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Thursday, 08 May 2008 19:00 |
 By: Jay W. Pennell
Sprint Cup Correspondent
HardcoreRaceFans.com
Call me a stickler for history, but there has been something missing in NASCAR since 2004. Although there have been many changes to the sport since then, there is one thing that should have remained the same. The annual Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend at Darlington has as much history as the Daytona 500, yet was thrown by the wayside in favor of California Speedway.
Changes to the series schedule in 2003 revealed that Darlington would be losing one of its two race dates to accommodate a second date added in California. Since 1960, Darlington had hosted two events each year, with the Southern 500 dating back to September 4, 1950. That race – almost fifty-eight years ago – marked the first time NASCAR attempted to run a 500-mile event, now a staple in the sport. However, history and tradition were disregarded and taken away from the small-town in South Carolina.
In an attempt to start a new tradition for the Lady In Black, NASCAR scheduled the speedway’s only race on Mothers’ Day weekend – typically a weekend off prior to the 2004 season. If this change was not enough, the 2004 race was changed from Sunday afternoon to Saturday night under the lights.
In the last four years, California has struggled to fill the grandstands and put on mediocre races at best. Darlington is home to the closest finish in all of NASCAR history – the 2003 battle between Kurt Busch and Ricky Craven that was decided by just .002 thousandths of a second – and some of NASCAR’s greatest races, yet a failed push to grow a fan base on the West Coast overrode all of that.
They say change is for the better, but in this case they are wrong. There is something special about Darlington and that goes back to the annual Labor Day weekend 500-miler. This is a race needs to be reinstated on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. ![](\"/images/stories/hcrflogo.jpg\")
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