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[/media-credit]THE NUMBERS for BOJANGLES’ Southern 500
Darlington Raceway (all 108 Sprint Cup races)
0 – fewest cautions (9/2/63)
1 – fewest cars on lead lap at finish (24 times, most recent 9/3/79)
1 – fewest laps led by race winner Ricky Craven, 3/16/03)
2 – fewest leaders (5/9/64)
4 – fewest lead changes (9/4/50)
6 – number of jet dryers available for track drying this weekend
10 – most wins by driver (David Pearson)
12 – fewest cars running at finish (9/2/74)
17 – most cautions (5/9/09)
17 – most leaders (9/6/82)
19 – wins from the pole; 35 from the front row
23 – most cars on lead lap at finish (9/1/02)
41 – most lead changes (9/6/82)
41 – most running at finish (twice, most recent 5/10/08)
45 – different race winners
47 – different pole winners
101 – most caution laps (9/2/74)
120 minutes – approximate amount of time it takes to dry the 1.366-mile track after a significant rainfall
351 – most laps led by race winner (Johnny Mantz, 9/4/50)
Key Darlington Dates
1949 – Harold Brasington, a retired racer, purchased 70 acres from Sherman Ramsey and started construction of the race track. (The egg-shaped design was necessary because Brasington promised Ramsey the track wouldn’t disturb his minnow pond on the west side of the property).
1950 – First race on Labor Day, a 75-car field for the 500-mile event on what was then a 1.250-mile track
1951 – Field of 82 cars started the race
1953 – Track was re-measured to 1.375 miles
1959 – Last convertible race (won by Fireball Roberts)
1965 – Cale Yarborough, of nearby Timmonsville, crashed with his car sailing over the guard rail and off the track. He was unhurt and the mishap was used as an introduction to ABC’s Wide World of Sports for several years.
1970 – Track re-configured to 1.366 miles following the spring race
1982 – International Speedway Corporation (ISC) acquires Darlington Raceway
1995 – Track repaved
1997 – Frontstretch and backstretch switched
2000 – All cars pit on same side for first time
2005 – First Saturday night race at Darlington
2008 – Track repaved prior to 2008 race
2012 Caution Update
1 – fewest cautions this season (Fontana)
3 – races extended beyond scheduled distance (Daytona, Martinsville, Talladega)
10 – most cautions this season (Daytona)
53 – number of cautions in the first 10 races of 2012; includes 24 for accidents, 14 for debris and five for spins
305 of 3,120 – number of laps under caution in 2012
386.163 of 3,730.430 – miles under caution in the first 10 races
Did You Know In addition to the 108 Sprint Cup Series races at Darlington Raceway, nine other tracks in the state combined to host 110 Cup events before being dropped from the schedule. Most prominent were 43 races at Columbia Speedway, 29 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway and 22 at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds in Spartanburg. Three of the nine hosted only one Cup event.
Provided by Darnell Communications for SRT Motorsports and Dodge
