Two-day Darlington festival draws about 5,000

The Associated Press

Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008

DARLINGTON, S.C. - It was like old times at Darlington Raceway, but with no stock cars competing and a much smaller crowd than had traditionally gathered for the Labor Day weekend race.

NASCAR's "Lady In Black" hosted its first Historic Racing Festival this week with about 125 cars on display and about 5,000 people attending the two-day event.

Fans got to see some of NASCAR's most famous former drivers, including David Pearson, Junior Johnson, Darrell Waltrip and Ned Jarrett.

Darlington had been host of the Southern 500 on Labor Day Weekend between 1950 and 2003. NASCAR moved the race to California Speedway, now Auto Club Speedway, in Fontana.

Darlington president Chris Browning hit on the idea of the festival to utilize the track more than one weekend a year. The raceway has held a Sprint Cup event on Mother's Day weekend for the past four years.

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