9-4-1950

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                                             9-4-1950

                      First Southern 500 at Darlington SC

 

The 1950 Southern Five-Hundred was the first NASCAR Grand National event that took place at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. It was responsible for turning the Southern 500 into the biggest racing event prior to the 1959 Daytona 500. While this edition of the Southern 500 would be hosted in association with the Central States Racing Association, all of the other Southern 500 races would be hosted exclusively by NASCAR.

Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.

Darlington Raceway, nicknamed by many NASCAR fans and drivers as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame" and advertised as a "NASCAR Tradition", is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.

More than 80 entrants showed up for the race.They used a 2-week qualifying scheme similar to the one used at the Indianapolis 500. Track owner Harold Brasington was also inspired by Indianapolis when he had the 75 car field aligned in 25 rows of three cars. These practices have been curtailed over the years as NASCAR adopted a more uniform set of guidelines with regard to the number of cars which could qualify for a race. The race was won by Johnny Mantz

The other top ten finishers included: Fireball Roberts, Red Byron, Bill Rexford, Chuck Mahoney, Lee Petty, Cotton Owens, Bill Blair, Hershel McGriff, and George Hartley. In 2011, Hershel McGriff still competed in regional road courses races in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series. Hershel McGriff might be the last living driver from this event; having attained the advanced age of 88 years old as of August 11, 2016.