Builder. In 1925, at the age of 14, Harold attended his first automobile race, and in the 1930's, he dabbled in racing dirt track stock cars. While enjoying the sport, he quickly decided driving was not for him. He attended the Indianapolis 500 in 1933 and when he returned to Darlington County, South Carolina, he sketched out a track on a paper napkin that he wanted to build. He bought 70 acres from farmer Sherman Ramsey, and started making a race track from a cotton and peanut field. Instead of being dirt, Harold wanted his to be a paved track like Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He would not be able to begin construction of his vision until after the Great Depression and World War II. Harold brought his own bulldozer to the site and began moving dirt on December 13, 1949. He had an agreement with Ramsey, whom he had bought the land from to leave the minnow pond undisturbed, so with that in mind, the speedway would be an egg shaped track. Harold created a 1.25-mile speedway with its front straightaway running parallel to the highway. Asphalt began to be laid on the track surface and Darlington Speedway was born. Harold began talking to stock car race promoters, including NASCAR's Big Bill France. NASCAR sanctioned the first race in September, 1950. 75 cars showed up to compete on the new asphalt speedway along with 25,000 spectators. Harold can be credited as the man who introduced NASCAR to asphalt speedway racing. He was inducted into the NMPA Stock Car Hall of Fame in 1992. He was the recipient of Darlington Chamber of Commerce's first Lifetime Achievement Award and many other sports and racing awards. Today, the track remains one of the toughest on the NASCAR Cup Series. The track allegedly earned the moniker The Lady in Black because the night before the race the track maintenance crew would cover the entire track with fresh asphalt sealant, in the early years of the speedway, thus making the racing surface dark black. Darlington is also known as "The Track Too Tough to Tame" due to the fact that drivers can run lap after lap without a problem and then bounce off of the wall the following lap. Racers will frequently explain that they have to race the racetrack, not their competition. Drivers hitting the wall are considered to have received their "Darlington Stripe" thanks to the missing paint on the right side of the car. He is survived by his wife of sixty two years, Mildred Baker Brasington, one son, three grandsons and one granddaughter. He died in a hospital after a long illness at the age of 86.