Family Movie Nights at the Darlington Raceway: July 18th and August 22nd

Hollywood is coming to Darlington Raceway.

On Friday, July 18 and Friday, August 22, the track will host "Turn 3 Theater Presented by Raceway Automotive", a free movie event hosted at the track's lush hospitality village.

The family-fun movie nights will feature Pixar's "Cars" in June and Disney's "Planes" in August. During the "Cars" showing, the track will have the famous Hudson Hornet on display. The Hudson Hornet was the inspiration behind the character "Doc" in the original film, which was released in 2006.

"Planes" was a 2013 spinoff from the "Cars" franchise.

"Turn 3 Theater Presented by Raceway Automotive" will also offer kids activities, cornhole games and a variety of other family activities. Pace car rides for a $5 per person donation and concessions will be available with all proceeds benefiting the track's 501(c)3 non-profit arm, Darlington Shares.

Movie fans will need to enter the track at the Gate 39A tunnel entrance to the track, where they will be directed to the parking area just west of the hospitality village. The gates will open at 6pm with the movies starting at dusk. The films will be played on a big screen courtesy of the City of Hartsville. Lawn chairs, blankets and coolers are permitted (no glass bottles).

Downtown Darlington to get mural honoring race track

Artist Blue Sky will return to Darlington to complete a second mural for the city of Darlington — this time one to commemorate the story of Darlington Raceway.

Darlington City Council voted to hire the Columbia artist during its January regular meeting. The mural is scheduled to be complete in time for this year’s new race date in early April.

The mural will be located at 114 Pearl St. at the Liberty Lane Winston Walk of Fame, a brick pathway created in 1989 through a partnership of the Darlington Downtown Revitalization Association, the City of Darlington and Darlington Raceway.

“This mural will serve as another point of community pride at the town’s center like the Blue Sky mural on Main Street, Williamson Park and the Veterans Memorial Park will be once it’s complete,” said Darlington City Planning Director Lisa Chalian-Rock, who developed the idea after many walks meandering through downtown.

With the change in Darlington’s annual race date from Mother’s Day weekend to April 11-12, the city also wanted to do something special to highlight its connection to the track, which has given Darlington international name recognition. The city will hold a celebration and reception for Blue Sky and the new mural during race week at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9 at Liberty Lane with light refreshments and musical entertainment before the Car Haulers Parade and Racefest at 7 p.m.

The artwork of the mural will tell the story of how the “Lady in Black” came to be in a graphic novel style using bold colors and snapshots of the early history of racing in Darlington.

Work is slated to begin Monday.