Anyone traveling south on South Carolina highway 151 and going past Darlington Raceway Aug. 30-31 might have thought the Southern 500 had returned to the 1.333-mile track for a Labor Day reunion.
It was only the inaugural Darlington Historic Racing Festival, which Chris Browning, the track’s president, hopes will replace the traditional Southern 500, now scheduled to be at the International Speedway Corp.-owned track in 2009, the night before Mother’s Day.
And believe me, there was plenty of history to be served at this event.

“Until you’ve been a part of a facility like this, you never know what it’s all about. They took the Southern 500 from here, and it was like taking the heart out of the place. . . The Southern 500 never should have been taken away from Darlington."

— Darrell Waltrip

There were cars of yesterday — NASCAR, Indy-type roadsters, modifieds and late models.
There were participants from years gone by at the track often referred to as “too tough to tame” — like David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Junior Johnson, Charlie Glotzbach, Bud Moore, Cotton Owens, Waddell Wilson, Ray Fox, Rex White, Raymond Parks, Leonard Wood, Marvin Panch, Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison and Reb Wickersham.
Even members of the media were represented by some who’ve seen and recorded the history of NASCAR, like writers Steve Waid and Tom Higgins; photographers Pal Parker and Bryant McMurray; and announcers Hill Overton and Barney Hall, who emceed the question-and-answer sessions on both days, attracting an estimated 12,000 people.
“It’s a perfect fit,” said Browning. “We’ll do it again next Labor Day and refine it and do tweaking on it in the process.
“I’m sure there are a lot of things we can do different and do better.”
Pearson, Glotzbach and Donnie Allison drove cars they won races in at the raceway during the two days.
It was estimated Pearson, a master at winning poles and races during his career, ran several laps of 170 miles per hour or better.
“It was the same car I won in and it had the same tires on it as it did then,” said Pearson, who won 14 dirt-track races on a legends circuit in and around his hometown of Spartanburg, S.C.
Waltrip and Johnson participated in one of the most interesting question-answer sessions, which attracted a crowd of about 500.
Johnson told of his moonshine and the days he was a driver-car owner.
“Until you’ve been a part of a facility like this, you never know what it’s all about,” said Waltrip, a three-time Cup champion. “They took the Southern 500 from here and it was like taking the heart out of the place.
“These younger people of today don’t know what it was like back then and never will and don’t care. They just don’t get it.
“The Southern 500 never should have been taken away from Darlington.
“It’s people like Barney Hall here, who has been there from the beginning. Barney has seen every great driver there has been. This is the history. They know what it’s like.
“Not some 30-year-old, who could care less.”
The track that once was “too tough to tame” now has become the “track too tough to kill.”
The one thing they should have done was to have activities on Aug. 30, take off on Aug. 31 and come back and conclude Sept. 1.
Just like the racing days of years past.
All a part of history.