The American south is home to two of the most famous National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) ovals: Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, and the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Both honour their heritage with museums devoted to the sport.
Although Darlington’s 1.366-mile loop looks quaint now, in 1950 the Raceway was the first superspeedway in NASCAR history; its asphalt surface was a step up from the early dirt-track days.
The egg-shaped circuit became known as ‘the track too tough to tame’ when it hosted the inaugural Southern 500 that year. Still active today, it’s the home of the Darlington Raceway Stock Car Museum. Just as the sport provided a counterpoint to single-seater racing, the exhibition opened in 1965 as a riposte to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, which initially showcased IndyCar racing.
There are 14 racing cars, featuring a mixture of early NASCAR history as well as more recent champions. Pride of place goes to the 1951 Hudson Hornet in which NASCAR Hall of Famer Herb Thomas won the second running of the Southern 500. Thomas’ Hudson was the inspiration for Doc Hudson, the character voiced by Paul Newman in the Pixar film Cars.