Retro Look Taking Shape at Darlington

This doesn't make up for a lack of NASCAR racing at the speedway over Labor Day weekend, but the new retro look at Darlington Raceway is certainly a good look.

Darlington, site of Saturday night's wannabe Southern 500 presented by GoDaddy.com -- don't forget that GoDaddy or Danica will go after you -- has drawn up an old-time logo and repainted its walls to commemorate the track's 60th anniversary.

And if I must say so myself, the alternating red-and-white paint job around the track [photos below] isn't such a bad idea for a track that with the history and character of Darlington.

The track unveiled the new look a little over a week ago when former Southern 500 winner and three-time Cup champ Cale Yarborough stopped by for a promotional day with current Sprint Cup rookie Joey Logano.

"Giving the most famous walls on the NASCAR circuit a retro facelift seemed very fitting as part of our 60th celebration," said Chris Browning, Darlington's track president in a news release. "This is the first time since 1989 that the walls have been painted anything but white and it certainly reminds me of the early days of NASCAR racing."

Browning, of course, calls the walls of Darlington the 'most famous' because of how prevalent the 'Darlington Stripe' is at the track. A 'stripe' happens when a driver tags the outside Darlington wall to leave both a mark on the race car and on the wall which, thanks to the line drivers run at the track near that wall, is a very common occurence.

The news release said it took 315 gallons of paint and the track's maintanence department over 50 hours to restore the look the track had used up until 1989. The red and white sections are alternating at 40 feet long a piece.

This isn't the first time a track has revamped the wall color for a race, as next weekend's Sprint Cup All-Star Race will feature walls painted to match the yellow of Sprint -- the race's title sponsor.

In both cases, I think, they've added a nice visual aesthetic to watching the action television and at the track simply because its something different. Sure, I may be on a kick this week about getting a more diverse character to NASCAR this week, but can you really argue against that?