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Sprint Cup
CUP: A Homecoming In Darlington
Funeral services were held for NASCAR’s Jim Hunter on Wednesday...
The marquee outside of Darlington Raceway bids farewell to Jim Hunter in the days following his death. (Photo: Courtesy of NASCAR)
Jim Hunter returned to his beloved South Carolina for the final time on a cloudy Wednesday and was eulogized within earshot of the race track where he made a thousand memories.
A funeral service for Hunter, who died last Friday after a long career in NASCAR circles, was held at Darlington Presbyterian Church, a downtown fellowship where he and his family were members. Hunter, NASCAR vice president of corporate communications and a motorsports raconteur for decades, was 71.
As befits a man whose reach spanned many years, many people and numerous communities, the crowd spilled through the doors of Darlington Presbyterian, and friends stood along the walls of the old church as seating was filled long before the beginning of the service.
The service opened with Scottish bagpipes and “Amazing Grace."
There were drivers new and old – Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison – and Hunter’s comrades-in-arms from a long career at the top levels of stock car racing. Track owners, team owners, mechanics long retired, many news media members and dozens of people who had worked for and with Hunter over the years came to say a last good-bye.
Hunter’s loss was felt particularly hard here in South Carolina tobacco country, where his leadership as the former president of Darlington Raceway stretched beyond the town’s landmark sports facility and onto the streets of the small downtown, where he was known in the barber shops and diners. He maintained a home here despite leaving the raceway’s employ in 2001 to return to work at NASCAR headquarters in Daytona Beach, Fla.
“He was one of the most charming personalities this town has ever seen,” said long-time Darlington Raceway official Harold King, who had put out more than a few fires with Hunter over the years and who offered the closing prayer Wednesday.
At the front of the church were a portrait of Hunter, topped by his familiar “NASCAR 1948” yellow cap and accompanied by his ever-present golf shoes and a putter.
“He was an athlete, a fan, a promoter, a public relations man and a counselor,” said NASCAR president Mike Helton in a tribute during the service. “He was the face of NASCAR and, in many ways, NASCAR was his face.”
The Rev. Dr. Olin Whitner, former pastor of the church, said Hunter “had a keen mind and a good heart, and he was concerned about people. He was concerned with making a difference. He loved people even more than he loved NASCAR.”
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
A funeral service for Hunter, who died last Friday after a long career in NASCAR circles, was held at Darlington Presbyterian Church, a downtown fellowship where he and his family were members. Hunter, NASCAR vice president of corporate communications and a motorsports raconteur for decades, was 71.
As befits a man whose reach spanned many years, many people and numerous communities, the crowd spilled through the doors of Darlington Presbyterian, and friends stood along the walls of the old church as seating was filled long before the beginning of the service.
The service opened with Scottish bagpipes and “Amazing Grace."
There were drivers new and old – Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison – and Hunter’s comrades-in-arms from a long career at the top levels of stock car racing. Track owners, team owners, mechanics long retired, many news media members and dozens of people who had worked for and with Hunter over the years came to say a last good-bye.
Hunter’s loss was felt particularly hard here in South Carolina tobacco country, where his leadership as the former president of Darlington Raceway stretched beyond the town’s landmark sports facility and onto the streets of the small downtown, where he was known in the barber shops and diners. He maintained a home here despite leaving the raceway’s employ in 2001 to return to work at NASCAR headquarters in Daytona Beach, Fla.
“He was one of the most charming personalities this town has ever seen,” said long-time Darlington Raceway official Harold King, who had put out more than a few fires with Hunter over the years and who offered the closing prayer Wednesday.
At the front of the church were a portrait of Hunter, topped by his familiar “NASCAR 1948” yellow cap and accompanied by his ever-present golf shoes and a putter.
“He was an athlete, a fan, a promoter, a public relations man and a counselor,” said NASCAR president Mike Helton in a tribute during the service. “He was the face of NASCAR and, in many ways, NASCAR was his face.”
The Rev. Dr. Olin Whitner, former pastor of the church, said Hunter “had a keen mind and a good heart, and he was concerned about people. He was concerned with making a difference. He loved people even more than he loved NASCAR.”
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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