1970 Darlington 500

[Dixie]

I wanted to share this video that popped up in my YouTube feed. The cars, and particularly the safety equipment, fascinated me. (The helmets are barely padded!) I also found the pre-race festivities interesting. It took me back to the South of my youth. A very different South that's now long lost to time.

Lastly, plase feel free to share videos of races from your youth.

[ChrisHamilton]

Thanks for sharing that. I too miss the South of my youth in the 80's. I miss that whole WWII generation. Such good folks and simpler times. Myrtle Beach. Driving through NC for the first time after getting my license. From where I live in Va to Durham NC, RT 501 was completely saturated with tobacco crops. Now you hardly see any on that drive. All of it has changed now. My generation hasn't kept up the old traditions. One that I loved was how lunch was a proper meal. And just people being kind to one another. Waving to each other as we drive by. One real specific thing. In Halifax Va, back in the 80's and early 90's there was a retirement home on the side of 501. The old folks during the summer were always sitting on the porch. I would wave everytime I went by and always 5 or 6 of them would wave back. Simple stuff like that I miss the most.

[herr_oberst]

Talk about worlds colliding. This is when all the car manufacturers were building the cars that to this day are still giants to us gearheads. Those Torinos and Cyclones are just beautiful to look at. But absent 50 years of safety and professionalism, the racing and everything that goes along with it borders on cringe. The nonchalance of the fuel overflow in the pits where apparently smoking was encouraged! The single armco barrier on the infield where Yarborough has a chance to be impaled on about 2o different posts, if luck wasn't riding with him that day. That look on Pete Hamilton's face after earning a Darlington Stripe telegraphs what he must have thought could have happened if things hadn't worked in his favor.
(Not to mention the kids in the stands holding their ears. Makes you wonder just how loud 40 open-header big blocks would sound like.)
And speaking of the stands, that view from the stands with about 100 posts holding up that big canopy. You can barely even see the track.
Fifth place, five laps down. 2nd place 1 lap down.
It's always an eye opener to go down racing's memory lane. (I was 11 when this race was run. Seemed like modern times at the time of course, but we don't know what we don't know.)

[unclebilly]

Thanks for sharing. That was a fun watch.

[URY914]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

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Fifth place, five laps down. 2nd place 1 lap down.

I think this is one thing people don't remember about the ol' days. There wasn't the wheel to wheel racing like today. Watching the leading car running alone lap after lap is not that entertaining. Bill France would let anything run the race if it filled the field with cars and the grandstands with fans But those pit stops back in the day make up for it. Watching Darrell and his other brother Darrell and cousin Bubba change tires was real entertaining. And having Chris E. doing a driver interview was another treat.

[Heel n Toe]

I was at that race... the only NASCAR race I've been to. Went with my buddy Reid in his snot green Scout and one other guy. Got there the afternoon the day before the race.



We had a simple flat trailer in tow carrying three sections of scaffolding. We were going to erect them on the trailer in the infield so we'd have a high perch to watch from. But they would only let us bring in one section... we guessed they probably had some "accidents" with tip overs at previous races. So they told us to lean two sections against the outside wall next to where we drove in.

We had a cooler full of beer and stuff to make sammiches with and enough 2X8s to make a safe platform atop the scaffold and were set up near what was the first turn at that time (it's now T3 since they flipped the front straight to what used to be the back straight).

I think I remember sleeping on top of the scaffolding. Before I fell asleep, a couple under a blanket on top of a camper about 100 feet away were having a sexy time... and before that, I saw some guy was running a 3 card monte on the hood of his car. I vaguely remember hearing something about a knife fight nearby.

We made it through the night somehow. When the race began, Reid burst out laughing during the pace lap as all the cars came by with some of the drivers waving at the infield and others had their arm casually resting on the top of the door... no safety netting back then. I don't remember much about the race but we were drinking that beer. I see from the video that mercifully it was an overcast day.

The scaffolding was gone when we drove out. Not surprising.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by ChrisHamilton

Thanks for sharing that. I too miss the South of my youth in the 80's. I miss that whole WWII generation. Such good folks and simpler times. Myrtle Beach. Driving through NC for the first time after getting my license. From where I live in Va to Durham NC, RT 501 was completely saturated with tobacco crops. Now you hardly see any on that drive. All of it has changed now. My generation hasn't kept up the old traditions. One that I loved was how lunch was a proper meal. And just people being kind to one another. Waving to each other as we drive by. One real specific thing. In Halifax Va, back in the 80's and early 90's there was a retirement home on the side of 501. The old folks during the summer were always sitting on the porch. I would wave everytime I went by and always 5 or 6 of them would wave back. Simple stuff like that I miss the most.

I was born in 60 .... both (former) family farms and rural life was taken for granted.... there are still "pockets" of it remaining.... but not for long ...

I blame it all on air conditioning !

[Superman]

Not car racing but still interesting (to me). Secretariat win the 1973 Belmont Stakes by thirty-one lengths!