Tradition in the Spotlight as NASCAR Takes Historic Turn Through May

• NASCAR is embracing tradition in a big way with its current stretch of three races through Darlington, North Wilkesboro and Chalotte.

• Now, in NASCAR’s 75th year, the sport even embracing it ties to moonshining and the role that illegal activity played in the sport’s formation.

• “I think tradition in our sport is something that really should be taken seriously,” said NASCAR Hall of Famer Terry Labonte.

Tradition is a word that for several decades in NASCAR didn’t appear all that important to the powers that be.

Tracks that were instrumental in forming the sport’s foundation were cast aside or reduced to one date annually as NASCAR worked to expand from a regional sport into a national one.

Cases in point: Darlington Raceway’s traditional Labor Day date since 1950 was moved to Southern California in 2004. North Wilkesboro Speedway closed at the end of the 1996 season and its dates moved to Texas and New Hampshire. Fans were furious at both decisions and many turned their back on the sport. Charlotte retained two dates, but even it had to re-event itself to keep its second event and the ROVAL was born.

Then came the pandemic and the region the sport had fought so hard to disassociate itself from in favor of New York City’s Madison Avenue came to its rescue. With the country shut down and professional sports on hold, NASCAR found a way to restart the business in May 2020 at Darlington Raceway. That year it was tracks in the Southeast that came to the sport’s rescue.

NASCAR became the first major professional sport to resume with two consecutive races at Darlington, two at Charlotte, one at Bristol, one at Atlanta and one at Martinsville. All tracks that opened from 1947 to 1961.

Now, in NASCAR’s 75th year, the sport is celebrating its tradition, including its ties to moonshining and the role that illegal activity played in the sport’s formation. A NASCAR licensed T-shirt sports the original NASCAR logo on it with the words “Drive and Shine Since 1948."

Darlington Kicked Things Off

For these three weeks, tradition is the focal point of NASCAR’s schedule. Darlington Raceway, with two dates once again including its traditional Labor Day weekend, hosted “Throwback Weekend” May 12-14. It’s a weekend when teams resurrect various cars paint schemes. Mario Andretti even made an appearance Friday to see the paint scheme that was on his 1967 Daytona 500 winning Ford recreated on Nick Sanchez’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series entry. It’s a weekend when the sport paid homage to its 75 greatest drivers.

The All Stars Take on North Wilkesboro

This weekend, NASCAR returns to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the first time since 1996. It’s All-Star weekend and as one driver noted, it’s been a long time since the All-Star race has received such a tremendous amount of attention. For that weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series pit crew competition has been resurrected.

Gimmicks don’t play a role in the racing formats. It’s strictly old school. Sixty-lap heat races determine the All-Star event’s starting lineup. The winner and runner-up in the 100-lap All-Star Open transfer into the All-Star race along with the top finisher in the fan vote. There is one break in that race around lap 40.

The All-Star race is 200 laps with a “competition break” around lap 100. Everyone starts the race on new tires, and they have three additional sets in their pits. After the break, only one additional set of new tires may be used. The winner receives $1 million.

Then, It's on to Charlotte

Then it’s on to Charlotte Motor Speedway for its traditional Memorial Day weekend celebration and the Coca-Cola 600, stock car racing’s longest race. It’s been the speedway’s marquee event since it opened in 1960.

Three weekends of tradition and two-time NASCAR champion Terry Labonte says that’s important.

“I think tradition in our sport is something that really should be taken seriously,” said Labonte, who was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2016. “It’s a big part of our sport.”

Labonte notes that many fans grew up watching races at Darlington with their family.

“Darlington is such an important track for our history,” Labonte continued. ‘It’s one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. You really have to race the track as much as you do the competitors.”

Labonte made his NASCAR debut at Darlington in the 1978 Labor Day classic Southern 500 with a fourth-place finish. He later won twice at the track, 1980 and 2003.

At North Wilkesboro Speedway in April 1996 Labonte tied seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty’s record for consecutive races at 513. He won four races at the 0.625-mile track and described it as “one of my favorite tracks.” He noted that no one in the All-Star race had ever raced at the track in a Cup car. Two drivers in the All-Star race—Austin Cindric and Willian Byron—hadn’t even been born when the track had its last NASCAR race on Sept. 29, 1996.

“I never dreamed somebody would be able to bring it back and put it back together and have an event there,” Labonte said.

But somebody did and for these three weeks NASCAR tradition is in the spotlight.