Darlington Hauler Parade Pulls In Race Fans From Near And Far

Darlington, SC—As tailgaters pulled into Darlington Raceway’s infield area and set up across the street, the Fifth Annual Darlington Car Hauler Parade and Festival at Florence Civic Center welcomed crowds of race fans to celebrate the beginning of race weekend in the Pee Dee.

The Car Hauler Parade and Festival, parade committee chairman Holly Young said, “is a partnership between two counties, Darlington and Florence.”

The festival initially was created “to recognize that these (car) haulers spend their lives making sure these cars get on the track on time,” she said. “A lot of time, you have a lot of notoriety with the driver but not with the pit crew and the hauler.”

The festival started at 4 p.m. at the civic center. The parade began at 7 p.m. and stopped at Darlington Public Square, where a second festival was waiting. The Florence location featured a musical performance by Southern Blue and the Darlington location featured a performance by musical group Sideswiped.

Both locations featured food and souvenir vendors, as well as children’s sections with games and inflatables.

The festival’s appeal to children was one of the most important aspects to Hartsville resident Kevin Selle. This was his third time attending the Car Hauler Festival and Parade.

There are knickknacks they give out that “you can give to your kids. There’s also (games), music and food,” he said.

Selle said the reason he keeps coming is the cars.

“I just like seeing how they’re painted up,” he said.

Florence resident Vanessa George heard about the event through a flyer one of her children brought home.

“One of the best parts about the event is being able to bring the kids,” she said.

She said her sons aren’t huge race fans, but “I think them being here boosts their excitement about it. They’ll probably be more excited about it now since they’ve seen what goes on.”

George is a NASCAR fan, but has never been able to attend a race at Darlington because she works.

“I don’t have to work tonight,” she said, “so, I’ll probably end up going to the race Saturday.”

Dwayne Weatherford, chairmen of the section of the festival at Darlington Public Square, said drawing attention to the race remains a strong characteristic of the event.

“When Darlington lost their first race, the track came to us and asked us to come up with something else to offer people during the weekend,” he said. “This festival brings people to town a day earlier and gets people excited leading into race weekend.”

Although the festival struggled in its early years to be recognized, being added to the NASCAR schedule this year was a huge help, Weatherford said.

“The approval of it by NASCAR is the biggest difference between this year’s festival and past festivals,” he said.

The fans never needed NASCAR’s approval, Weatherford said, but came simply out of love for the sport.

“People love being able to get up close, meet the guys who drive the trucks. It gives a personal touch to the weekend,” he said.