throwback.lionelracing.comDarlington Throwback Returns September 4th! | Lionel Racing

Are you ready to take a ride back in time? Scroll or swipe through our Throwback Timeline to discover the stories behind the paint schemes on track at Darlington Raceway, and the legendary cars that made NASCAR history in the first place. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year contender Chase Elliott honors the 90 years of NAPA ® history with a car design inspired by the company’s first fleet of delivery trucks. With its "retro cool" yellow and black scheme, Elliott’s car captures the look of the NAPA ® delivery truck logo, which was introduced in 1963. "The logo was actually on one of their delivery trucks in the 1960s, and we modeled the entire paint scheme off of that truck," Elliott said. "I think it turned out really good. I like it, and I’m excited about running it in Darlington." Smokey Yunick was a two-time NASCAR Mechanic of the Year and won two NASCAR Cup championships. But he may be best remembered for "Smokey’s Best Damn Garage in Town" - the shop he ran in Daytona Beach, Fla. for four decades. This year, in the Bojangles’ Southern 500, the black and gold colors made famous by car owner Yunick and bearing the logo of his famous Daytona Beach business, will race again with driver Casey Mears behind the wheel. Yunick, a World War II Army Air Corps pilot, embodied the grit, ambition and creativity of the workers who founded and developed America, as well as NASCAR. "My dad loved racing at Darlington, tire problems and gnats alike. It’s so special to us to have him remembered in this way," said Trish Yunick, Smokey Yunick’s daughter. "I look forward to seeing the black and gold 13 on the track again. I am thrilled that Smokey’s legacy is getting a chance to be in front of the next generation of NASCAR fans and hope it encourages renewed interest in his story." "That car, with Curtis Turner driving, was on pole in 1967 when I won the Daytona 500. It will be fun to see the No. 13 black and gold Chevrolet race again. The stories behind that car, including stories about Smokey and Curtis Turner are worth revisiting. Race fans will enjoy it for sure. There will be a lot of reminiscing. Very special for Darlington to have that car in the race." Last September, before signing 500 of his 1965 Abingdon Ford Galaxie die-cast in a cozy building on his property that he calls "The Kitchen," NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough sat down with us and answered some questions about his life and career. One of those questions was about his infamous flight over the Darlington Raceway fence during the 1965 Southern 500. Yarborough was battling Sam McQuagg for first place in the last few laps of the race when they got tied up. Yarborough’s car flew so far over the guard rail that it landed in the parking lot. He claimed he was still trying to drive it when he saw grass. At that point, he knew he was in big trouble, because the race track didn’t have any grass on it. "They couldn’t even get an ambulance around there, so I had to climb back up the bank and get picked up." He and his Ford had fallen 50 feet down the embankment. Miraculously, Yarborough was unhurt. As a rule though, the South Carolina native’s Darlington races didn’t end in catastrophe. During his NASCAR Cup Series career, he scored five wins and 17 top-10 finishes at his home track. Despite winning the Southern 500 race five times, Yarborough said the Darlington track, nicknamed "The Track Too Tough to Tame" and "The Lady in Black," was "one of the toughest places anybody ever raced on." They just don’t make drivers like Buddy Baker anymore. Baker, who passed away in August of 2015, was a second generation racer and a bona fide legend. He was also a man of firsts. Baker was the first driver to go 200 mph during NASCAR® competition; and the first to win the four major races - Daytona, Talladega, Darlington, and Charlotte. And in the 1969 Daytona 500, Baker’s lead foot and his Ray Fox-owned No. 3 Dodge Charger powered him to the pole position, where he led the field in "The Great American Race." The next year, Baker won the 1970 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. He followed that up with a repeat victory in 1971. Baker was also known for what many say is the best paint scheme in NASCAR history - his iconic "Gray Ghost" Oldsmobile which is the inspiration for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 2016 Darlington ride. NASCAR XFINITY Series driver Brendan Gaughan will let it all ride at Darlington Raceway in a retro version of his No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro. The design is inspired by the racing career of Gaughan’s father, Michael Gaughan, who began competing in offroad races in 1969. As part of the track’s throwback weekend, the Richard Childress Racing driver’s South Point Casino-sponsored car will run a paint scheme reminiscent of 1970s Las Vegas and the Royal Inn Casino. Michael Gaughan drove a similar paint scheme in the High Desert Racing Association and SCORE Desert Racing Series. Matt DiBenedetto will definitely have his Orange Crush at Darlington Raceway when his No. 83 Toyota Camry sports a scheme that features a retro Orange Crush design. The Orange Crush logo on the BK Racing driver’s car will remind fans of the 1960s, when bottles of the orange-flavored carbonated beverage featured a similar look. The 1971 and 1972 Southern 500s were owned by Bobby Allison. The legendary racer from Hueytown, Ala., proved he was indeed "The Real Thing" at Darlington Raceway, driving his red-and-gold Coca-Cola machine to emphatic, back-to-back victories at the tough and gritty South Carolina track. Allison dominated from start-to-finish in both races at the 1.366-mile oval. He started from the pole each time and led 558 of the 734 laps available (76 percent). He paced the field for all but 38 laps in the 1971 Southern 500 and led a race-high 229 laps in the 1972 Southern 500. The victories were the first of five premiere series wins Allison earned at Darlington. Tony Stewart will try to emulate Allison’s 1971 and 1972 performances when he competes at Darlington on Sept. 4 in his final Southern 500. Driving a No. 14 Coca-Cola Chevrolet that will match the paint scheme Allison drove to those epic wins, Stewart will certainly look the part. With Coca-Cola’s tagline of that era, "The Real Thing", emblazoned on the car, the authentic look from Allison’s race-winning cars has been recreated on Stewart’s Chevrolet SS, right down to the gold wheels and cubic-inch displacement boast on the hood. "Those red-and-gold Coca-Cola cars were very good to me," said Allison. "From 1970 through 1975, Coca-Cola was on my car and we won a lot of races. We won 11 races in ’71, the most I ever had in a single season, and then we came back to win 10 more in ’72. And that first win at Darlington - it was such a tough track and such a long race - it meant so much. "Tony Stewart is a real racer who would’ve fit right in during the time I raced in NASCAR. He’s a perfect fit for this Coca-Cola Chevy." COCA-COLA, COKE, the Contour Bottle Design, and the Dynamic Ribbon Device are trademarks of The Coca-Cola Company. ©2016 The Coca-Cola Company. All rights reserved. In 1972, when the Miller Brewing Co. first obtained the rights to start producing what is known today as Miller Lite, the cans featured the word "Lite" in script and a few of the ingredients necessary to make the company’s now famous beer. That design disappeared from cans in 1974, but it will reappear at Darlington Raceway on Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion. Darrell Waltrip’s NASCAR Hall of Fame career began at what’s now Talladega Superspeedway in May 1972. That’s when Waltrip rolled onto the track in his No. 95 1971 Mercury Cyclone, prepared by the legendary Holman Moody racing organization. Waltrip’s car already had a winning pedigree, as it was built on the same 1967 Ford Fairlane chassis driven to victory in the 1967 Daytona 500 by Mario Andretti. But for his first Cup start, Waltrip (who was also the car owner) was sponsored by Terminal Transport of his hometown,...