A Ball, A Bucket And A NASCAR Trailblazer

A Ball, A Bucket And A NASCAR Trailblazer



October 1, 2010


Guest Column By Cathy Elliott


When the NASCAR Hall of Fame announces the names of its 2010 inductees on October 13, Harold Brasington Sr. will not be on the list. But if one native South Carolinian has his way, that will change in the near future.
To his family, Mr. Brasington was "just a sweet man, a lot of fun." He taught his namesake to drive an 18-wheeler by the time he was 14 years old, and would design anything, even inventing games for his grandchildren to play. "He could figure out a hundred ways to throw a ball in a bucket," says his grandson, Harold Brasington III.
To the rest of the world, Mr. Brasington is best known as the man who built Darlington Raceway. He is one of the major characters in the famous storytelling of his decision to "pinch in" one end of the racetrack during construction in order to leave a minnow pond on the property undisturbed. This created both Darlington's unique 'egg' shape and one of NASCAR's greatest folk tales.
The most truly unique thing about Darlington back then, however, was the fact that it hosted the first-ever NASCAR-sanctioned race run on a paved surface. The sport as we know it today literally didn't exist until Mr. Brasington built that track.
The minnow pond eventually dried up, but NASCAR flourished and continued to move forward. Mr. Brasington did the same. His racing accomplishments neither started nor ended in Darlington. A trucker by trade, who also owned and operated a sand and gravel business, he became the motorsports equivalent of Johnny Appleseed; wherever he went, he left behind a place where people could watch a race.
"This guy littered the Carolinas with racetracks. He could not help himself. It was in his blood. He was always looking for a new project, finding another place to build a racetrack of some kind or another," says Harold III, who plans to spend the next year -- or two, or however long it takes -- actively campaigning for his grandfather's inclusion in the HOF.
"His career in motorsports spanned a period of time from the 1930s through the late 1970s and into the early ‘80s. That's a significant career," Brasington says.
"I attended a race at Darlington several years back, and someone turned to me as it was kicking off and said, 'Isn't this amazing, that your granddad started all this?' And I thought, you know, yes, it is. It truly is. I really had not considered that very much until then. I took it for granted. I thought every small town had a racetrack, and everybody's granddad did cool stuff like that."
He didn't design quite a hundred places for cars to race, but not for lack of trying. Mr. Brasington's many projects over the years included the construction of the North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, N.C.; Tarheel Speedway in Randleman, N.C., a joint project with Lee Petty; and Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, N.C., where Bill France Jr. held one of his early racing jobs.
"When Bill Jr. left the military, his father was looking for an opportunity for him, and talked to my grandfather about putting him to work. They got him set up to work at Champion Speedway; he was the concessions manager," Brasington says.
Harold Sr. was also an early participant in the Charlotte Motor Speedway project. He had purchased the land and already begun excavating stone and preparing to build before eventually selling out to Bruton Smith, who built the track with driver Curtis Turner. Harold III has an original prospectus for the speedway in his memorabilia collection.
Mr. Brasington's passion for racing was not limited to stock cars. In the 1970s, he and a partner built the Darlington International Dragway, which is still open and going strong. "I think drag racing really appealed to him because it was similar to the type of atmosphere they had in the early days of stock car racing. Anybody with the guts to show up with a car and an entry fee could get out there and see what they had. He liked that," Brasington says.
While NASCAR's drivers built the sport with their talent, other racing legends literally built it with their hands. Harold Brasington Sr., is one those people. For a non-driver to be considered for inclusion in the HOF, he or she must have been involved in the industry for at least 10 years. Mr. Brasington fills that requirement, about five times over.
For now, Harold Brasington III says his plan is to reach out to everyone he knows in the industry and ask them to support a future HOF nomination for his grandfather. He feels that if he can bring the length and breadth of Mr. Brasington's accomplishments to widespread attention, it will further his cause and ultimately, give proper credit where it is due.
"I think it's appropriate to recognize the individuals who risked so much and contributed so much to the sport in its early days and get them in the earlier Hall of Fame classes. There are a lot of deserving people out there, but I would like to see those strong pioneers get in there soon. My grandfather was one of those pioneers," he says. "Most people readily recognize him as the builder of the Darlington track, and that's a wonderful accomplishment, but it just scratches the surface of what he achieved.
"He contributed so much. I believe he deserves recognition."