Besides sun, sand, and rides, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina has many sports arenas and venues that feature terrific events and shows for the whole family to enjoy. The Coastal Federal Field, the Darlington Raceway, the Myrtle Beach Speedway, and the Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium are among those arenas and venues that should be considered when visiting Myrtle Beach.
The Coastal Federal Field located on 21st Avenue North is home to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, a class "A" baseball team. This 13 million dollar stadium has 5,200 seats, standing room for 800, and 9 luxury suites and was rated the number 2 class "A" ballpark in 2004 by Baseball America. In September of 1999 the stadium had its first streaker and in June of 2005 the stadium's first world record was broken for the most people wearing Groucho Marx glasses at the same time, 1,827 to be exact.
The Darlington Raceway, known also as the track that is "too tough to tame", is actually in Darlington, South Carolina, on Harry Byrd Highway but it is definitely worth the 2 hour drive. This 1 ΒΌ mile race track was built by Harold Brasington in 1950 despite the town thinking he was crazy. He turned what used to be cotton and peanut crops into an incredible race track with harrowing turns and neck breaking speeds and on opening day the stands were overflowing with a crowd of over 25,000 race fans. Johnny Mantz won the race that day after starting in the 75th position, which was dead last. This unique egg shaped track has had many historic NASCAR moments and is still as feisty today as it was 60 years ago.
The Myrtle Beach Speedway is best known as a training ground for race car drivers, including some of the most famous ones such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, and 4 generations of Pettys. Besides seeing the future NASCAR stars every Saturday night, this oval track also hosts several major events throughout the year. The track was originally built in 1958 under the name Rambi Raceway and is .538 mile in length and holds over 12,000 racing fans.
And finally the Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach is used for many events, but mainly is for rectangular sports such as track and field, football, and soccer. This $200,000 stadium located on 33rd Avenue North seats 5,000 fans and is home to the Myrtle Beach Seahawks high school football team. It was named for the beloved high school football coach who died at the early age of 52 and is currently undergoing a 3 million dollar renovation.
