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May 07, 2005
A touch of gray? Or is it worse?
Not unlike one of her sister tracks, at Talladega, the Lady in Black is hard to take your eyes off of during green-flag runs. That's because at both Darlington Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway, if you aren't watching closely, you might miss something.
Friday night's Busch Series race and Saturday's Nextel Cup event were both slowed early by cautions, on their first laps. While the overall number of cautions on this stop at Darlington - so far - hasn't been particularly outrageous, it sounds like the drivers have their hands full.
We've been fighting loose since we got here," said Greg Biffle. "I didn't make a run over 15 laps" in practice.
"That's about how long I can hang on and hold my breath. It's going to be tough racing."
That's how Mike Harris of The Associated Press and many others are quoting drivers this weekend. Here's another quote, from Elliott Sadler:
"We're more out of control this year than I've ever been at Darlington."
Sadler, who has been upside down a lot on recent trips to Talladega, knows a little something about out of control. Here's something else the driver of the No. 38 Fords said:
"The track is just getting old and gray.
Lord knows - even on days other than Mother's Day - that a little gray surely can become a lady. Particularly a Lady in Black who's earned every one of those gray hairs. But even Jeff Gordon is adding his voice to what is starting to sound like a chorus.
"The track continues to age, and it just gets more and more difficult and the bumps get worse. The grip gets less and it just makes you have to really fight that much harder to stay off the walls."
We all love The Lady in Black, a.k.a. The Track Too Tough to Tame. We've read and heard tons of stories about her 55 years of stock car racing history and how wrong NASCAR is to rob her of the traditional Labor Day weekend race. That's a sentiment I share, by the way.
And we all hope that the addition of lights and night racing can help the aging South Carolina speedway survive in NASCAR's New Age. After all, the egg-shaped obstacle course was the sport's first and is the longest surviving superspeedway so far.
The lights - and what looks like a wonderfully successful Mother's Day weekend race - definitely dress the old gal up nicely. But is it past time for The Lady in Black to get a serious facelift?
May 7, 2005 in Racing | Permalink
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Comments
Darlington's fate will depend less on what the track owners do to fix it up and more on where Darlington is -- in the middle of nowhere, with bad roads and little to do outside of watching the race. Martinsville is in the same leaky boat although it's closer to two decent-sized cities than Darlington is.
Saturday's race was terrific, though. The night racing was a nice touch.
Posted by: John Newsom | May 10, 2005 1:13:24 PM
Made what I hope was my first trip to Darlington this weekend. That track is fantastic as it is. The track and the sand that eat away at the tires is what separates the men from the boys. Those that are calling for changes to the track are from the latter catagory.
I have been to every race at California, since that's where I live, and I have never come home with rubber on my face and sand in my hair. The only thing I would transport from Califronia to Darlington would be the pole. That track is so damn fast if you are not paying attention for a second, you can lose track of where your favorite drivers are.
Leave the track alone and don't listen to those pansy ass drivers that prefer California, Chicago, Kansas City, etc. over a real race track.
Posted by: Les | May 9, 2005 2:28:16 PM
Right up front, let me say that I have tickets at California, but think NASCAR oughta be whupped for taking the Labor Day date away from Darlington.
There are races and then there are races. I generally watch maybe half of the races every year, but some of them are circled on my calendar: Darlington, Bristol, road courses (yeah, I love 'em!), the plate tracks (bad racing, great entertainment) are the main ones. Darlington is the crew chief's biggest challenge and maybe my second favorite track of them all, after Bristol.
Posted by: Doug | May 9, 2005 11:12:18 AM
No, don't sell it to Bruton, he'll just give the date to Las Vegas or some other 1.5 mile track. Darlington along with Bristol and Richmond provide the best racing consistently each year. So did The Rock.
Posted by: Jay | May 9, 2005 10:56:29 AM
Heck no, keep her old and gray!!
I like the fact that they have to earn it at Darlington. The drivers know they have to race the Lady every lap and that's what makes it great. There's no other track on the schedule that challenges them as this old dame does.
Posted by: Billy | May 9, 2005 12:01:50 AM
It was a good un, wasn't it?
I say sell it to Bruton Smith. He'd do what he did at Bristol: Restore the small-town track to the mecca of racing it once was, but with 150,000-plus seats and more excitement than ever.
The racers and the fans have stepped up. Now it's time for ISC to do right by the place and her loyal supporters.
Posted by: Bob Henry | May 8, 2005 4:44:31 PM
Heck, no, don't mess with Darlington! Give it better garages and work on the exit patterns from the Tyler Tower parking lot (took us 3 hrs for a 2 hr trip home because of the morons in the parking lot...grrr)
But we saw racing all over the track. You could pass anywhere--in the corners, on the straights. There were great passes on pit road as well. If they had gotten rid of the modifieds (wrecks) and the moving chicanes (multiple lap-down cars) it would have been almost as perfect a stock car race as you could have today. The drivers and crews actually had to keep WORKING on their cars! I thought it was an awesome race! Now, to go put on some sunburn lotion and grab some sleep so that I can read about the race tomorrow and figure out all I missed....
Posted by: Jo | May 8, 2005 3:37:39 AM
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