Darlington Raceway charts course for Labor Day celebrations, remembrances

For one day, the Governor’s Mansion will turn into a hub for NASCAR and Darlington Raceway.

Defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick and rookie Ryan Blaney will be parking their cars on the mansion’s grounds Tuesday as part of the raceway’s annual media day. Harvick and Blaney will each drive their street legal cars from Camden down I-20 and end up in Columbia.

The drivers plan to take a lap around the State House before arriving at the Governor’s Mansion. NBC Sports will film the event and broadcast it on its NASCAR coverage Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Governor Nikki Haley has been a big supporter of the race track. And to incorporate Columbia and the State House in this is going to be special,” Darlington Raceway president Chip Wile said. “There has been a lot of coordination with the highway patrol and other organizations in planning this. But everyone has wanted to help and make this event special.”

Haley has called Darlington Raceway a “gem for the state” and hosted a business luncheon there last year that included International Speedway Corporation CEO Lesa Kennedy. Haley attended the Southern 500 in 2012.

Tuesday’s light-hearted event in Columbia will serve as a final push for Wile and his staff to get ready for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 race weekend Sept 4-6. It’s the first time the race will run on Labor Day weekend since 2003.

Many events will be held that weekend in conjunction with the return to Labor Day, a spot the race occupied on the NASCAR race calendar for more than 50 years. The track will honor that heritage and focus on the years 1970-74 for this year’s event.

Grand Funk Railroad will perform a concert before the Southern 500, and country music star Tanya Tucker will sing the national anthem. The track’s concession stands will offer food and prices with throwback prices to those years with pimento cheese sandwiches going for $3 and fried green tomatoes for $4.

The Southern 500 parade, a one-time staple during race weekend, will go through downtown Darlington the day before the Southern 500. The parade begins shortly after the Xfinity Series race held earlier that day. Trent Owens, a Darlington native and crew chief for the No. 43 Cup car driven by Aric Almirola, will serve as the grand marshal for the parade.

More than a dozen NASCAR Hall of Famers and several former Southern 500 beauty queens will be on hand during the race weekend.

“We are adding elements to the event weekend that bring value to our fans,” Wile said. “We want to give them more for their dollar.”

Nearly 20 teams have planned retro paint schemes for the event. Denny Hamlin was the latest to announce he will run a paint scheme in both the Xfinity and Cup races as a tribute to South Carolina native and NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough.

Harvick is trading in his typically red, white or black No. 4 car for a gold car in honor of his sponsor Anheuser-Busc’s first beer can.

“It’s great that Darlington is embracing its rich tradition with the Southern 500’s return to Labor Day weekend,” Harvick said in May. “Budweiser saw this as an excellent opportunity to celebrate its own history by racing the colors and design from the first can Budweiser ever made.”

Wile hopes the added events and extra time to prepare translate into a big crowd. The track hasn’t hosted a race in more than 14 months but has kept busy with other events.

The track’s last sellout was in 2008, which wrapped up four straight Mother’s Day race weekend dates.

“This is shaping up as one of those events people don’t want to miss,” said the second-year president of the track.