On July 4, 1951, Darlington Raceway hosted its first Indy car (AAA Championship Car) event, the Darlington 250. The race covered 200 laps on the 1.25-mile paved oval for a total distance of 250 miles.
Walt Faulkner, driving the #2 J.C. Agajanian Kuzma-Offy, started 7th and dominated by leading 170 laps to score a convincing victory in a time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 14 seconds at an average speed of 104.239 mph. Tony Bettenhausen finished second in the #99 Belanger Kurtis-Offy, while Cecil Green took third in the John Zink Kurtis-Offy. The field featured many top Indy 500 regulars, but mechanical issues took a heavy toll—only a handful of cars completed all 200 laps.
The experimental open-wheel event drew an attendance of approximately 23,000 spectators. This was considered a solid crowd for bringing Indy-style roadsters to the NASCAR superspeedway, though it fell short of the massive turnouts typical for Darlington’s Southern 500 stock car races. The purse was around $22,465.
Faulkner’s strong performance added momentum to his 1951 campaign and highlighted the versatility of the era’s cars on different ovals.
