COVID likely taking a back seat at May race, Tharp says
Darlington Raceway President Kerry Tharp. FILE PHOTO
By Bobby Bryant, Editor
editor@newsandpress.net
The NASCAR contest in May at Darlington Raceway might be a Throwback Weekend in more ways than one, raceway President Kerry Tharp says.
“All in all, it’s gonna be a weekend in May that resembles more like maybe what we were used to seeing two or three years ago, without the (COVID) restrictions that we had to have in ’20 and ’21,” Tharp said in a Feb. 15 video interview arranged by NASCAR.
“I think that our fans are gonna be the beneficiaries of all that,” he said.
He said COVID cautions will be less evident in May, now that the pandemic seems to be heading into another downslope after a surge in January.
“We’re going to have live entertainment again in the midway,” Tharp said. “We’re bringing in the Hall of Famers. We’ll have probably upwards of 10 to 12 Hall of Famers or legends that are gonna be part of this Throwback Weekend. We really haven’t been able to do that in about three years because of the pandemic.”
“That May event’s gonna get here pretty quick,” Tharp said. “ … I think the anticipation level may be at an all-time high for our sport this year.”
This year, the raceway’s traditional Throwback Weekend will not be restricted to any particular era, such as the 1970s or 1980s, Tharp said. It will be open to any era, a “wide-open observance” of the history of NASCAR racing.
Reporters during the online Zoom interview asked Tharp about NASCAR’s “Next Gen” cars, which will be racing at Darlington for the first time in May.
“I don’t think there’s been more excitement surrounding a new car than this one,” Tharp said. “They (put) a lot of time and effort into this. … I think the level of anticipation is sky-high for this car.”
The Next Gen vehicles, Tharp said, are “only going to make the racing here better. … I think you’ll see maybe a little more passing. I also think this car’s gonna be difficult to handle. It’s a tougher car to drive. I think you’re gonna see hitting the wall a good bit more, maybe, than what we’ve seen the last three or four years here at Darlington. And that lends itself to even more exciting racing.”