Darlington

Small Pee Dee tobacco-country city famous for Darlington Raceway, NASCAR's oldest operating superspeedway

Darlington is a small tobacco-country city in the South Carolina Pee Dee region, and it punches well above its weight in one specific arena: motorsport. Darlington Raceway, which opened here in 1950, is NASCAR's oldest superspeedway still in operation — and arguably its most storied. The track's egg-shaped design (forced by a local landowner who refused to drain his minnow pond) gives it a peculiar, asymmetric personality that has humbled drivers ever since. They call it "The Track Too Tough To Tame."

Outside race weekends, Darlington is a quiet, unhurried place. The downtown has the feel of a mid-century Southern county seat — brick storefronts, a courthouse square — and the surrounding farmland is flat and open. It is not a destination for most travelers, but if you love racing history or want to understand the culture that built NASCAR, Darlington is worth a detour.

Guide

Things to Do

Darlington's main draw is its raceway — NASCAR's oldest surviving superspeedway and one of the most storied tracks in the sport. On non-race days the track offers tours and the Hall of Champions museum provides serious depth for anyone interested in stock car history. The Public Square downtown gives the town its Southern county-seat character, and the two pieces of Darlington — the racetrack to the east and the quiet historic centre — sit only a couple of miles apart.