December 8, 2009
By Allen Madding
Harold Witherspoon Brasington was born May 10, 1909 in Darlington, South Carolina.
In 1925, at the age of 14, he attended his first automobile race, and it ignited a passion within him to become involved. In the 1930’s, he dabbled in racing dirt track stock cars.
While enjoying the sport, he quickly decided driving was not for him. He attended the Indianapolis 500 in 1933 and when he returned to Darlington County, South Carolina, he sketched out a track on a paper napkin that he wanted to build.
But Brasington had something in mind for his track that would make it different than all the other race tracks around the south. Instead of being dirt, Brasington wanted his to be a paved track like Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Brasington owned a rock and gravel company selling and delivery stone and owned the earth moving equipment that would be needed for such an endeavor. The locals, however, scoffed at his idea and referred to it as Brasington’s Folly.
He would not be able to begin construction of his vision until after the Great Depression and World War II. He continued to attend the Indianapolis 500 every year, coming home to Darlington and dreaming of building a speedway in South Carolina to host a 500-mile stock car race.
In 1949, Brasington struck a deal with Sherman Ramsey for a 70-acre parcel of land on the west end of Darlington where he could construct his speedway. There was one caveat that Brasington had to agree to before completing the deal, he could not disturb Ramsey’s Minnow pond. Brasington agreed to the stipulation, brought his own bulldozer to the site and began moving dirt on December 13, 1949. Brasington modified the shape of the track to leave the minnow pond undisturbed giving the speedway an egg-shape. Locals laughed at Brasington, opposed the construction citing noise concerns, and even threw tomatoes at him as he moved earth with his bulldozer.
Brasington created a large dirt mound backing up to the State Highway to create a natural viewing area for fans to sit. Grandstands were not in his initial budget. Brasington created a 1.25-mile speedway with its front straightaway running parallel to the highway. Asphalt began to be laid on the track surface and Darlington Speedway was born.
Brasington began talking to stock car race promoters, including NASCAR’s Big Bill France. NASCAR sanctioned the first race on September x, 1950. 75 cars showed up to compete on the new asphalt speedway along with 25,000 spectators.
The asphalt proved to be tougher than the tires the competitors had been using on the dirt tracks that composed the NASCAR schedule. Soon the teams ran out of tires and began making deals with fans that had their passenger cars parked in the infield to purchase the tires off of their family sedans. After 400 laps, and numerous blown tires, Californian Johnny Mantz had won the first Southern 500 at Darlington averaging 76 mph. When the checkered flag fell, the infield was littered with passenger cars without wheels and tires.
Brasington’s Folly had changed the face of NASCAR Racing forever.
Bill France would begin construction of Daytona Speedway and Curtis Turner would begin construction of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Brasington extended the track to 1.375 miles in 1953. But the finances of building Darlington and operating the grand track soon proved too much for Brasington. Mounting income tax bills and other financial issues soon arouse and he sold his interest in the track in 1954.
Curtis Turner engaged Brasington’s help in constructing Charlotte Motor Speedway, and in a joint venture, Brasington and Bill Land designed and constructed Rockingham Speedway in nearby North Carolina in 1965.
Brasington can be credited as the man who introduced NASCAR to asphalt speedway racing. He was inducted into the NMPA Stock Car Hall of Fame in 1992.
Harold Brasington died at the age of 86 in a hospital in Florence, South Carolina on February 4, 1996 after a long illness.
He was buried in Gove hill Cemetery in Darlington.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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