Lots Of Mileage From One Win

Wednesday morning, I spent some time at one of my favorite spots, a place few people get to hang out: the front stretch at Darlington Raceway.
The track is kind of a mess right now, as a multi-million-dollar re-paving project is about to crank into high gear.
All of the fancy SAFER barriers are gone, leaving the walls bear, and the paint has been power-washed away, revealing old "Winston Cup Series" and "Mountain Dew Southern 500" logos that have long since been forgotten.
One thing that hasn't been forgotten, though, was Ricky Craven's amazing win in the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400. It was the second-to-last spring race at The Track Too Tough To Tame, and Craven beat upstart Kurt Busch by .002 second. That's less than a wheel-length if you're scoring at home.
Craven was back at the track Wednesday, and he and track president Chris Browning reminisced about the race, and talked a lot about the future of the track, which will look (and drive) radically different for next May's Dodge Challenger 500.
Craven said though he is semi-retired now from NASCAR Sprint Cup driving, he still gets a lot of attention for his Darlington win.
Fans call him on his radio shows, come up to him at races, and stop him on the street to talk about THAT win.
I loved hearing about it, and it's obvious Craven, who only has two wins in his Sprint Cup career, loves talking about it.
I am excited to see what the "new Lady In Black" looks like, and, who knows, maybe we'll get to take a News13 car for a spin before the big boys return in May.
Just don't expect me to race as close as Craven and Busch did.
I'll leave that to the professionals, who leave their mark on tracks like Darlington, a place that continues to make its mark on American sports history every year.

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