Cars are rumbling, but the buzz around town just not the same on this NASCAR race day
Roger Collins just wants to hear that sound again, the car engines rumbling off in the distance. That sound is the lone connection to the way it was before, the way it was two long, long months ago.
The silence today is strange. It’s nearly noon on Sunday — race day — and the streets around Darlington Raceway are lined with checkered flags yet utterly devoid of people. Collins, 57, sits outside of his mobile home, on a campground just off Indian Branch Road. This is where he’ll take in the Real Heroes 400, the first NASCAR race since March 7 and one of the first sporting events to take place in the coronavirus era.
Collins loves living so close to the raceway, loves when every inch of the spacious green grass around him is filled with NASCAR fans and their RVs. It’s an opportunity to make new friends. But today the campground is empty, and that emptiness is strange, too.
Darlington born and raised, Collins is hungry for normalcy. Almost a year ago, on July 27, 2019, he took his motorcycle out for a ride and lost his left arm and left leg in a hit-and-run accident. In the last few weeks, along with the rest of the planet, he’s feared contracting COVID-19. He’s smoked since he was 8 years old. He worked in an underground mine for five years. He’s not sure his lungs can handle it.
But today is race day, and no matter how unconventional a NASCAR race with no fans is, Collins is going to make the most of it. It’s noon, and he’s already cracked open a Michelob Ultra. His friend of more than 30 years, John Ridings, is already shirtless. And both men, being the diehard NASCAR fans that they are, have their eyes locked onto the LCD television screen in front of them. Today is a celebration.
“Yesterday was (Ridings’) birthday,” Collins says, beer in hand. “So we kind of combined yesterday and today all in one.”
Adds Ridings:
“Can’t beat it, a day like today, good, cool breeze, good friends. Got the NASCAR back on, and we’re going to be firing up the grill. What else can you ask for?”
‘It’s a big change’
On the other side of the track, on Harry Byrd Highway, the scene isn’t much livelier — even as the Real Heroes 400’s 3:30 race time nears.
With police cars parked at every gate and security screeners, bomb-sniffing dogs and SWAT teams out in full force, NASCAR diehards, who would normally flood the highway en masse, have few options for parking their campers. Most of the fan activity revolves around the Raceway Grill, which thanks to the recently relaxed social distancing rules, is allowed to host a small watch party.
Owner Tony Baird said this week, strangely enough, has felt like a typical race week with the amount of buzz he’s heard from his customers. Baird and his staff set up an outdoor dining area in the back of the restaurant, with spaced out tables and hand sanitizing stations and a 24-foot projection screen to watch the race.
“I think it’s huge not only for the racetrack and for NASCAR to restart, but I think it’s huge for South Carolina for us to be the dadgum focal point for being the first one to kick off sports again,” Baird said. “I don’t think we’re really going to know the significance of it until a little bit later down the road, but I just think it’s huge just for our country to get things back to normal.”
Still, the scene is a bit understated when the race begins — just a small smattering of cheers from the seven occupied tables in the back.
Hunter Lee, 15, dressed in a NASCAR T-shirt and hat, sits at one of those tables with his grandparents. The last few weeks haven’t been easy for the Florence native who said he watches NASCAR races every weekend.
“Well, it’s a big change,”Lee said. “It’s hard to get used to, but I’m just glad we’re out here and we can enjoy this. I’ve missed it so much. I’ve watched reruns, highlights. I’ve been missing it a lot.”
Across the street are two small pockets of fans. Raul Nunez and his father, Doug Rohe, try to find a signal on the TV outside of their mobile home. At the house next door, Mauri Kelly is cooking a Southern chicken bog and hosting a few close friends. Kelly has lived in her house near the track since 2007 — long enough to get adjusted to the noise. She’s thrilled Darlington was the choice to host NASCAR’s return, even if the feeling of a no-spectator race is bittersweet.
“It’s fun for us,” she said. “I mean, it’s a first because we all want to witness it, but honestly because it’s not like it was, it’s kind of sad.”
‘You don’t need nothing else’
The campground remains mostly empty as the cars blare off in the distance, although a few campers have joined Collins and Ridings since noon.
With the Real Heroes 400 a few laps in, a collection of campers from Conway are scrambling to set up their own TV. They even bought a new one today just to make sure they can get the race. Robbin Jackson, her husband, Darrell, and granddaughter, Jade, made the short drive to Darlington just so they could hear the sounds of the cars.
“It just gets your motor running,” Jackson says, laughing.
Back at Collins’ mobile home, the group around him and Ridings has swelled to a handful of close friends — fellow bikers. The last year, and especially the last couple of months, have tested Collins. He says every day is a challenge. But moments like this one, just outside Darlington Raceway, with beers in hand, NASCAR on TV and the cars roaring in the distance, these moments keep him going.
“If you’ve got friends,” Collins says, surrounded by a half dozen of them, “you don’t need nothing else.”
This story was originally published May 17, 2020 at 6:31 PM.
