Darlington Record Club

Membership qualifications

Drivers were awarded membership in the club based on official time trials for the Southern 500. The fastest single driver of each car make (e.g. Chevrolet, Ford, etc.) each won the membership. The general requirements for eligibility were as follows:

• Car making the qualifying attempt must be a current model year car.
• At least three cars from each car make must be entered for that make to have an automatic berth in the club for that year.
• The fastest single driver from each of the various car makes qualified for the club, provided their speed was within 2% of the fastest overall car in the field.

Special provisions were made for other cars:

• If only one car from a particular make is entered, that driver was only eligible if he set a track record for that car make; and was within 2% of the fastest overall car in the field (i.e., the pole position winner for the race)
• If the car was not a current model year chassis, that driver was only eligible if he was the overall fastest driver for that make (i.e., faster than all the current model year chassis of that same make); and he was within 2% of the fastest overall car in the field.

By 2000, the "within 2%" rule was tightened to "within 1%."

Drivers who qualified for the club attended a special dinner and reception and received a special blue blazer. Drivers who entered the club by setting an overall Darlington track record, however, received the more prestigious white blazer. A ring,{{Cite web |access-date=2011-10-10 |archive-date=2011-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917051758/http://www.fireballroberts.com/Pure_Record_Club.htm |url-status=dead

Only records set in the September Southern 500 were recognized for the club. Any records set during the spring race, or support races (added in 1983 to the Southern 500 weekend) were not eligible.

Competition Board

Once the membership was established, the active members of the club were eligible for the annual Competition Board. All active members who qualified for the race within 2% of the fastest car in the field (later 1%) were placed on the board. The board's primary responsibilities were to assist NASCAR in training rookies for racing at each race during the season.

Once the Competition Board was established, the board members voted amongst themselves to select the Club President and Club Vice-President. Each had a tenure of one year. The president's duties primarily were to lead the rookie training, and conduct the annual Darlington Raceway rookie orientation meeting and further rookie test that they had to pass (similar to the Indianapolis 500) before attempting to qualify at Darlington for either race. Likewise, they were not allowed to qualify on the first day of time trials, and were relegated to the second round only (starting 21st or lower).

In 1977, Darlington Raceway began adding support races that helped inexperienced drivers gain experience in shorter events with less-powerful cars. The Baby Grand National series ran 150 kilometer (94.5 mile) races for four-cylinder cars, which ran until 1984. In 1982, the second national series (now the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series) added a 200 mile race for the Rebel 500 weekend, and in 1983 another second national series race was run on Southern 500 weekend as a 250-mile race (owing to Blue Laws in South Carolina, the race was set to the state's 250-mile minimum for Sunday races). From 1984 to 2004, support races for the second national series were added to both weekends. Since these drivers had gained experience at Darlington through support races (up to 294 laps of experience in two lower races each year), the rookie panel and NASCAR decided in 1993 to abolish both the rookie test and the first-round rookie prohibition, as Cup Series rookies had typically made four or more starts through support races, if they had at least two full seasons of support series events. When the rule was abolished in 1993, the three primary rookies had each made at least four Darlington starts through the two second national series races each of the previous two seasons. Since 2005, the second national series has run one race (two from 2020-2024) and the current tertiary Craftsman Truck Series also a single race at Darlington, annually since 2020 (two in 2021), allowing drivers to gain even more experience. As of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, the Xfinity Series races on the spring weekend and the Truck Series runs on the Southern 500 weekend.

Record Club by car make

thunderbird note Note that in 1959 & 1960, the Ford Thunderbird was categorized separately from Ford.

Sources:

Alphabetical member list

Bold indicates track record member (white blazer)

• Bobby Allison
• Davey Allison
• Donnie Allison
• John Andretti
• H. B. Bailey
• Buck Baker
• Buddy Baker
• Walter Ballard
• Earl Balmer
• Johnny Benson
• Bunkie Blackburn
• Dick Brooks
• Brett Bodine
• Geoff Bodine
• Neil Bonnett
• Bob Burdick
• Ward Burton
• Earle Canavan
• Joe Caspolich
• Neil Castles
• Curtis Crider
• Darel Dieringer
• Dale Earnhardt
• Bill Elliott
• Harry Gant
• Charlie Glotzbach
• Jeff Gordon
• Pete Hamilton
• Bobby Hillin Jr.
• T. C. Hunt
• Ernie Irvan
• Kenny Irwin Jr.*
• Dale Jarrett
• Bobby Johns
• Junior Johnson
• Dick Joslin
• Alan Kulwicki
• Bobby Labonte
• Terry Labonte
• Elmo Langley
• Fred Lorenzen
• Tiny Lund
• Dave Mader
• Dave Marcis
• Sterling Marlin
• Rick Mast
• Jeremy Mayfield
• Ed Negre
• Cotton Owens
• Marvin Panch
• Benny Parsons
• Jim Paschal
• David Pearson
• Richard Petty
• J.T. Putney
• Tim Richmond
• Fireball Roberts
• Ricky Rudd
• Joe Ruttman
• Greg Sacks
• Ken Schrader
• Morgan Shepherd
• Mike Skinner
• Lake Speed
• G.C. Spencer
• Larry Thomas
• Speedy Thompson
• Curtis Turner
• Roy Tyner
• Rusty Wallace
• Darrell Waltrip
• Joe Weatherly
• Rex White
• Jim Whitman
• Cale Yarborough
• LeeRoy Yarbrough
• Emanuel Zervakis

*Posthumous induction. Irwin won pole and set the track record in 1999 during Pepsi Southern 500 qualifying, but was killed at during Cup practice at the Loudon July race ten months later.

Sources:

One of the award plaques presented to Bobby Allison was featured on the television program American Pickers. It was acquired for display at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.{{Cite episode |episode-link=American Pickers

Club presidents

Tenure runs for 12 months, from September to September of each year.

• 1960-61 Fireball Roberts
• 1961-62
• 1962-63 Buck Baker
• 1963-64
• 1964-65
• 1965-66
• 1966-67
• 1967-68
• 1968-69
• 1969-70 Bobby Allison
• 1970-71
• 1971-72
• 1972-73
• 1973-74
• 1974-75
• 1975-76
• 1976-77 Dave Marcis
• 1977-78
• 1978-79
• 1979-80 Donnie Allison
• 1980-81 Ricky Rudd
• 1981-82
• 1982-83
• 1983-84 Bill Elliott
• 1984-85 Ricky Rudd
• 1985-86
• 1986-87
• 1987-88 Bobby Hillin Jr.
• 1988-89 Darrell Waltrip
• 1989-90
• 1990-91
• 1991-92
• 1992-93
• 1993-94
• 1994-95 Bobby Labonte
• 1996-97 John Andretti
• 1997-98
• 1998-99
• 1999-00 Ricky Rudd
• 2000-01
• 2001-02
• Ken Schrader
• Jeff Gordon

Sources

• The Official NASCAR Preview and Press Guide, 1994 & 2001 edition
• Rookies get scoop on each track from veteran Rudd, August 31, 2000
• Brooks, Allison, Tyner To Be Inducted Into Record Club

References

References

1. (1994). "The Official NASCAR Preview and Press Guide 1994". UMI Publications, Inc..
2. (2001). "The Official NASCAR Preview and Press Guide 2001". UMI Publications, Inc..
3. Rudd, Ricky. (2003-08-27). "Manic Monday". [[Sports Illustrated]].
4. "Dick Joslin Facts".
5. (March 26, 1988). "Martin paces 2nd day of qualifying". Times Daily Tennessee Edition.
6. [http://www.racing-reference.info/tracks/Darlington_Raceway Racing-Reference.info - Race Results at Darlington Raceway]