NASCAR WCUP: Jarrett and Darlington: The son also rises

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

August 29, 2001

DARLINGTON, S.C. - Try to imagine #88 UPS driver Dale Jarrett, not as a Winston Cup champion or the front man in all those funny UPS ads, but as an impressionable eight-year-old boy watching his father win the 1965 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Then you'll have some basis for understanding why Jarrett still heads his list of most memorable races with an event he didn't even compete in! It was Ned Jarrett's resounding victory in the '65 Southern 500 that opened his youngest son's eyes to a possible future in the sport.

In Sunday's Southern 500 (TNT: 12:30 p.m. EDT), Jarrett will revisit not only the site of his first victory this season, but the venue that helped change his impression of racing forever. Noteworthy items include:

Darlington Raceway, widely regarded as the track too tough to tame, has actually been fairly forgiving in the fall to drivers who've won the legendary track's spring event that same year. Since Jarrett began his full-time Winston Cup driving career in 1987, four drivers have swept Darlington's annual events (Dale Earnhardt turned the trick twice in 1987 and 1990; Jeff Gordon did so in 1996 and Jeff Burton most recently accomplished the feat in 1999).

Jarrett owns a trio of Winston Cup wins at the abrasive, 1.366-mile track in Darlington with all three coming in the spring (1997, 1998 and 2001).

And while he has yet to secure the Southern 500 win, bloodlines suggest that it's only a matter of time for the 44-year-old superstar. That's because his father, two-time series champion Ned Jarrett, captured the 1965 Southern 500 in stirring fashion. The elder Jarrett won the race by 14 laps over his competition that day and effectively clinched his second and final title!

Jarrett spoke on that '65 Southern 500 win, how it impacted him as a kid and why it still ranks at the top of his most cherished memories in racing:

"Up until he won that race in 1965, I didn't really think much about how big racing was," Jarrett said. "But, we were living in Camden (S.C.) at the time and it was only about 30 miles from Darlington. There were a lot of people at the race who came from Camden that day."

Jarrett continued, "It was a race that my father wanted to win for a long time and the fact that he won by 14 laps made it even more special to (friends, family and Camden residents). When we got home that night from the racetrack, it seemed like the entire town of Camden was at our house. That was when I realized there was something special about racing...I realized it was really a big deal."

Text provided by Kris Johnson

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.