“Different World Out There, Man”: Richard Petty Delivers Verdict on NASCAR’s Transformation of 73-Year-Old Historic Track

When Harold Brasington returned home from watching the Indianapolis 500 in 1933 and decided that he was going to build his own racetrack in South Carolina, everyone deemed him a madman. But that declaration is what laid one of the crucial founding stones for today’s stock car racing. From the moment cars set wheels on the Darlington Raceway back in 1950, the track has proved to be a difficult test for generations. 

Few drivers get to boast victory at a Southern 500 over the last 70-odd years and former racing legend Richard Petty happens to be one of them. Coming back from the 2023 season’s first playoff race at Darlington, he revealed an interesting detail about how the raceway has changed over the years.

Richard Petty notes the increased difficulty of the Darlington Raceway

The Darlington Raceway was built on land that was originally a cotton field. The farmer who’d sold Harold Brasington the 70-acre land had done so on one condition: None of the fish in his nearby minnow were to be harmed. The condition posed a challenge for the builder and he was forced to modify his original design to make one corner of the oval narrower than the other—a change that has haunted drivers through all these years.

17 years after its inauguration, Richard “The King” Petty, fired through the black asphalt of the track and won his first and only Southern 500. A question from an Instagram user took Richard on a trip back in time as he compared the differences in the track from back when he raced on it and now.

Emphasizing how the track had broadened, he said, “It’s a lot daggum faster, I know that! You know that track itself has really broadened. I was watching some races from years ago. You know, both corners now are banked all the way up.

“And watching them run and stuff, nobody really ran up against the wall back in the day. […] They’ve changed the way they get around the race track.”

Despite having won just once at the Darlington Raceway throughout his career, Richard hasn’t lost any affinity for the track. An incident that exemplified this was when he was called to the raceway as an honorary pace car driver ahead of the 2017 Southern 500.

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Driving his 1967 #43 Plymouth Belvedere, the legend refused to come off the track after his job was done. Refusing to return the #43 to the pits one lap before the drivers took the green flag, he funnily attracted a black flag and sent riots of laughter across the racing community.

Reminiscing the olden days along with Richard on his Instagram handle was Dale Inman, his crew chief of 3 decades. The couple had been the brightest stars on the field back in their day and won 7 Cup Series championships together. With Inman lining his thoughts with Richard’s, he talked about how the race track itself had become a challenge along with other racers. Subjecting himself to the changes that time has brought, Richard commented, “Different world out there, man.”

Read More: “You Can’t Black Flag the 43!”: When Richard Petty Refused to Come Off the Track That His Son Kyle Despised