news-record.com

HAMPTON, Ga. — Jennifer Turner grew up with NASCAR, made the pilgrimage to the Southern 500 in the mid-1990s and shared the disbelief many Southerners felt when that race date moved to California five years ago.

She rejoices that a schedule change has the Cup series in Atlanta tonight, putting stock-car racing back in the South on Labor Day weekend for the first time since 2003.

"The way it should be," says the 38-year-old native Tar Heel who now who lives in Norfolk, Va.

Rational? Maybe not, but for many Southerners a Labor Day NASCAR race in this region is an emotional, some say spiritual, experience.

"It's what God intended," says Dan Pierce, UNC-Asheville history professor, of how Southerners view a Labor Day race in their neighborhood.

For as much as NASCAR seeks to expand, its home remains the South. Stock-car racing started here with moonshiners racing federal agents through backcountry roads and later the racing moved to dirt tracks. Then came Darlington, the sport's first superspeedway.

Labor Day and NASCAR formed a bond in 1950 with the first Southern 500. Held that weekend at Darlington through 2003, it was a rite of passage for fans, a form of Mardi Gras where some experiences in the infield — if remembered — are not suitable to be discussed in front of children. It also was a time for families. Many often spent the day before the race at Myrtle Beach, the trip a mix of sand and speed.

"Labor Day was Darlington," says 65-year-old Bud Johnson of Pelham, who attended races there for "God knows how many years."

And 11-year-old Roy Shipley of Virginia Beach, Va., was so excited on his first trip to the Southern 500 that he didn't sleep the night before the race.

Now 57 years old, Shipley recalls the race — and watching Norfolk native Joe Weatherly compete — but nothing afterward — he slept all the way home.

With no pro sports teams in the South until the mid-1960s, racing was how a generation of race fans was raised. They passed their affection for the sport to their children. Turner recalls family cookouts and watching the races with her family. She's raised her two children in a similar way.

That's why the South continues to embrace the sport. Eight of the top 20 TV markets nationally based on household viewership this season are Southern cities. One-third of Cup viewership last season came from the Southeast region

Pierce, whose book on NASCAR's early days will be available in February, notes the fervent feelings of Southerners even can be found in obituaries. He says one man's obit stated he was preceded in death by family members and also Dale Earnhardt.

Yet, being a NASCAR fan hasn't been easy for some Southerners. This sport has taken away more than it's given the past decade. The last Cup champion from the South was Dale Jarrett in 1999. Adam Petty, grandson of Richard Petty, died at New Hampshire in 2000. Earnhardt died at Daytona in 2001.

The Southern 500 was taken off Labor Day weekend after 2003. Rockingham lost one of its two Cup races in 2004 and lost the other one in 2005.

Now, the South has its Labor Day race back. There's no guarantee it will stay in Atlanta. Questions persist about the track's ability to attract fans — the race's fall date, which moved to this weekend, has seen its estimated attendance drop by one third in the last four years.

With NASCAR's schedule done on a year-by-year basis, it could change any time, although Atlanta is expected to retain this date next season.

While many would like to have this race weekend back in Darlington, that's not likely to happen with the track building a tradition around Mother's Day. Atlanta, though, is a worthy successor to Darlington to host a race this weekend.

Author Neal Thompson notes in his book "Driving With the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels and the Birth of NASCAR" what he called "twin birthplaces" of stock-car racing in the 1930s. He lists them as Daytona Beach and Atlanta.

Atlanta?

"When I started on the research I had the same assumption that things really germinated in the places that you usually hear about like Daytona," Thompson said. "Or people would often think when you mentioned NASCAR and moonshine, they would immediately think Junior Johnson and Wilkes County, but I was surprised to learn that, in my view, Atlanta played a much larger role, starting with Lakewood Speedway, which was one of the original sites.

"It really became the type of place that Darlington later became. Northern Georgia was the core region for moonshining and that crossover between moonshining and racing. Definitely you could argue that Atlanta is an important place in the history of the sport and probably a logical place to have a Labor Day if you can't do it in Darlington."

Turner would agree but is more forceful with her plea — or demand.

"It was born in the South," she says of stock-car racing. "It should stay in the South. If we have to put races outside of the South ... don't do it on a holiday."

At least for tonight she'll get her wish.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com