learn anything that was particularly interesting to you or that you didn't know or maybe uh maybe a misconception that you had that was cleared up I'd love to know what's going on inside your head so leave a comment try to read almost all of them and answer as many as I can and if you want to see some behind the scenes stuff like doing the Wrath on my race car here go to Stapleton 42 extra channel to find that and some uh bonus stories and that kind of thing we're going to poting there more often help the channel out and check out rage Shadow Legends download the game and the link in the description