Career as official spanned more than three decades
John Darby will transition away from NASCAR after a career spanning more than three decades as a racing official.
Darby was named director of NASCAR’s premier series in 2002, a position he held until Richard Buck succeeded him in January 2014. From there, Darby has held a managing director role in NASCAR’s competition department at its Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.
Darby got his start as a team owner in the Street Stock class at Rockford Speedway, a historic NASCAR-sanctioned track in his Illinois hometown. He eventually became a championship-winning car owner and crew chief at the track before turning his attention to the officials’ side of racing in 1982.
After serving as a technical official and director for several regional and touring series, Darby became a technical director in 1993 and eventually the series director in 1999 in what is now the NASCAR XFINITY Series, replacing Ray Hill.
In his 12-year tenure as Sprint Cup Series director, Darby played an instrumental role in several racing enhancements, including the laser inspection process and the development of the Gen-6 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car, which debuted in 2013.
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