Darlington Raceway Stock Car Museum Tour! Legendary NASCAR Cars and Personal Artifacts

we just got this just a little over a month ago this car will be able to tell the story about what Bill Elliott did Forever This is an authentic car it actually finished second in the 1996 Daytona 500 I don't think this Museum gets talked about enough for what it is there's a lot of really neat stuff in here you got a whole confiscated Parts section in here this how could you just walk right by this I knew you would stop this is the coolest cabinet in here I knew you would stop people that's sort of a hidden treasure here at Darlington not only we the original Super Speedway 1950 we've got one of the earlier stock car museums here Bill Elliott and the Elliott Brothers they were extremely nervous because no one had ever gone for a million dollars uh in our sport to win One race and he had won two of the first three Crown Jewel events uh that was the Daytona 500 and the Winston 500 Talladega where he made up almost two laps there underg green um didn't win Charlotte so he came here with a chance to win a me the first year of the program that Winston offered the the million dollar bonus and when they were putting this thing together they put the number up here backwards by mistake and it was said that they were just so nervous about it and again that race bill was not the fastest Dale Earnhart was faster Kell yber was faster Harry Gant was faster but all had trouble and he wound up winning the million dollars which was a as you can see back behind there there's a there's a lot of symbolic um photography that sort of details that day this is something's pretty cool we we talked about the Bill Elliott car earlier this was one of the bills um one of the bills that was you know blown in Victory Lane after Bill Elliott won the race so I had this this $1 million bill and so what I did I got I copied it on the back and I got build aside but it was a big time day for the sport of NASCAR it put Bill Elliott on the cover of Sports Illustrated uh it was it was something especially the folks that were here that you know we will never forget I was a I was a kid in the grandstand that day I look at these cars whether they're recreated or they're not to me they are just really really cool because these machines get to tell the story when the drivers we as humans leave this Earth so this car will be able to tell the story about what Bill Elliott did forever um and so that's why I really love our Museum here I love going to other museums just taking a look at cars but every Museum you've gone into you just think about it the you know some of the cars we've seen in here today the drivers have gone but their story lives and their Spirit lives uh through these machines we just got this just a little over a month ago uh kale yarbor five times southern 500 winter kale actually gave this to the Florence Center which is in Florence South Carolina so we have it now on loan from them but this is authentic car that he had um in he actually was in his uh automobile dealership for many many many years and probably about six or seven years ago he decided to give it to the Florence Center in 1987 he decided to become a car owner and he got out of the you know the the ride that he had for so many years um the 28 car which eventually would go you know daav Allison would begin driving the 28 car but kale had a lot of success with hman Moody excuse me not H and Moody with Robert good gosh I'm I'm having a attack here he had a lot of success with Harry reneer in the 28 car went in the Daytona 500 and several other big races but in 1987 he decided to go his own way this actually the team that he bought was the old race Hill Farms team number 47 uh Jack B's team so he bought that team changed the number to 29 went to an O mobile and um he didn't win any races but he did run this car the last two years of his career before he turned it over to some drivers like Dale Jarrett would eventually drive for him and a few others um before he finally got out of the business of being a a team owner of course kale won five southern 500s he was a three-time uh Nascar Cup Series champion the first one to win three in a row 76 through 78 wonder if anybody watching knows what that little harmonica looking thing is for I'm sure you've seen some cars that are more you know in today's standards a lot different and believe it or not that's from you know ' 87 and ' 88 actually that's from 1988 this car was last run ' 88 so you can see how different it was there in the cockpit compared to what it is today there's even this cockpit configuration is a lot more old school than even other cars of the same era like he had what he liked and kept using it like this seat looks like something that could have been used 20 years before that but but and and here's here's some of what that difference may be is you have kale yba who had been competing for many many many years since the late 50s so he was used to a different kind of thing he knew what he liked yeah and so someone that may have started in you know 84 85 that might be different for them uh but compared to someone who been around for a long time like kale that's what he wanted funny that uh blower fan in there they look pretty much the same today I just bought some of those for my car it's a different brand but it looks the same this is this this is my hero okay this is my hero um when I was a little boy you know we I came to races all over the southeast and I wanted him to win but this uniforms I called him I called him in 1990 I said okay you going in the Hall of Fame do you have an old uniform he said I don't have any I gave him all the way to charity I said we got to find something something's got to be there at the house come on up here and so I drove to Spartanburg went through all we went through his closet couldn't find anything so I walked outside and there's a barn right across the way and I could see some hay coming out of the barn something white I climbed up the steps got up there it was under hay I moved it and I pulled it up and the whole back of that uniform is eaten out by rats oh my gosh but the front was perfect so I brought it back with me took it to a dry cleaner you never know it so we got the uniform and put it in here and again pretty cool because he was the alltime winner here and um many of his wins came with the Wood Brothers and and that was pure later was a sponsor that is a really awesome story is this a real Robert Gates car of course of course um I'm gonna be honest I don't know for sure um if it is or not um I do know that in this car Davey Allison came to Darlington with a chance for the Winston million um in 1992 and um they actually came down here for 3 Days testing hoping that they could win that million dollars but Davey and Larry MC Reynolds and that whole team they came down here and tested probably about two weeks before the race but they were here for three days and they they really probably had the best car that day uh but we had a cycle of pit stops for gas and it started raining and a guy by the name of Daryl Waltrip did did a rain dance and won that race so David did not win the uh the million dollars that day this is a very special car uh and the fact that it was driven by David Pearson uh David Pearson a three-time Cup Series champion and know by the way is the all-time leader here as far as wins at Darlington with 11 excuse me with 10 Cup wins and one xinity Series wins for a total of 11 victories here he was he was just so good here and Leonard Wood would always say he always saved his equipment in a place like Darlington this was a place where you really need to do that and he Sav his equipment for the end while everyone else wore theirs out and um but this is a cotton Owens Dodge you know David won three championships two with hman Moody and then one with cotton Owens of course cotton U right up there in the Spartanburg area where he and David you know were from so uh it was a very very good match they won a lot races together um and um we're very very proud to have this machine did this car come from cotton yes it's a 1966 charger and um I know that um David's son I know Eddie is involved in some kind of a partnership with this car uh which is very cool that one of the Pearsons is involved in it you know Spartanburg was the hub for a long time you know eventually The Hub would become the Charlotte area and morseville and those areas but for so you know for a very very long period of time Spartanburg was the Hub you had Jack Smith up there of course you had Pearson and cotton um Bud Moore uh who whose car you getting ready to see here in a few minutes beside the Dale Earnhart car um of course you know when you talk about Darlington you talk about Dale nhart also David Pearson won here 10 times Dale won here nine times he was as dominant as one could be uh here at Darlington but nhart won here nine times he was he was very very good here before the radial tire you know back on the old buas Supply tires he was he was as good as anyone who ever got on this racetrack do you know what the origin of this particular car is um so this car was driven by Dale senior it was tested several times at Dayton in Talladega um it actually finished second in the 1996 Daytona 500 this is an authentic car um July of 1996 finished fourth uh February 97 in the bush Clash he finished third um so this car had some some some really good runs uh in it uh when Dale nhart was piloting it I like this era of this really maniacal looking spoiler braces and what what's unique about this car is the reflective red and white tape that was applied to the car um Richard thought this was a good idea uh it was the first race that was run under the new lighting system believe it or not how about that huh oh yeah look like probably just a show engine to help it move round but it's got one probably so yeah it's got some adapters on the headers so that's what a legitimate one looks like I tell you he was he was something else something interesting about Dale's cars he liked having a zbar for his clutch instead of a hydraulic one like most people so he's got yeah you know like a factory cart type deal un loan by hodgden realy group that's neat you know a lot of people remember this car you know a lot of people remember this car as part of the wreck uh for the 1979 Daytona 500 um you know Bobby uh Donnie and kale Rick going down the back straightaway come to a stop and Donnie's brother Bobby decides to stop too and that's that's what happened the insu the uing fight occurred but you can see the 15 car this is Bud Moore's car it's in the background of the fight so pretty cool lot a lot of people don't don't remember though about this paint Scheme and and a Thunderbird was a year before Bobby Allison won the Daytona 500 driving ABD more number 15 it looked just like this but a lot most people now Associated they don't remember when the 500 they remember he was a part of the fight in 79 it's funny we actually met Tim Walker because of the car that he has the he's got he's got he's got the authentic one yeah as far as 79 Daytona 500 yep you look how look how boxy that car is just say compared to Dale's car just look at the difference how that one is just so smooth with the back glass and how boxy this one looks compared to it it's truly amazing you can really get a great idea of cars when you look especially these first three it's uh amazing this era of Monte Carlo always reminded me of a cough drop yeah just shaped like a cough drop with a cab on it yeah you got a whole confiscated Parts section in here this how could you just walk right by this I knew you would stop this is the coolest cabinet in here I knew you would stop the majority of them have you know what it is what the part is and and what the problem was um helmet with lead in it that weighs 40 lbs was that Daryl's helmet it's um listen all every you could talk to the team the new teams of the day you can talk to the old teams of the day you can talk to Richard Petty you talked to Leonard Wood they all back in the day tried to get around the rules that was the way that they could you try to win and uh the weed goggles a lot of times they got caught well you remember ear this year you know the whole uh deal with joy Lano and his gloves you know so the same it's still you know you're always trying to look for an advantage now why doesn't it say who these were confiscated from I do not know that this should not be anonymous we need accountability nitrous oxide cool bottle we actually met Tim Walker because of the he I really want to know whose helmet that wasz that's a close phase helmets of that area were not super common I couldn't imagine wearing a 40 lb helmet would be very comfortable they didn't wear it that's the thing it was just in there for inspection and they took it out it I I thought he wanted more left side wait I'm like that's really strange but okay I think if you got in a wreck with a 40lb helmet your head might just fly off yeah so when you go through here you can see different things um that are symbolic majority of majority of the voiceovers in here when you press the button it's Eli go who was with Motor Racing Network for many many many years yeah so you look here DAV Allison was he was known for wearing that cowo hat you know uh Richard Petty is by far the most widely known driver to ever wear a cowboy hat but that was Davey's sort of signature too he wore a cowboy hat all the time um but a lot of you know helmets uh uniforms um you have any other interesting procurement stories yeah I'm looking for be hard to beat that one but I'm I'm looking for one right if I can find it uh they redid this thing yeah this is a replica this car actually came in here two days ago um Curtis Turner won the poll uh again it's a remake of a 67 chevel but it was Smoky unix's car uh a lot of people it was unheard of a chevel uh that was going to compete and lo mol wins the the pole position for the 67 Daytona 500 you know he was known for the the best damn garage in town so if you go back you know he was based in Daytona and that's his hat you know you look at it there's the grease on it and um you know he was back in the day I mean he was the guy and he was always trying to bend the rules and um his cars are always good over the years especially during our throwback weekend we've had several drivers that have gone with this paint Scheme you know that showcases the black and gold with the gold number on it I wonder if some uh more casual fans come in here and think that this is Reese Bobby's car from Talladega night well it's a little bit different uh yeah you're right there probably will be a few people that think that where the cougar yeah of course this is a unbelievable car right here beside it uh Richard Petty in 67 he swept both races here Richard was Richard didn't have the greatest of luck here um he won three races and he won one in 66 and then he won both in 67 um but this Plymouth was a terror on the racetrack of course he won the championship that year with it as well did this car come from the petty Museum I can tell you what this is Richard and them years ago the the original was here and Richard wanted to get it and put it in his Museum so what they did they built another one and gave it to this Museum built it identical but Richard wanted the authentic one you know it really sucks when you're watching a race and your favorite driver crashes well you can put the fun back into watching it with FanDuel right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet visit FanDuel / Stapleton and add a big win to your summer bucket list FanDuel America's number one sports book must be 21 present select State's first online real money wager only $10 first deposit required bonus issues non stel bonus bets to expire 7even days after receipt C terms at sports book. fanduel.com FanDuel is offering online Sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC gambling problem call 1800 Gambler or visit fanduel.com RG Colorado Iowa Michigan New Jersey Ohio Pennsylania Illinois Kentucky Tennessee Virginia and Vermont call on 800 next step or text next step to 533 42 Arizona 1888 78977 77 or visit ccpg dog chattin Connecticut 1 18009 within Indiana 18005224700 or visit KS gambling.com in Kansas 877770 stop in Louisiana visit MD gambling help.org in Maryland visit 1800 gambler. net in West Virginia or call 18005224700 in Wyoming hope is there visit gambling hopeline ma.org or call 800 327 5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 18778 hope NY or text Hope NY New York this is a Mark Martin car here I mean Mark was unbelievable in this car uh over the years that wind Dixie Car won so many races he won pretty much anytime they would throw the green flag here in the exfinity series he was the guy to beat um this is 1997 car in the 9s you had him winning all the Xfinity races here and you had nhart winning all the Cup races so it was you know our motto was too tough to tame but we had these two guys who were sort of I remember talking to both of them about it you know you guys are ruining our motto here you know they just had a handle on this place and they were just good they were just really really really good too tough for everybody else that's exactly right has there been any attempt to get either one of those cars in here there is uh we're working on that they still exist yes yes uh um know of the guy who owns this one uh so we're we're we're talking and Ricky knows the guy too so um we're we're working on it is it still in that shape or did they rase it after that from my understanding it's been redone some I I don't I don't know the exact history on it but um that's what I'm told does Kurt's car still exist from my understanding yes so we we've begun some conversations to see if we can't can possibly get both of me this is by far the most recognizable finish because this was 0.2 seconds you know it was great battle last five six seven laps they're just changing the lead back and forth they're both hitting the wall um and the great thing is we got this video where they both talk about it but the thing I love about this racetrack is the drivers have to you know you say it you hear it all the time drivers have to drive the racetrack and that's exactly right I mean you know if you look at this and you look at this you see you can just rub your hand on that and you can see you know we're we're not too far from the Sand Hills we're not too far from Myrtle Beach where there's a lot of sand there combine that with a lot of some bad weather that we may have during the winter an asphalt it's got rocks in it and heck sometimes you may even find a little shell in there Johnny mats won our first race the southern 500 back in 1950 entered this race and he was the slowest qualifier out of all the cars it was 75 cars that made that race it was the first time NASCAR had been on a big time super speedway you know made of asphalt they didn't really understand what was going to happen with the tire wear so Johnny Manz he basically he outsmarted him he put big hard truck tires on the car that would last the entire race while everybody else all the Hot Shots out there they were popping tires and having to come in and change tires he WR sort of the story of The Tortoise and the hair and so Johnny mat's one of the first race LED what over 300 miles of it and um history is made he's the First Southern 500 winner wasn't he an indie guy he was an indie guy that's exactly right exactly right but uh still today you got to be smart whenever you race this place The Fabulous Hudson Hornet uh herb Thomas won three Southern 500s in a hornet here which is just really unheard of um he got hurt in a wreck um he only competed in five southern 500s but he won three of them so that just shows you how Talent he was uh and again these were unbelievable race cars you know back in the day uh as you can see they they would paint the you know a sponsor or they paint the number on the side A lot of times when they would come to the racetrack you can see these have headlights mhm so they would put tape across that to make the headlights not break while they're out there racing because they drove the car to the racetrack and they drove it home after the race or at least they hope to drive it home after the race that was the plan that that was the plan but but that was the way it was back then you know you can see it's it's got door handles on it they got into the race car wherever they were wherever they were from whether it be in the Southeast or it was you know out west they drove these race cars to the track everything changes and so we look back at every piece of our history and there's always great great positive points about it so that's what I love about it Nascar has been here for 75 years next year we celebrate our 75th Anniversary so uh racetrack is very proud to be a part of NASCAR for all these years and and speaking of History you know NASCAR uh in the mid 50s started running convertible races and so from 1957 through 1959 here at Darlington they ran the spring race here was nothing but for convertibles and um great great racing I mean how cool is that to be able to sit in there hey if you go out on the beach or near the beach and you're driving down the road you feel the wind going through your hair think about how much wind was going through going on them you know there but uh Bob Wilburn was a great great uh race car driver and uh we're very fortunate to to have that as you can see as you get into the mid the later 50s you know the headlights went away this car was the first ever entry into the southern 500 in 1950 Buck Baker was the driver of this car but very cool this is the owner was Bobby Griffin uh and now Marshall Griffin owns this car and Marshall's a very dear friend to us here at Darlington Raceway and and also in general to a lot of folks who have historical cars people know who Marshall is so this car has been a part of this race TR on and off for many many many years and so presently right now we have it back in here and and just thrilled to death to have it um Buck Baker you know won several Southern what won three Southern 500s uh and was a NASCAR champion so pretty cool pretty cool vehicle there are any of these really old ones authentic or are they Recreation that's that right there is completely authentic it looks more so with the way the that's been in the Griffin family you know again since 1950 going I step over this and look absolutely yeah you go ahead you can do whatever you like to do you can it's very rare to see a car of this vintage that is the car most of them did not survive yeah I mean this wellburn car is a car is is the car too it is yes it is that's cool I've seen inspection stickers that are this old but they were still on the paper not on the car that they stuck is that cool yeah all of that is authentic so this door doesn't even open I don't know it's like there's this big cow duck box right in there I don't know what that would be for one of the things that when you think about today you think about drivers and these these nice uniforms uh the helmet Etc well guess what back in the early 50s fonny flock he drove a Bermuda shorts now check out the helmet too uh you can see it was uh uh very light very small um but fonny flock was known for wearing shorts and he was the first guy to do that and he said he got hot in the car and he said I want to stay cool and that was his way of trying to stay cool but but the thing I love about a lot of these I mean you just like if you look over here at Wendell Scott's you know Wendell Scott would be working on his car and stuff wearing that hat so that's an authentic hat and so the great thing about everything you see in here everything is authentic everything came from either the family of the inductee or it came from the race team of the inductee so when you look at all this stuff you're like man this is really really cool you know Ray Fox wore that jacket you know um you know they'll earn heart wore this hat there it is he wore the gargo you know that was his that was his trademark for you know for many years but that's what I love about all of this is it you know you can see look how dirty that is you know banjo Matthews uh was a a very noted car owner uh for many many years and built race cars too all the chassis and stuff from many of the greats but that's what's so cool about it it's it's all authentic it's all authentic Jack Smith's over here okay we'll see about Jack Smith so Jack Smith was from Greenville South Carolina again one of those guys up there near where cotton and and David Pearson were he says that and I remember us getting this he was the first driver to utilize two-way communication and he did it using an old US Air Force helmet so today communication is very very vital uh as far as race team talking to a spotter talking to the crew chief Etc Jack Smith wore that and he said it worked like a charm was that when he was driving for Bud Moore I I don't know I just I know that he just told me the story again this was back in the 1990s but he told me the story about how that it was indeed accurate and and he said I was the first one and so he was a tough dude and I wasn't going to disagree with him so um so that that's a pretty cool thing right there uh especially where two-way communication is so important to you know for us today that was still says Air Force on the helmet is was he in the Air Force or how did he get it that's interesting Surplus or probably the same story those guys bought Nitro methane from the corner yeah anything back then you know you're here at Darlington and you can't you can't come to Darlington and not understand who this guy was so Harold brazington is the guy who built this racetrack so he had the idea he had this zy idea he was a builder you know he was in the Rock business didn't have a whole lot of money but he had a vision and he had a dream so in 1935 he goes to Indianapolis and he sees the Indie cars race there his vision was well I I want to build a track like that down south I should be able to do that so he had no money so what he did he knew this property was out here and it was owned by a guy by name of Sherman Ramsey over a card game he won the opportunity to be able to build on this R build on this property believe it or not it was all over car game so the property that he won in that card game is pretty much where the racetrack is he didn't think about parking and everything else so over the years I mean you see right here this racetrack is built right on a four-lane highway this is a great great story he used to would come by the racetrack in the 90s and just tell stories or we' get in his little red pickup truck and go around I just listen to him talk but when he was first building it there were a lot of times people would come by and throw rotten eggs at him Tomatoes they didn't want a a racetrack here they didn't want all the people coming into their area and so for a long time while he was building it there was a lot of resistance uh but he kept building and so really for him to be able to to build it and he he needed more he needed some more money so there was a board created he had people that put money into it and um they were able to finally get off the ground in 1950 uh Bill France and he worked together to bring NASCAR here and R by 1953 or so he was he was gone the uh the entrepreneurs the people who had invested they wanted a return and they hadn't gotten it yet and so basically Mr Harold was ousted uh but without him though and his vision this place wouldn't be here and so to me he actually won the Nascar Landmark award which was so so deserving but this man built this racetrack 1950 and then in 1965 he built Rockingham oh he did that too he did that with uh what's his name dwick that's exactly right but he he lays you know he he built Darlington of Rockingham and he also built Darlington Dragway down the the street down here and he also built several other small tracks across the Carolinas but uh he just loved to build he he was a Visionary and love racing that's really cool yep we're going to told the people watching the video we're going to go outside and see all the original ticket buildings and all that stuff so that's coming up here I had no idea this Museum was so in depth this like Logan said earlier the the having the personal artifact and all these columns here is way cooler than just having a plaque or a bronze image of them on a plaque that's just it I mean you know we talked about Davey Allison's cowboy hat you here's one of RPS um you know a David Pearson you know Ralph Moody they won the championship with David Pearson in 1968 and there's the jacket of David's so it go it coincides with with Ralph Moody part of H and Moody um let's see here you know Sam Ard was an incredible back then it was called the bush Series today it's the Xfinity series but you know here since championship rings uh his old helmet uh just really really cool really really cool stuff you know we think about Harry Hyde how are y'all today good good good good good you think about Harry Hyde you know a lot of people now connect Harry Hyde with as Harry hog in Days of Thunder well this is an authentic headset you know that he used whenever he was a crew chief that he wore and of course the folders coffee machine that's whenever Richmond was driving for Rick Hendrick in the 25 car and then of course benie Parsons took over that car uh later on but it's pretty cool that they're both right here side by side because Harry Hyde and Tim Richmond I mean that's really what the the basis of um Days of Thunder is sort of based on you know uh Tim Richmond uh was sort of the character that Tom Cruz's you know character was built on pretty sure we saw that the indie car in the Indianapolis museum yeah to me this is one of the cool things in here just one of the one of the old old original I mean this is back this is early 50s uh because at the time the Wood Brothers whenever they first started they were number 22 they were 41 and the reason that they wound up with 21 because some other guys some bigger names had those car numbers and eventually like Fireball Roberts had 22 when they started going up to cup well Fireball Roberts was already there with 22 so they couldn't be 20 22 anymore so they eventually landed on 21 but um Glenn wood part of the fame Wood Brothers uh most noted he and Mr Leonard Wood but there were other guys too Delano was a brother and there was it became a huge Family Affair which it still is today what's with the silver shoe you know what I'm not like some here's what here we're going to find out in m49 Glenn and Leonard Wood the wood Runners racing team which stands for on the alltime win list with 97 victories the team has won races in six consecutive decades and 17 of nar's 50 greatest drivers have driven for Wood Brothers Racing leard would served as Chief mechanic for the team in the early days or as he described the guy who did everything build the car build the motor and whatever else needed doing he is regarded as one of the fastest right front tire changers in the history of the sports and help develop the played a major Ro in significantly increasing script brother Glen but it's great of Fame himself because if you want to learn anything about these guys this is a great way to capture from the David Pearson Wood Brothers era are an official crew hat and a handmade shoe designed in 1976 when Leonard broke his toe the toe of the shoe was cut away and an aluminum cap was made to allow the toe to have a recessed area where no pressure would be put on it Leonard wore the shoe in the pits enabling him to walk to work and change tires in Riverside California with Pearson behind the wheel and yes the team won that race there you go that's an interesting story that's a that's a cool piece yeah Billy Meers is that chocolate's Dad yes and he died here didn't he he di in a crash here yes looks like him yeah a lot yep he passed away in a crash uh here in the mid-50s you know you go back in time there used to not be an inside wall here so if a car got you know got out of shape was a wreck it come down right into the pit area there was not a wall that separated the racetrack and pits eventually that would take place there how did you get the kooki firit again it's it's dealing with the family um you know we've lost a lot of you know incredible race car drivers to different things and of course we lost Island that horrid crash whenever he was you know traveling to Bristol um but the great thing is the the family or the associates um that they left behind they won they want for Alan K's Legacy to um to live forever if I had to guess Tom Roberts probably had something to that longtime PR Guy Tom Roberts who who I have admired for a long time who's still around um Tom probably had something to do getting that uniform here we met him before yeah I don't think Alan has any surviving family anymore yeah it's probably Tom cuz Tom really supports there you know a lot of things that that he's involved with to keep Allen's Legacy going oh you got Robert H right there how about that the artifact is the C3 head that's that is perfect and the story about that is in one of our videos that's the that's the coolest thing you could have put in there for Robert gas is just the cylinder head cuz if you know what that's for you know why that's the thing for him that's great that's the thing you go through and you see all these cool things and one of the cool things right behind you you see a suitcase with a bunch of stickers all over this not a suitcase it's actually a work case this is from Tom Higgins and Tom Higgins was to me I always call him the Godfather of of Motorsports writers the dean of Motorsports Riders AKA py and py worked for the charlott deserver for many many years um throughout the 70s ' 80s '90s and even into the early 2000s um if you wanted to know anything that was going on in NASCAR you could get it from him because he had the relationships with all the race teams he was based there in Charlotte went to every Nascar Cup Series race that's back when they went to every race um but he was one of the most respected guys in our sport for a long period of time but you can see his that was his work station that's where his he had his typewriter um you back in those days you started there was there was not computers you know so he had his tight Rider in there and of course media guys are extremely big back then you know you press uh guides and everything else but uh welld deserved that Tom's in this Hall of Fame he he was a vital part I can tell you what whenever I was when I first started out as a sports Rider over here in Florence I was still in college I would buy Charlotte Observer on a Tuesday I'd look to see what he did and I'd rewrite it for our Thursday yeah for our Thursday Edition you or for our Edition it come out on Tuesday Morning I'd look at it I'd rewrite it and it' be in the Florence Morning News on Wednesday um probably shouldn't have done that but I knew it was all accurate with him yeah you can spend hours in here just looking and again that's what that's what makes this place so cool it's all just it was there's some that may not have something that may have a photo or a plaque but there's so many of them that do have something that's really cool I knew benie Parson well and I love to come in here and see this old uniform of his uh First National City Travelers checks was his sponsor and uh that was the old number 72 car and uh bing not on was a great race car driver he became one of the best te television analysts that we've ever had too in our sport so a little microphone there you go Theo there too to get both part so just really cool man to go to walk through here and there's times I just walk through here just CU I just want to relive history and it it all it brings it back to life it just it just does it does and having all these personal artifacts in here it yeah just walking through it it feels like different you know like like I see this of of Bill France Jr you know you saw him come he he ruled with an iron fist he was an incredible leader for this sport it brought this sport to an entirely different level um you know that 79 Daytona 500 you know that was him that had brought NASCAR to a you know that was the first nationally televised event flag to flag that was under his you know Direction so uh he was uh he was something else he really really made the sport go in a positive direction it's a shame that budmore shop mysteriously burned down the other day this old jacket of Fireball Roberts um you know for many many years I know uh Doris Roberts his his widow she would always come for the race she would always come for the southern 500 um she'd come back and uh so that's why you just knew all these things are authentic what's the backstory of the same artist drawing all of these portraits so so Jean Barnes um actually when I was here in the 90s Jean actually handled credentials for us she was a self-taught artist um she started from a racing standpoint she started doing artistic drawings of David Pearson and just sort of taught herself so at the time she was working for for for the racetrack part-time during races but her Talent was so good we said we have to use her and so you can go back and look at I'll show you in my office an old 2x3 souvenir program cover it's the painting it's got Bill Elliott on it yeah so what would happen she would paint that cover she'd paint that pain 2 by3 and then we would they would you'd shoot it with a camera to reduce it down to a souvenir program size but it all started out on a 2x3 canvas but uh Jean was was with us for you know for many years um we lost Jean oh several years back probably about nine or 10 years ago um but but she I can tell you this she did a lot of paintings for a lot of driver like Dale Earnhart had her do a lot of family paintings and stuff for he and Teresa uh over the years so she was good with pencil sketch she was great too with with paint you do something you like to do if she was too afraid to tell people about she like to draw stuff that would have never created that career path that's exactly right and she became great friends with David Pearson and and then all the drivers that she I mean she did it so many paintings and stuff for drivers it was unbelievable I don't think this Museum gets talked about enough for what it is there's a lot of really neat stuff in here and you don't hear about it that much yeah that's we got to we're going to do a better job of letting folks know about about it I you know I just think there's you know the you know these uniforms cotton owens's helmet down here that he signed um something that's really really cool you right there nope right here this Photograph right here there's the plaque oh so in 1967 when Richard Petty won the spring race here it was his 55th career win at the time he was tied with his dad with 54 wins so when he won here that propelled him as NASCAR's alltime winner so Lee fell into second place and Richard would eventually become the king and win 200 races but the place where he vaulted past his father Lee who at the time was the the wind leader was here at Darlington in May of 1967 so this this plaque used to be actually be on the wall the inside wall um and it was taken out um we actually had a big wreck and it it it took it out and uh here inside the track yes oh wow yes believe not it was actually done by Richard himself in 1970 so in 1970 comes out of what was then turn four now it's turn two hit the wall and did a barrel roll and came in and hard and hit the the inside retaining wall and while he's barreling his arm is hanging out of the side oh that one after that that was the invent of the window net but it tore the wall up big time which included that that's interesting I know the the footage you're talking about with the the red rag and all that St that's the red rag that's exactly right that was here and that was in 1970 but you can see how uniforms have changed over the years that's Daryl walri you know that's from 1981 um the woman beside it Jerry Cook who was a noted modified driver um eventually would would go to work with NASCAR n and NASCAR's Hall of Fame and of course Richard Petty's uniform as well the ostp Bob Calvin was the second president after Harold brazington he was the ultimate promoter uh did a lot of great stuff to the racetrack to elevate it started having two races here a year that was all behind him that was all part of what he brought to the table this something pretty cool um and we're getting it up that we're getting it up to date uh because we we're missing a 17 car we're missing from 19 on but this is back in the 90s we we got with a group the South Carolina MERS associ iation and we said we want to build cases and we want to showcase every Southern 500 winning car and want it to be a plastic model that's put together and so these guys are unbelievable um a lot of these cars especially when you get back over here in the first one they didn't make kits for these cars they would they would but these guys were that good they could they did not make a Mercury like this but they were able to make moles of the of the car and then they would use other chassis from other model kits and build it and um it's really amazing you know just like we talked about the Hudson Hornet the Johnny Manz car they didn't make models of those cars but you'll see in just a second you'll see that that we have the model here of of each winter which is super cool I've worked at different racetracks in my career there's not a track that you can go in where you go in this and you feel the history and again you've been out there there you saw the asphalt and stuff the fact that it's rough and it's abrasive it's a driver's racetrack it's what it's what Racing's all about racing is not meant to be easy racing is meant to be hard if it was easy I could do it I learned a long time ago I didn't have the talent so where should we go now to the artifacts of your office or to the if you want to thanks Tina well I was telling you earlier about the the souvenir program we talked about Jean Barnes and of course Jean barnes's signatures right there um so this is when we used to only have one Suite outside the turns and so this is a you know the what would be eventually the cover for that souvenir program for that particular race which was in the mid was probably 80 86 87 somewhere around in that area uh Jack Ingram had won the xinity race the year before so you would take this shoot it down and that would be your souvenir program cover is that what is now the nhart tower uh that's correct that's exactly right but that's the Earnhart Towers now two of them but this is one of them that's right it used to be blue originally it was blue interesting yeah I'm excited to see that kind of stuff just the the little the actual facility how the structures have evolved yeah that just sort of details my career um I don't know if you really want to get all that stuff but that's just sort of a lot of that is you know from the Darlington days um going way back but um I think been blessed been blessed to be in the sport for such a long period of time uh met so many great people that's the thing that you take away from it that that what you're looking at was uh me and a buddy of mine Parish Lambert uh were in the infield and that was in the newspaper and I think my mom uh she cut that out wow and had saved it so I I probably about 1976 77 somewhere I'd say about that area 7677 but yeah the great thing though about this sport is the people um talking to people maybe you hadn't talked to in a long time I I talked to Rick Mass the other day it's great to catch up and I had talked to him in a long time talked to Robert Presley uh yesterday um some of the guys that were very very well known uh throughout the years um that was a really cool thing you know U being able to know Dale senior was was super very very super when you were a kid did you want to grow up and work here I did I always um I remember working down at wind Dixie grocery store which was right down the street and guy by the name of Bill Kaiser who was the pr guy I kept always asking how can I get into racing you know I just wanted to work here uh and get got very very fortunate that I was able to get here uh that's what almost 24 whenever I came to head up communications here in 1989 so just a thrill again you the sport is all about the people I'm telling you it's all about the people and if if I were to die tomorrow I'd take with me that it's all been about and it's not just drivers you know drivers are just like us they just they just can drive but being able to build friendships with drivers teams sponsors Partners NASCAR officials the fans it's it's all one big tire bicycle tire with a lot of Spokes and it that's what makes it all go right and uh just again I don't know what else I would have done in my career but again I've been very very fortunate this is actually my first cousin's called Rudy brandom who we lost a few years ago Rudy was a big time racer around here from Darlington and so why not put him on there he's a Darlington native uh who ran short tracks in Myrtle Beach Dylan Florence lake view all those racetracks many many years ago so we put that on there how'd you get this Mark Martin helmet that's sort of a long story uh a friend of a friend of a friend I've had it for many years and of course you know he drove he started with Jack his first year he drove for stros light that was the that was the um the sponsor and that's when Jack Rous came into the sport and of course Mark won his first race at Rockingham with that sponsor so you can see it's authentic it's been worn out on the on the right side um where the cental fort you know where they go into the corner the the head would sort of go to the right um which was very very cool earlier in the video we mentioned checking out the structures and actual Darlington track facility history that is a separate video link it in the pin comment in the description go check that out it's just as cool maybe cooler than the cars in the museum there's so much about the place that I didn't know about and I'm guessing a lot of you have not seen that video so I'm going to test you go over to that video leave a comment say you came from this one see if I answer see if you can stmp me and a little update here on my grand national super series car it is almost ready I just got it Fired Up For the First Time the other day I've been filming everything for the past year of working on this thing and it will be in build series videos coming up very soon but I want to make sure it's all done before I start releasing them that way you don't have to wait long times between updates pretty soon you're supposed to be taking the car over to Ron horn days and he's going to help me put the seat in and finish up some of the Finish Fab stuff in here uh cuz he's got all that equipment he's real good at it that'll be really cool that'll be a video too so make sure you subscribe YouTube likes to unsubscribe people from our channel for some reason if you think it sounds like baloney I promise you I get told several times a week from different people every time that say they've had to resubscribe to this channel so I don't know why but check make sure you are and hit thumbs up if you didn't already everything helps leave a comment let us know what you think we want to talk to you we want to get to know you guys if you stick around long enough and speak up enough we do remember you and I think that's pretty cool cuz I stand here like an idiot talking to a camera on a stick and we don't really get to interact with uh people like it's just the number on a screen kind of it's hard to really conceptualize how many people actually watch these things and then when somebody comes up to me at a gas station and I'm looking for change or something or like hey man I watch your videos and I'm like oh huh what and then they think I'm a Jerk It's because I'm not prepared for it I'm not used to it uh especially off guard like that so if that's ever happened to you I'm sorry I'm weird if you catch me off guard I will be weird I don't know how else to say it but we're going to have a lot of fun with this thing I can't wait to get it going