The old Darlington pit road control tower is visible at the top left of this faded Kodak Brownie snapshot I took from the main grandstand at the Labor Day 1966 Southern 500 won by Darel Dieringer in Bud Moore's Mercury Comet
#16 over Richard Petty who suffered a blown tire late in the race. It was the race that Earl Balmer almost went into the turn 1 press box in the K&K Dodge when he climbed the guardrail and sheared off the tops of the support posts.
Race officials called the shots from a booth in the pit road Tower and the legendary P.A. Announcer Ray Melton - as seen in the stock car cult film "Thunder in Carolina" held court with a 360 degree view from which he called the action.
